Rendezvous with Rama

I'm glad I finally read this unquestionably iconic SF novel. It's not the best SF I've ever read, but a classic in its own right as the intro for "the big thing in the sky" trope. Clarke isn't really interested in his characters; they exist so they can explore and describe Rama on his behalf.
I find Clarke's writing to be of that stilted style of other SF writers who care more about the science, the technology, and space than the humans who work and navigate through it. He throws in pointless, sexist scenes or private musings by his male characters, presumably to act as humor or character development, but don't seem to have aged well. But that's okay. Rama is the Thing and the mystery to explore but remain unsolved. It's a good enough show more yarn for its time, and I found it a bit of a slog and was glad when it ended. show less

I've known about this book for what seems like ever, as a canonical "big dumb object" book, but have only just read it for the first time. My what I've missed.

The plot is simple: a mysterious cylindrical object appears in nearby space. Humans go to investigate. They see many mysterious things, but many questions remain unanswered at the book's closing. That's what I knew, and it's a pretty fair description so the story didn't surprise me. Here are things that did.

First, the date. I had thought this was from the 1950s, contemporary with Asimov's Foundation and early robot stories, early 1960's at the latest. But 1973 means it appeared post-New Wave; it was written in a context where other writers were looking to be more literary: show more experimenting with prose, writing complicated characters, and making social and political commentary. Heck, this book is younger than I am.

Which makes the next surprise all the more surprising: how completely unconcerned Clarke is with trickeries of style, character development, or social awareness. Not that his characters are uninteresting. On the contrary, they represent multiple social groups with competing political or religious agendas. But Clarke doesn't seem to be commenting on current events so much as he is creating a world in which events have moved on from current preoccupations. Even forty-four years later it does not feel dated.

Another surprise: I knew that questions would be unanswered. What I didn't know was that *every* question would be unanswered. Things got curiouser and curiouser until it was just over. And yet I never felt that Clarke was being coy. Whatever the mystery, physics still applies, so despite a lack of answers it always *feels* like the answers are there. They taunt like one of those simple-to-state-difficult-to-prove problems in number theory: you always feel the result would be obvious if only you could find the right approach. I can see why this book attracts such strong devotion.

Last surprise: I knew that a sequel (Rama II) came years & years later in response to persistent requests from fans. What I didn't know was how strongly Rendezvous With Rama seems to promise a sequel, or how badly I'd want one too. I hear it's disappointing. I'm reading it anyway. show less

Until two months ago, I had read only one Arthur C Clarke novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, as a school boy some 35 years ago. I have now read The City and Stars, which was excellent; and now this novel, which won all sorts of awards back in the 1970s, which was almost as good. A mysterious object enters the solar system like a comet on a long approach, but it turns out to be artificial. A mission lands on it and explores the mysteries of this giant hollow cylinder. Clarke's imagination and extrapolation of scientific principles are breathtaking and this is a great read. I might say I was slightly frustrated by the lack of explanations at the end, but in an SF novel this powerful, that doesn't really matter. I am aware that there are show more several sequels to this, but that they are generally poorly regarded. show less

Me resulta una tremenda crueldad que el libro terminase sin resolver muchas de las preguntas que saltan al leerlo. Uno podría discutir que este es un libro en el que en realidad no sucede nada, y es que en verdad no "pasa nada" (no hay acción de por sí, ni demasiadas confrontaciones, ni nada por el estilo), es puramente la exploración de Rama. Pero es justamente Rama en sí, los personajes, y la manera en que está escrito que me atrapó por completo, y ya quisiera tener los otros libros para ver si proveen las respuestas a las preguntas que me han quedado.
La frase final del libro ciertamente promete.

Lo único que no me gustó fue el típico momento dónde los Señores Disparo Primero y Pregunto Después intentan destruir Rama, un show more cliché un tanto cansino, y el cual podría haber sido obviado ya que a mi parecer no aportó nada a la historia y me resultó más molesto que otra cosa. Pero fueron solo un par de capítulos, y bastante cortos. show less

An alien spaceship the size of Clarke’s ego flies into the solar system. The only ship in the fleet that’s within range is the USS Endeavour, Captain Hook commanding.

Clarke does something very clever. We never find out how many crew members are aboard Endevour. Neither are the characters who do appear get introduced normally. We never find out all the secrets of the main character, Rama, and despite a series of revelations throughout the novel, it’s still a mystery at the end. As a new thing is discovered, or is about to be discovered, so is a new character introduced.

Clarke was 35 years into his career at this point. It amazes me that he was still able to take literary risks of this magnitude with something as fundamental to the show more novel as characterisation – and have it pay off.

There are some brilliant descriptions of the interior of Rama especially as the crew try to acclimatise to an alien world, but it’s not Clarke’s descriptions of the distances involved but rather that a small part of Rama is equivalent to a human that gives a true sense of scale.

There’s an interesting theme of sex and fertility that runs through the novel which reflects Rama’s awakening from near zero. It’s also worth looking out for recurrences of the number three in the relationship between the different characters. show less

I was under the impression that I'd never read any Arthur C. Clarke - I had no memory of doing so. A search of LT showed me that I read 2001: A Space Odyssey two years ago and I seem to have been unimpressed - which explains why I didn't remember it (I was given a pile of SF, including some Arthur C. Clarkes, by a family member about that time). So, in the circumstances, it's rather surprising that I've been really impressed by Rendezvous With Rama.

This gripped me from the start; a real page-turner, it constantly had me eager for whatever came next. This was despite the fact that I soon knew pretty well how the book would work itself out ... turned out I was wrong - the ending took me by surprise. For me, Clarke pulled off the seemingly show more impossible feat of both writing a satisfying, properly-completed story and leaving me wanting more. It actually leaves one with a lot to think over, too.

I loved the descriptive writing, how he so perfectly created this alien world. An image that will stay with me a long time is the description of the outer surface of Rama as having been made so flawless and perfectly smooth that observers couldn't see that it was revolving.

I think I lost interest in SF years ago. This might just have re-enthused me. show less

"Rendezvous With Rama" was my introduction to Clarke when I first read it, back in the mid-'70s, and I was enamoured of its hard-SF nature, its concise telling, its brilliant BDO, and the perfect final line. Upon learning that Denis Villeneuve was to helm a new film, I knew I had to revisit it with older eyes. I am both glad and chagrined that I did so, and the glamour is gone from my eyes.

The best parts of RwR are all those that involve Rama itself and its investigation; fortunately, these occupy most of the text. As the crew of the Endeavour experience each step into Rama, and every new object and circumstance associated with it, the reader shares them vicariously; also, the brief window of opportunity allowed by the shared orbit show more prevents Clarke and the story from wallowing in unnecessary side-plots (a trait I wish more current authors would adopt). Best of all is the indifference the human explorers meet: Rama's own story lies elsewhere.

However, sticking points in RwR are Clarke's shibboleths written large. His characters are thin, yes. What's much more galling and artificial is that once again Clarke shows that _who_ his characters are was always less important to him than _what_ they are. Clarke finds it necessary to identify the doctor as "Surgeon Commander" throughout the book instead of "Dr. Ernst" or even "Laura." Likewise, we have "Commander Norton," every other officer or sergeant by rank, and the litter of Honourable Mr Ambassadors, Professor Doctors, and Sirs that make up odious advisory committees. Clarke loved ranks, he loved titles, and he could not perceive a world in which use of such titles was not compulsory. Sorry, but people don't really _talk_ that way.

A final bone to pick concerns a minor thread in RwR, one Clarke may have been encouraged to include by the publisher for length and texture, but one that presents such an ethical violation that I doubt it would see print today. It seems the Space Survey has genetically engineered a slave population of sterile primates for use as menial labor aboard ships. They have no rights, cannot speak, are fully expendable (conditions for euthanising them is clearly discussed), and are somehow more cost-efficient than bots or drones. Actually, the crew have NO bots, drones, or RC tools or toys of any kind: why is that? Even Jacques Cousteau used RC cameras. Maybe GMO slaves made it all more science-fictiony? Shame on you, Clarke.

Altogether, this still rates a solid 3.5 because what female characters there are are pretty cool and capable, because Jimmy Pak is a fun character, and Rama remains among the Most Bodacious BDOs in the SF canon. show less