This Shape We're In / There Are Doors / The Fifth Head of Cerberus

[jazzfish]

Jonathan Lethem, "This Shape We're In"

Short book [~50 pages]. Wild. The characters all live in a shape, which appears to be more or less humanoid, though there are some odd contradictions, and various subgroups in the shape have theories about what it is [bomb shelter after a nuclear holocaust, generation ship, etc]. I chuckled at a few bits, and then at around the last few pages, when you realise what the shape is, I was absolutely delighted. Fun to read, and there's deeper bits in there if you go looking for them.

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Gene Wolfe, There Are Doors

A novel of travel between alternate realities, with a protagonist who may or may not be insane. Really, it felt kind of like the kind of thing I'd like to write, except that I don't feel like it wrapped everything up well enough. Though that may be me not fully understanding what went on. It's got a number of neat stylistic tricks, some very cool ideas, and an occasional coming-together of ideas in my head that made me suddenly realise what it was Wolfe was writing about. Still, I dunno. I'll need to read it again to understand all of the subtle sideways things going on, and I don't know if it's worth it. Life is short and there are many books to read.

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Gene Wolfe, The Fifth Head of Cerberus

Okay. Reading a good, solid Gene Wolfe book is like putting together the most gorgeous, intricate jigsaw puzzle imaginable, only halfway through you run out of pieces. So you stare at what you've got and you think "Gosh, this is pretty," and you mentally fill in what of the missing gaps you can, and generally feel like with just one or two more pieces you'd really be able to see the picture, but you're just not smart enough to picture it by yourself.

Ahem. Sorry. Fifth Head is three connected novellas. The first stands on its own, and concerns cloning and the aristocracy of a small planet way out there. The second takes place on its sister planet, which may or not have been the home of a race of shapeshifters who all died out when the first humans landed there. The third takes place on both planets and concerns a character who shows up briefly but importantly in the first one, who may or not be a political dissident trying to overthrow the aristocracy.

If my summary makes no sense, that's because I'm not smart enough to conceive of the whole intricate picture by myself. I am about 90% certain that this book is the smartest thing I have ever read. I am equally certain that upon rereading it I still won't understand what went on. Unlike There Are Doors, I think Fifth Head deserves a second read.

Comments

The Fifth, or grasping, Head

[jonny-law.livejournal.com]

I picked this up at your recommendation.

I like that the aliens are changelings, with all the cultural meaning that those myths carry. If I may reiterate, golden age of sci-fi.

Is Gene Wolfe British? That is the only way I can reconcile the origin of Mr. Million's name, other than an attempt to be overly clever while trying to humanize him. This book could have been written in the time of the British "billion = trillion" craziness.

Overly clever is dissonant, like a dropped cymbal in the middle of a symphonic movement. Although not as jarring as Drew Barrymore's desire for more screen time, which is like a cellphone ringing during the performance.