The Stars My Destination | Alfred Bester | One of the best novels ever written

The Stars My Destination | Alfred Bester | Much More Than I Was Expecting

books:

The Stars My Desti...

	The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester Vintage, 1996 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 223 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

One of the best novels ever written

In his introduction to "The Stars My Destination" Neil Gaiman observes that one of the most quickly dated genres in the literary world is science-fiction. And he's right. It's hard to create a timeless science-fiction novel of universe that doesn't quickly become dated or you have to read it from the persepctive of readers of that era.

I'd argue that Dune is one of those novels that transcends the time it was written.

Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination" is another.

Bester creates the ultimate anti-hero in Gulliver Foyle. Foyle is a a common man in Bester's vision of the future. Foyle has no drive, no ambition and no future until he's trapped on a ship left for dead in space and left for dead himself. Foyle decides that no matter what it takes, he will avenge himself upon the ship that passed him by and refused to rescue him after teasing that it might. The rest of the novel concerns Foyle's rise from common man to a man of means and a sophistication and his unrelented obsession with revenge. Along the way, his life is touched by four different women, each of whom has a profound affect on Foyle and his quest.

The story is borrowed heavily from "The Count of Monte Cristo" but Bester re-imagines it against a backdrop of a future society that is superbly realized. Bester drops in things that other writers would take entire novels or series to explore. Instead of spending pages examining the ins and outs of things, Bester creates a future world and society that is both timeless and interesting. His world-building skills are on full display here and they're well worth the price of admission.

But what makes the novel timeless is the characters. Foyle is just one of an assortment of characters whose actions are all motivated by the fact they believe they're in the right. Each character is intersting and they weave in and out of the novel in fascinating ways. And don't ever think just becuase someone has gone off-stage that they won't be back.

But all of the characters and world-building would be nothing if not for a good plot. And "The Stars My Destination" has that and then some. It's fast paced, fun and frentic. I found myself turning the pages, wanting to find out where Foyle's obsessive quest would take him next and why. There's a conspiracy angle to the story as well and that keeps the interest going.

Make no mistake--this is one of the greatest novels--science fiction or otherwise--ever written. Definitely worth reading at least twice in a lifetime, possibly more.

for more information click here

Much More Than I Was Expecting

Gully Foyle is no ordinary man. Gully Foyle is a nothing. Abandoned on a wrecked spaceship to die. But Gully Foyle is not ready to die; he manages to escape his wrought prison and proceeds to embark on an adventure that will not only change how he looks at himself and the world, but how the world looks at him.

The Stars My Destination was a surprise. Published in the mid-1950's, the book felt like it was written (with only a few exceptions here and there) within the past decade. It is truly amazing how correct Alfred Bester was about a whole host of technological issues; everything from computer-controlled defense systems to how people and objects react in a microgravity/zero-g environment Bester pretty much hit the nail on the head. And to top it all off, there is a genuine, character-driven and character-building story behind it all. The only criticism I have to offer is that I wish the crux of the story got moving a bit earlier on than it did. On whole, I highly recommend this book. The Stars My Destination is like no other book I've ever read from this period in science fiction.

for more information click here

This book set the standard.

These reviews are properly respectful of a seminal science fiction creation. I came here to buy the book for my 15 year old nephew. An insight i don't see, is that the novel can be counted as a Beat Generation work...like Howl or On the Road or Tropic of Cancer. Alfred Bester was influenced by concrete poetry. Spolier alert: the novel's anti-hero, everyman, schmuck, Gully Foyle, puts the problem of world society at the feet of the whole human race at the end. This novel is fresh today for the same reason Hamlet is fresh today. "To be or not to be". Bester was a "hep cat" of his generation. Philip K. Dick is the next writer in this direct lineage.

for more information click here

Get this book NOW - sci fi's best

I struck gold when I happened to find this book in a second hand bookshop. When I was younger I had read the likes of L Ron Hubbard, Asimov and others but since then I have mainly read fantasy rather than sci-fi. This book brought me back. I didn't know what I had in my hands. This has now become one of my all time favourite books, and in fact it is a most clever book. Bester plays with weird diagrams and word patterns in the text in a unique way. This book is not classical hard style sci fi that is all about a deep space voyage...It is a masterpiece of prose and the unlikely hero of the tale is one of the most engaging characters to ever read about. I'm not going to go too much into the story because it is one of those books that you need to read without knowing much about(like Dusk til Dawn by Tarantino) but it involves the evolution of the human psyche and teleportation. Fantastic!

for more information click here

Amazing book wih deep insights that are more applicable today

I was uncomfortable with Gully Folly's driven vengance but it is the key of the book. It is about human sprit achieves greatness through (mental) drive. The book finds great insight to both social and political depths of it subject matter which add to its great width, it's not about technology but about character (often bizzar), their drives and desires. This why the book is so timeless given that fifty year old technology chatter is often dated but not the interplay of character. If you want a wild bizzar ride of a story pick up this book, it not another boring tech based cyber story. It's well worth for it's deep insight.

for more information click here