I had, for a long time, wanted to read some works by Arthur C. Clarke. Up until finishing Childhood's End, the only work of his I had read was yet another supposed "classic" that wasn't very good called "The Nine Billion Names of God", which wasn't terrible but was a simple story with not much at all going for it other than a concept and something happening which is what was predicted would happen within the story itself. Nothing noteworthy about that, and so I figured the story was definitely not a good representation of Clarke's work.
And I'm not sure if this is, either.
I'm sure Clarke has still written good stories, since this had potential and was quite good for a while (despite the problem it had with showing instead of telling, too much of that). For a while, the novel handled its central themes and ideas with such brilliance I could see why it was considered a classic. This novel is still quite thought-provoking as a critique of the idea of utopia and possibly even socialism, and will recommend people read it at least once, or at least to a certain point.
But the novel doesn't detail much other than aliens arrive and bad stuff happens, so I had high expectations for what would happen, and boy was I let down. And to give my thoughts on this novel, I will need to give some level of spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't read any further.
So the aliens are seeking the next evolution of man. And that's what the novel means by the end of humanity is that humanity is ending and another evolved race of man is pretty much taking over. So that's fine, but it's executed so awkwardly I couldn't help but stare in disbelief at the words pressed on the paper. The evolution takes place so quickly, the evolved species are unsympathetic (which I suppose may be part of the point), and it provides no real conflict. Humans evolve into something and that's practically it. A character who stows away on the alien ships arrives on Earth later and witnesses some grand epic finale told in painful-to-read detail with his dialogue, which if you picture it is epic but this isn't pictures and is instead words, so it doesn't work out so well.
But I'm sure everything detailed in this novel is supposed to symbolic, likely related to Christian imagery, particularly to the book of Revelation (or perhaps something else I am not considering at this time), so maybe Clarke's idea was to shoot for a symbolic edge rather than great story-telling. If so, mission accomplished, but symbolism does not a good book make. The symbolism should work around the story, rather than the story working around the symbolism, and a good story ought to be the forefront of your work. Otherwise it is not as engaging and enjoyable, instead usually just annoying and disappointing, as is the case with this novel.
And there's some weird crap about paranormal stuff that even Clarke renounced some time after writing this novel, but believed in it at the time, which still sticks out like a sore thumb. Be warned of that much at least.
So, unfortunately, this is yet another "classic" that isn't really a classic, or worthy of being one. However, unlike the other "classics" I've denounced, I will still recommend this novel to people; read it at least once to see Clarke's intelligence on display and to see he does have great potential. In fact, I will be giving Clarke another chance, as I've seen some people who are Clarke fans still don't like this book too much compared to works such as Rendezvous With Rama and The Fountains of Paradise. This won't be the end of Clarke for me, but it will serve as a disappointing footnote in his bibliography nonetheless.
No comments:
Post a Comment