This was just OK for me. I loved the concept of settling on a new planet and the separation of the spouses but somehow the ending didn't work for me and in general it was all just too slow and I didn't develop enough of a rooting interest in any person or storyline. It's possible that this style of book just didn't really fit into my real life at the time I was reading it because it was too much of a contrast to the hectic vacation I was on while reading it. ( )

The only book I have read from Faber has been 'Under the Skin', so needless to say, I was expecting quite a trip, this time into space. Couldn't wait. Expectations of wonkiness were high. As I went along, I was waiting for this plot to go off the rails, and this is an extremely long... train. Sadly, I either didn't understand the book, I read it too piecemeal, or I just generally become disinterested in plots involving marriage or religion. But I usually love literary sci-fi! This was just too long and not really enough there. Maybe I'm just spoiled with other great sci-fi (Dexter Palmer's 'Version Control' always comes to mind.). Maybe this just wasn't the book for me. ( )

First of all, I’m generally wary about trigger warnings, and reviews that start with trigger warnings. Not the least because they can be spoiler-ish. Nevertheless, I discovered that I have a trigger that I wish I’d been warned about: There is a cat in this book, and it dies. Horribly.

That out of the way, this is one of the best books I’ve read for a while. As a former Catholic, I’m also wary about books about religion. But the preacher here is a Marilynne Robinson–like preacher, a good and gentle soul, never in your face, not one to cause offense. Which, as it turns out, is part of the reason he’s chosen for missionary service to the aliens on Oasis, a planet where a mysterious corporation back on Earth, USIC, is trying to establish an outpost. Although this is a mysterious, faceless, potentially Evil Corporation, that is something of a red herring too. They also are not in-your-face evil: they’re supplying a missionary because the aliens have requested one, and Evil Corp. wants to maintain good trading relations with the natives, something of switch from your typical, exploitive, colonialistic Evil Corp.

Nevertheless, everyone and everything at the USIC base on Oasis is a little … off. Everyone is nice enough … maybe a little too nice? There are no locks on the doors. There are no fist fights in the mess hall. Oh, and the previous minister has gone missing…

This may sound like the lead-up to a revelation of malicious mind control by Evil Corp. or other villainous doings, but that’s a red herring also. The answer turns out to be much more grounded in ordinary human nature, and in my opinion even more chilling for that.

The aliens are physically pretty repellent, but they turn out to be just as phlegmatic as the humans on Oasis. And having been introduced to Christianity by the previous preacher, they are eager for the “technique of Jesus.” (Their speech is rendered with the occasional odd symbol to indicate the sounds they have trouble reproducing with their … speech apparatus.)

Our preacher, perhaps rather heavy-handedly called Peter, has left a wife back on Earth (perhaps rather heavy-handedly called Beatrice), with whom he can correspond by text whenever he’s on base and not out ministering to the natives. He’s not gone long before increasingly alarming texts start coming from back home. We readers can see that things are getting pretty dire back home—war, natural disasters, food shortages—but Peter is really busy and very absorbed by his work with the natives and, well, he just doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the warnings.

This is where it can be easy to judge Peter for being a self-absorbed, oblivious jerk. And, frankly, he is a self-absorbed, oblivious jerk. But I think he also represents the way humans like to bury their heads in the sand and ignore “inconvenient truths” in favor of immersing themselves in small, immediate, solvable everyday concerns. Don’t we all? I’d earlier saved this quote, which I think sums it up:

“Werner was a poor lamb, precious in the eyes of the Lord, a charmless creep who couldn’t help being a charmless creep, a geeky orphan who’d grown into a specialized form of survivor. We are all specialized forms of survivor, Peter reminded himself. We lack what we fundamentally need and forge ahead regardless, hurriedly hiding our wounds, disguising our ineptitude, bluffing our way through our weaknesses.”

One thing this book said to me is that we all take, or deliver, from religion (or philosophy, or politics, or a particular world view) what we need at the moment. And another thing is that we can all be oblivious to what’s right under our noses, but we need to wake up, and grow up. ( )

You know the old rule of thumb about how a gun in the first act needs to go off by the third? (Oh, apparently it's called Chekhov's gun! Who knew?) Faber started off with three guns and only one of them went off by the end and it turned out to be, like, a water gun.

It was endlessly tedious, the protagonist was not very likable, and the plot itself just never really came together. It's amazing because the reviews have been largely glowing, but this was just a huge waste of time.

The Book of Strange New Things? More like The (Endless) Book of Tedious Plot and Lame Characters. The more I think about it - and the more glowing year-end best book lists I saw it on - the more irritated I get. What a flaccid failure of a book this was. ( )

Peter is selected by an American corporation to serve as one of the first Christian missionaries to native inhabitants of the planet Oasis. He leaves his wife at home in London. A previous minister had disappeared, along with a linguist that taught English to the Oasans. He finds the Oasans receptive to the “Book of Strange New Things,” their name for the Bible. He works with them in their settlement to build a church, returning periodically to the USIC base to communicate with his wife on earth. She tells him of many catastrophes that have befallen the earth, but it is difficult for him to fully understand and focus on what is happening so far away. Peter eventually learns an excruciating lesson based on his interactions with the Oasans.

This is a complex story that works on multiple levels. One level revolves around testing a marriage to its limits, where distance takes a toll. Another level looks at how religious instruction is received by a population that has no concept of earth. It examines a new form of colonialism – USIC has setup a base but is still dependent upon the Oasans for food. It portrays how faith is tested. It examines addiction and how one can be substituted for another. It depicts the mental stress and alienation that can occur from isolation. It is a combination of literary fiction and science fiction, commenting on the nature of humanity through looking at their interactions with intelligent non-humans.

I listened to the audiobook, wonderfully performed by Josh Cohen. It is an ideal vehicle for audio. Cohen does an amazing job of voicing accents from a variety of countries. He also creates a unique voice for the Oasans. I found the entire experience of this book engrossing.

After finishing, I found it profoundly unsettling and it took a while for my thoughts to gel. It is an example of how good intentions go awry. It shows how rifts can form between people who love each other deeply. It is an examination of empathy across cultures. I am fascinated by the premise of this story and found it both creative and insightful.
( )