review of
Robert Silverberg's Tom O'Bedlam
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - March 24-26, 2019

I have 7 other bks by Silverberg in my collection: Invaders from Earth (1958), Conquerors from the Darkness (1965), The Man in the Maze (1969), Up the Line (1969), World's Fair 1992 (1970), The World Inside (1970), & The Reality Trip And Other Implausibilities (1958-1971). I have the 1st 4 marked as read & not the last 3 but I've probably read them all. Whatever I read I read before the fall of 2007 when I started reviewing all the bks I read for Goodreads. I have a very vague recollection of The Man in the Maze & that's it. I don't remember the rest at all. In the front of Up the Line I wrote 2 pencilled notations:

p 94 — stupid use of "anarchy"
p 101 — " " " "

The examples chosen are: "Their roughnecking was verging on anarchy; no one was safe in the streets after dark." & "I said, "You're talking anarchy!" / "Nihilism, to be more accurate["]".

Apparently, I keep returning to his work b/c I often find it affordable & I don't remember it so it occurs to me that I shd try reading something else by him in case he's someone I've underappreciated.

Tom O'Bedlam has praise on the front cover by popular author Peter Straub: "A WONDERFUL BOOK". I don't trust such praise. I've never read anything by Straub. Looking at a list of his novels online I don't recognize any of the titles. I associate him with Stephen King & Dean Koontz. I've read a little by both of them & didn't like it. I see online that King & Straub collaborated so at least half of my association is born out. Anyway, what I'm getting at here is that if Silverberg is aiming for Straub's market then I probably shdn't have high hopes. I found this bk to be mediocre in the same way that I found Koontz's work to be mediocre. It also occured to me that Silverberg was 'getting on in life' when this was written (1985) & he might've tried to make the-bk-that-wd-become-the-movie & give him a nest-egg to live comfortably off of in his declining yrs. The movie doesn't seem to've been made. No great loss.

I DID approach this w/ an 'open mind'. I was positively inclined to it just b/c of the title. "Tom O'Bedlam" (not the currently well-known actor/whatnot):

""Tom o' Bedlam" is the name of an anonymous poem in the "mad song" genre, written in the voice of a homeless "Bedlamite." The poem was probably composed at the beginning of the 17th century; in How to Read and Why, Harold Bloom calls it "the greatest anonymous lyric in the [English] language."" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_o'_Bedlam

I reckon Silverberg gave a pretty powerful spin to the character but it's the type of spin that's more fantastic than it is psychologically rich.

Predictably, the shared visions that constitute the core subject of the bk, are gradually revealed.

""I heard what you were saying when you were in that fit," Charley went on. His voice was low, barely more than a whisper. "About the green world. About the crystal people. Their shining skins. Their eyes, like diamonds. How did you say their eyes were arranged?"

""In rows of three, on each side of the heads."

""Four sides to the head?"

""Four, yes."

"Charley was silent a while, poking at the fire. Then he said, in an even quieter voice, "I dreamed of a place just like that, about six nights ago. And then again night before last.["]" - p 20

Cut to a healing center where sick people are sent to get their minds 'picked'.

"Lansford called out from the control console, "Blood sugar okay, respiration, iodine uptake, everything checks. Delta waves present and fully secured. Everything looks fine. I'm popping the Father's pick into the slot now. Elszabet?"

""Hold it a second. What reading do you get on mood?"" - p 22

There were some good ideas in this bk (sez me) but they were repeated far too much (sez me). I got the idea pretty early on & didn't need to go thru the reiterations in an extra 100pp of fluff. By page 28 all of the main ingredients are introduced.

"From unseen loudspeakers came a deep, unhurried, relentless drumming. The ground shook. They probably had it wired, Jaspin thought. Electrostatic nodes all over the place, and synchronized pulsation chips. Tumbondé might be primitive and elemental but it didn't seem to scorn technology." - p 28

Silverberg throws a synthetic woman into the mix. Having her be artificial makes it easier to hyper-sexualize her w/o being easily accused as sexist. Personally, I prefer the Ron Goulart approach more.

"There was a tap on the door.

""Who?" Ferguson called.

""Alleluia," said the most musical female voice he had ever heard.

"Something stirred in his muddled and mutilated memory bank, but he was unable to get hold of it. He touched his ring and said, "Request Alleluia."

""Fellow patient at Nepenthe Center. Synthetic woman, terrific body, fucked-up personality. You've been screwing her on and off all summer."" - p 39

Even Alleluia is having the visions.

""A couple of them. The green world was one. My dreams seems to stay with me, you know? I suppose because I'm a synthetic. Maybe the pick doesn't always work right on me. There's another world I've seen once or twice, with two suns in the sky."

"Ferguson caught his breath sharply.

"She said, "One's red, and the other one—"

""—is blue?"

""Blue, yes!" she said. "You've seen it too?"

"He felt the chills run down his back. This is crazy, he thought. "And there was a big golden thing with horns, standing on a block of white stone?"

""You have seen it! You have!"

""Jesus suffering Christ," Ferguson said." - p 42

I say: blame it on Ferguson for catching his breath too sharply & having it mutilate the chills running down his back.

"Switching on the little recorder in front of her, Elszabet said, "Let's get started, people, shall we? Monthly staff meeting for Thursday, July 27, 2103, Elszabet Lewis presiding, Drs Waldstein and Robinson and Patel and Ms. Corelli in attendance, 1121 hours. Okay? Instead of starting with the regular progress reports, I'd like to open with a discussion of the unusual problem that's cropped up in the past 6 days. I'm referring to the recurrent and overlapping dreams of a—well, fantastic nature that our patients seem to be experiencing["]" - p 53

Maybe they're all just watching the same tv shows. Running from reality straight into the boob tube.

"In college at Berkeley, she had been an athlete, a runner, track team, all-state champion in almost every medium-distance event, the 800 meters, 1500 meters, 1600-meter relay, and more. Those long legs, the endurance, the determination. "You ought to consider a carreer as a runner," someone had told her. She had been nineteen, then. Fifteen years ago. But what did that mean, a career as a runner? It was a waste of a life, she thought, giving yourself up to something as hermetically sealed, as private, as being a runner. It was a little like saying, You ought to consider a career as a fire hydrant." - p 82

At least as a hydrant you might get the trickle-down. But, seriously folks, I considered a career as a push-up artist until someone pointed out that I meant stick-up artist. Besides, that fits right in to my boob tube theory.

""What's your theory?"

""That we're getting some kind of broadcasts from an approaching alien space vessel."" - p 84

Or maybe they're just delivering a pizza. I mean that's no weirder than writing a boob of the march. Does Playboy have a boob of the month club now?!

""Truth, yes." Senhor Papamacer leaned forward. His eyes were ablaze. "I tell you what to do. You march with me, with Senhora Aglaibahi, with the Inner Host. You write a book of the march. You have the words, you have the learning.["]" - pp 101-102

What say we knock back a few while we watch the Playboy channel, boss?

""I guess you forgot, on account of being picked. But I'm an alcoholic. I've got a conscience chip in my gullet. Any booze hits my throat, the chip's going to make me throw up.["]" - p 193

Imagine if Rump had a conscience chip that made his nose grow every time he said something stupid. Do you think he'd start making porn? Rumpy the Nosepecker?

"["]What I think is that this man is in the grip of a psychosis so powerful that he's somehow able to broadcast it to others. A kind of psychic Typhoid Mary capable of scattering hallucinations across thousands of kilometers. And the closer you get to him, Elszabet, the more intense and frequent the hallucinations are["]" - p 211

Yeah, but don't forget the boob tube, he cd've never gotten elected w/o it.

"["]Now the thing you have to know," Tom said, "is that the universe is full of benevolent beings. Okay? There are more suns than anybody can count, and all of the suns have planets, and those planets have people on them, not people like us, but people all the same. They're all alive and out there right this minute, going about their lives. Okay? And they know we're here. They're beckoning to us. They love us, every one of us, and they want to gather us to their bosom.["]" - p 225

Right. Just wait 'til you get the bill. ( )

NIL