PortadaGruposCharlasMásPanorama actual
Buscar en el sitio
Este sitio utiliza cookies para ofrecer nuestros servicios, mejorar el rendimiento, análisis y (si no estás registrado) publicidad. Al usar LibraryThing reconoces que has leído y comprendido nuestros términos de servicio y política de privacidad. El uso del sitio y de los servicios está sujeto a estas políticas y términos.

Resultados de Google Books

Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.

Cargando...

Quicksand (1969)

por John Brunner

Otros autores: Ver la sección otros autores.

MiembrosReseñasPopularidadValoración promediaMenciones
2216121,200 (3.16)10
Ninguno
Cargando...

Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará.

Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro.

» Ver también 10 menciones

Mostrando 1-5 de 6 (siguiente | mostrar todos)
review of
John Brunner's Quicksand
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - August 29, 2013

This is the 13th Brunner bk I've read & reviewed & I'm more than convinced of his genius by now. As I've often noted in other reviews, I'm reluctant to give a 5 star review to any writing that doesn't have formal experimentation.. but then I make exceptions & Brunner's a stunning one.

Quicksand is yet-another novel of his to use hypnosis. The others that I've read so far being The Stardroppers, The Evil That Men Do, & The Productions of Time.

""Urchin?" he said idiotically.

"She said something in her own language, but no part of her body except her lips stirred. Alarmed, he stepped to her side and was about to touch her when a great light dawned. He followed the direction of her gaze, and saw that a bright gleam from the window was caught on the oscillating scythe of the clock, sliding back and forth like a metronome." - pp 128-129

To another writer, I might begrudge this repetition but I don't w/ Brunner - there's just too much variety otherwise. Brunner also repeats the trope of a society that develops time travel instead of other technologies that he used in Times Without Number.. but there the similarities cease.

""Literally, promise you, there are no words to say in this language. In my language there are no words to say engine, rocket, spaceman, which I see on television—no word for television either. Is all different. We learned different things to do, studied different problems."

"—A society that somehow diverged from ours, concentrating on time-travel as its ultimate achievement while ours is in jet airplanes and sending rockets to the moon. Did she have this moment in mind the night I first met her, when she went around the cars staring and touching them as though she had never seen anything of the kind before?" - p 154

Quicksand is much more of a psychological human drama. Yeah, it's SciFi but Brunner pulls his SF punches more-or-less until the end (ok, ok, in that respect it's a bit like The Productions of Time).

The main character is a dr in a mental hospital who's undergoing his own personal trials & tribs: drinking too much, dissatisfied w/ his marriage, worried about his own past nervous breakdown, dislike of his boss & coworkers. Brunner sets the mood of his being on edge very convincingly:

"On the side-table, a little hand-bell. He picked it up and gave it a shake. Simultaneous to the tenth of a second, the lock in the tower overhead ground towards striking, and he cringed. For most of the day he'd managed to avoid noticing it, but last night, during his turn of duty . . .

"Band boom clink. Pause. Boom clink bang. Pause.

"—Christ doesn't it get on anyone's nerves but mine?" - p 6

I'm reminded of a Scientific American Article on environmental noise that begins thusly:

"In a 2011 publication, "Burden of disease from environmental noise," a WHO [World HealthOrganization]-led research team analyzed data from numerous large-scale epidemiological studies of environmental noise in Western European countries within the past 10 years. The studies looked closely at planes grumbling, trains whooshing and whistling, and automobiles bleeping, and then traced links to cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment in children, sleep disturbance, tinnitus, and relentless annoyance. Poring over these data, the WHO team calculated the disability-adjusted life-years or DALYs-in essence, healthy years of life-lost to "unwanted," human-induced dissonance. The toll: not counting industrial workplaces, at least one million DALYs each year. "There is overwhelming evidence," they conclude, "that exposure to environmental noise has adverse effects on the health of the population.""

& Brunner makes his character totally believable. Consider this internal rumination:

"—Relating to other people: a jargon phrase we use to blanket the spectrum love-to-hate. But human beings don't follow tidy lines on graphs. They diverge at odd angles into n dimensions. Where can one plot the location of indifference? Somewhere in mid-air above the surface of the paper? It lends neither to affection nor to detestation. It's a point in a void." - p 10

Brunner's great at character development. There're many characters, deftly depicted. The protagonist's nemesis:

"She came briskly in, demanding in her booming baritone what the blazes was going on, was told, and nodded vigorously. Armed with the bare bones of third-hand information, she approached Paul and addressed him in the patronizing tone appropriate to a mere grammar-school product of only twenty-eight.

""I hear one of your . . . ah . . . charges has gone over the hill. If you can tell me exactly where she attacked this unfortunate chap, I'll bring my hounds along. Soon root her out of cover, I can promise you."" - p 21

Quicksand is as much a study of hospitals in general as it is a novel about the experiences of a particular man:

"First there was a rather saddening new admission: and old woman referred from Blickham General where she had been treated for a broken right hip. The long stay in hospital, as all too often happened, had wasted what little remained of her independence: day by day her personality had degraded until after postponing discharge to the last possible moment Blickham General diagnosed irreversible senile dementia and contacted Chent." - p 63

The main male character, Paul, has a patient, nicknamed "Urchin" b/c no other identity has been established for her, of uncertain legal status, who doesn't initially speak any know language. I've heard tell of a woman being admitted into a mental institution & staying there b/c she didn't speak the language of the area & was assumed 'insane' as a result - only to have it be discovered, decades later, that she was simply an immigrant. A friend of mine's mom gave permission to a dr at a mental hospital to give her sister a lobotomy b/c she didn't understand what the dr was talking about when he asked for it. Such things are not as uncommon as they shd be. Brunner must've had this sort of thing in mind. But, of course, Brunner far from stops there.

In attempts to locate Urchin's language, a bk is consulted: "["]I] went all the way through Diringer's book The Alphabet, which is pretty much the standard work, and I drew a complete blank."" (p 102) Hence I became intrigued, it seems like a bk I shd have in my library so I looked it up online: David Diringer's The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind. Alas, I can barely afford to eat right now (in fact, I'm on the 5th day of a fast) so I won't be buying it anytime soon.

There's no particularly good reason for Urchin to be in a mental hospital, it's just the 'best' that the society can figure out what to do w/ someone who 'doesn't fit in'. "—Could she have been raised in total isolation, Kaspar Hauser fashion, by some lunatic genius who taught her a language he, not she, had invented . . . ?" (p 119) It's noteworthy that Brunner's novel is from 1967, & that Herzog's The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser wasn't until 1974 & that Paul Auster's City of Glass wasn't until 1985. Brunner was, as always, ahead of the curve.

Paul starts taking pills, taking advantage of their ready availability to him as a dr, wch probably doesn't help w/ his decision-making process - altho the alcohol seems worse in that regard. Brunner takes an interesting contemplative tangent to introduce his usage:

"—A cupboardful of miracles, this! Powdered sleep, tablet sleep, liquid sleep; energy in pills, in vials, in disposable syringes; drugs to suppress hunger and stimulate appetite, to relieve pain and to cause convulsions . . . Will the day come when a descendant of mine stands in a dispensary and selects a tablet labelled Instant Sanity, adult schizoid female Caucasian 40-50 kilograms? Christ, I hope not. Because—

"The anticipated burp arrived. Since he had momentarily forgotten that was why he was standing here, it erupted with maximum noise, and the pharmacist turned his head and grinned. Sheepishly Paul moved away.

"—Because long before we get to the Instant Sanity pill dreadful things will have happened to us. Drugs to keep the masses happy, like opium in last-century China and the British hashish monopoly in India; drugs for political conformism ("AntiKommi for those left-wing twinges"), for sexual conformism ("Straighten up and fly right with OrthoHetero twice a day"), for petty criminals, for deviates, for anyone you don't like. Pills for bosses to give their workers, pills for wives to give their husbands . . ." - pp 126-127

One might add: "Ritalin to try to control energetic kids in school..'

Note the middle paragraph in the above 3 paragraph quote: Brunner always keeps things moving - even in a borderline discursive passage of drugs he interrupts w/ a relevant narrative aside.

Paul gets sucked into his patient's description of her world. He doesn't know whether its fantasy or, defying his 'reality', somehow 'real':

""In Llanraw marriage consists in a vow taken before the assembled community that the couple will accept the responsibility of bearing and raising children and remain their best friends for as long as they live, to whom they may always turn for help and advice. Conception without such previous public pledges is regarded as offensive to the unborn child and the administration of an abortifacient is compulsory. Owing to the seriousness with which parenthood is undertaken, there is no excess population pressure, nor any social pressure on young people to marry and bear children as frequently happens in our world, thus ensuring that too many children are subconsciously resented by their parents."" - p 159

Brunner was highly successful in manipulating this reader, at least, into rooting for Paul to act against the conventions of his hospital world. How that turns out is a spoiler I won't provide here. ( )
  tENTATIVELY | Apr 3, 2022 |
This is a strange book that doesn’t really know what it is. Ostensibly it’s the story of a psychiatrist who finds a wandering naked girl in the woods who can’t communicate and appears to not have no experience of everyday objects and events. You get the feeling that Brunner wanted to do a deep examination of the psychology of the human condition until someone at the publishers went “hang on a minute, you’re an SF writer. “ As a result the majority of the book plods along in introspective musings, and suddenly in the last thirty pages or so takes a sudden turn into something completely different as the protagonist starts acting out of character and the story resolution comes out of nowhere. And as for that cover? The story takes place primarily in 1960s Wales - which I don’t recall looking like that! ( )
  gothamajp | Aug 10, 2020 |
Quicksand, by John Brunner is a short book for this author. It is by no means a short read. The story revolves around Paul Fidler, a man working as a Therapist at a mental hospital in rural England. Paul, who was briefly institutionalized years ago, is married to Iris who is not present for most of the book. However, she plays a critical role by her absenteeism and in Paul's continual struggle to maintain his sanity.

One night a young woman is found wondering around the countryside, naked, after a man claims she assualted him and broke his arm. She is a diminuitive person who looks much younger than she is. She doesn't speak English or any other known language. She is terrified, Paul is able to "talk" her into coming with them to the hospital where she is admiited as a patient as she is considered to be dangerous.

As the story unfolds, Paul becomes more and more obsessed with the patient they call Urchin. She begins to learn English, displays an amazing aptitude for it, has a few other instances where she shows her unusual strength. Paul uses hypnosis to find out more about Urchin and gets an amazing surprise.

I like reading John Brunner. His writing is almost impeccable and the story flows well. Keeping in mind the time period in which the story is written, Quicksand is a very disturbing tale. Brunner has us following a man, slowly, into the abyss of his madness with an ending that is completely unexpected. ( )
  shelbel100 | Sep 19, 2013 |
Having serious trouble getting this book started! ( )
  dragonasbreath | May 11, 2010 |
Interesting premise, but the ball is dropped at the end. There's no convincing punchline, and much hangs on there being one. ( )
  arthurfrayn | Jun 12, 2007 |
Mostrando 1-5 de 6 (siguiente | mostrar todos)
sin reseñas | añadir una reseña

» Añade otros autores

Nombre del autorRolTipo de autor¿Obra?Estado
Brunner, JohnAutorautor principaltodas las edicionesconfirmado
Gaughan, JackArtista de Cubiertaautor secundarioalgunas edicionesconfirmado
Lehr, PaulArtista de Cubiertaautor secundarioalgunas edicionesconfirmado
Pukallus, HorstTraductorautor secundarioalgunas edicionesconfirmado

Pertenece a las series editoriales

Debes iniciar sesión para editar los datos de Conocimiento Común.
Para más ayuda, consulta la página de ayuda de Conocimiento Común.
Título canónico
Título original
Títulos alternativos
Fecha de publicación original
Personas/Personajes
Lugares importantes
Acontecimientos importantes
Películas relacionadas
Epígrafe
Dedicatoria
Primeras palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés. Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
For a long moment after opening the door of the sitting-room Paul Fidler was literally frightened.
Citas
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés. Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
He holds up, winning, the crossed cones of times:
Here, narrowing into now, the Past and Future
Are quicksand -
Randall Jarrell
Knight, Death, and the Devil.
Últimas palabras
Información procedente del conocimiento común inglés. Edita para encontrar en tu idioma.
(Haz clic para mostrar. Atención: puede contener spoilers.)
Aviso de desambiguación
Editores de la editorial
Blurbistas
Idioma original
DDC/MDS Canónico
LCC canónico

Referencias a esta obra en fuentes externas.

Wikipedia en inglés

Ninguno

No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca.

Descripción del libro
Resumen Haiku

Debates activos

Ninguno

Cubiertas populares

Enlaces rápidos

Valoración

Promedio: (3.16)
0.5
1 1
1.5
2 4
2.5
3 4
3.5 4
4 5
4.5
5 1

¿Eres tú?

Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing.

 

Acerca de | Contactar | LibraryThing.com | Privacidad/Condiciones | Ayuda/Preguntas frecuentes | Blog | Tienda | APIs | TinyCat | Bibliotecas heredadas | Primeros reseñadores | Conocimiento común | 203,243,096 libros! | Barra superior: Siempre visible