August 12, 2005

Light by M. John Harrison

Just finished reading Light. I had not read anything by Harrison before; I picked this up because some of my favourite writers wrote effusive blurbs.¹ And they were right: it is a fascinating, memorable novel. I can't say much — okay, I can't say anything — about the way Harrison writes about quantum physics, but I am here to say to the rest of you who never took a science course after Grade 9 biology, there is lots here for us as well (everything I know about science, I've learnt from sf. Which makes life interesting sometimes). It is beautifully written and the visual images are bright, even blinding, despite, as I said, my not understanding the science. It is an odd novel, in that one of the three main characters is as bad as a person can be and a second is little better, yet the ending manages to be uplifting. I mean that in a good way. Usually "uplifting" is right there along with "heartwarming" on my list of code words for AVOID THIS NOVEL! But Harrison's is not your usual schmaltzy, thoughtless uplift, by a long shot. In fact, it's a quite bleak and unpleasant sort of uplift. (Did I mention that quantum physics features prominently?)

I was originally planning to write that Light didn't fully track for me. You know, that feeling of slight dissonance you can get from a text: something is preventing your complete immersion; something is making you reread because you aren't holding it all in your head; something is being assumed of the reader that oughtn't to be. Then I humbly considered that perhaps I was not the ideal reader for this novel. Well, not for all of it, anyway (see above). Then I thought (hear me roar!), I am an adept and enthusiastic reader of the genre so if it is not for me, who is it for? And if it is not for me, whose problem is that, anyway? At least, unlike Matthew Cheney's naughty readers, I certainly didn't find it boring. But I have always felt that in order to be really stellar, a text needs to work for readers who engage with it in different ways. I imagine that idea would make Harrison impatient, though.

At any rate, read this novel for its bravado reworking of various sf données, its technical accomplishment, and the plethora of dizzying views. The hype is all deserved, even if some of the criticism is, as well.

Two thumbs up, across fourteen dimensions.

Reviews from
Emerald City
Iain Banks for The Guardian
Adam Roberts for infinity plus: "If this book doesn't win next year's Clarke then I'll be a Dutchman" (oops). What Roberts writes about Harrison's use of and response to literary and sf convention is particularly good.
Paul Di Filippo for scifi.com
Matthew Cheney
Rod MacDonald for SFCrowsnest.com: "Normally I would reject this type of book out of hand but the fact that it's so well-written gives it more than enough validity for me to recommend it to everyone except children."
Jeff VanderMeer for SFSite: "Harrison has jettisoned all banality, dead spots, padding, and come up with a novel that moves without sacrificing depth."
The Complete Review (includes links to other reviews and interviews. Gives Light an A-.)
Bookslut: "It’s a study in how removed your characters can be from events that they are the cause of, like everyone in the book is caught in a maelstrom while taking heavy anti-psychotics with Xanax chasers."
Toby Litt for cultchoice
Paul Green at Culture Court: "the Kefahuchi Tract, a stellar vortex of radiation and dark matter ... eventually draws everything together, a node of psychic gravitation, like Rick's Bar in Casablanca."
Rick Kleffel for Agony Column
John C. Snider for scifidimensions: "The exciting finale is a psychedelic rollercoaster, leaving the reader stimulated but slightly confused."
Steven Wu offers a rebuttal

Excerpts from interview in Locus: big dumb objects and space opera
Interview with David Mathew for infinity plus: "I doubt I'll be judged as anything after I'm dead: my stuff doesn't have the human reach to live on."
Interview with Gabriel Chouinard for SF Site: "Expect some fairly off-the-wall characters, doing what they call 'the Kefahuchi Boogie' which is, like, surfing it. Expect plenty of sex, and some whole-body dysmorphia. Oh, also rocket ships."
Email interview of M. John Harrison by Patrick Hudson for The Zone
Interview with Cheryl Morgan at Strange Horizons: "Once you have understood escapist fiction and the culture of escape you begin to go further back and ask what it is they're based on. What they're based on is desire."
Interview in a pub at Hispacon
Harrison's official home page
M. John Harrison's Guardian top 10. Good lord, I've only read one.
The M. John Harrison looks just like Sauron Fanclub (okay, I made that one up. But this link does go to a story by Harrison, "Tourism," featuring one Jack Serotonin, set in the same universe as Light. What's not to love?)

¹ Neil Gaiman writes, "It's way out beyond astonishing. Lots of over-the-top blurbs from authors that turn out to be understatements when you get to the end."

Scribbled at August 12, 2005 5:01 PM AST | Permanent link to this post | More? sf

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://webteam.unb.ca/mt/asdf23wer234msadf.cgi/1881