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Forever Peace
by Joe Haldeman
1998 Hugo
Award Winner
Got it
from: Public Library
351 Pages
From the back copy:
“2043 A.D.: The Ngumi War rages, fought by “soldierboys”—remote
control war machines run by soldiers hundreds of miles away. Julian Class is one of these soldiers, and
for him, war is indeed hell…”
Quietly, deeply grotesque
The
violence is tarantino-esque. There are
no wounds. If a soldier doesn’t die, the
injury, the pain, the experiences are permanent, emotional, and deeply, deeply
unsettling. Despite being a war fought
by long-distance controlled robots, the fighting, and the death, though
infrequent, is personal and visceral. Also
think, No Country for Old Men,
the Coen brothers’ quietly grotesque masterpiece.
Similar to
Forever War, the narrative is exceptionally somber; the
telling almost has a dead-pan quality as if a victim were being interrogated
while still in shock. Of course, this
only increases the reader’s emotional response to the tale. Being an intelligent writer, one would expect
Haldeman’s Hugo winners to be a heady experience, maybe resembling Le Guin’s
novels. Forever Peace certainly has the same intellectual weightiness, but that
combination of visceral intelligence and somber storytelling lands directly in
the stomach; it’s as if you’ve swallowed several dirt and moss covered stones,
and they’re heavy, and you know they’ll never pass.
But that’s
not entirely accurate. Forever Peace
gives you a heck of a lot to chew on.
The same struggle with enlisted men and women assimilated as Forever
War, and the difficulty of justifying a war that is just so hard to
understand. There’s also race, bioethics
and this history of the universe to keep you mentally on your toes. I took it in relatively quick and I think
that may have been a problem. It’s less
than 400 pages, but I could have spent a
month on it and only begun to digest this intellectual tome.
Recommendation
Although
it isn’t strictly a sequel, it is a marvelous companion piece to Forever War. Despite
how depressing Forever Peace can
be (I felt I was constantly battling feelings of guilt, anger and sorrow) it is
an absolute must. It’s also a great
piece for someone making their way through the history of the genre. There is a certain quality to their scheming
and the voice certain characters that reminded me of a number of other authors,
especially Heinlein and while the books stands firmly on its own, it has an
undeniable contextual appeal for being deeply-rooted in the genre.
Forever
Peace also made me a little depressed. I
just finished it today and I wanted to get this review done quickly (which
accounts for the brevity) so it doesn’t have to sit in my head any longer than
it naturally would. This is serious SF
that should not be taken lightly and it’s one of my favorites.
HEP SCORE
Universe 5/5
Social/Political
Climate 5/5
Dialogue 4/5
Scientific
Wonders 5/5
Characters
5/5
Overall
24/25
You didn't find this one as hopeful as I did, eh?
ReplyDeleteWell, certainly there is some hope there, but it was the depressing moments that really made an impression on me. Maybe if I hadn't written this so hastily, I would have elaborated on it more.
DeleteBut honestly, I think this book is more about the casualties and sacrifices of war and what we give up than any peace we get out of it.
The copy on the back cover talks about this book not being a sequel but an update so it's more relevant to today's society. Personally, I thought Forever War was plenty relevant but I think the copy indicates Haldeman's outlook didn't necessarily change, just that he (for what reason - I don't know) thought the story needed retelling.
hmm...what does it say about me that I was already noting the title at "quietly grotesque" not that I made it far into No Country... I really like the idea of this one.
ReplyDelete~L (omphaloskepsis)
Haha. I think any parent can appreciate the grotesque :)
DeleteActually I think this is just your kind of dark though. As Seb indicated, there is a fair amount of hope and more than a few ethical quandaries and quite a lot of intellectual stimulation. You should try it out.
I look forward to reading this. I read The Forever War for a class in college on apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic film, and really enjoyed it, and was surprised by how much it made me think. I couldn't tell from your review if you felt one was better than the other, though I fully expect that both are similarly great.
ReplyDeleteAck! Don't ask me to say which is better! I feel like this one was somehow even more moving and sad and I cared more about pretty much everything, but that could also just be a short memory. I remember really loving Forever War and now I'm looking back at the HEP score and wondering why the heck I only gave it 21.
DeleteAnyway, if you liked Forever War you'll feel the same about Peace. Don't pass it up.
I recently finished Forever War, my first Haldeman experience. I really enjoyed the intensity of it and the use of time dilation. I plan to read Forever Peace within the next few months.
ReplyDeleteYou'll appreciate the same intensity here... Enjoy!
Delete