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The Book of Strange New Things
Jul. 3rd, 2015 11:34 amI finished listening to The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber this morning and I'm struggling to figure out what I thought about it.
At the basic level, I got involved in the character's lives (though I related much more to the wife left behind on earth than the husband sent to another planet to minister to the natives) and I found the development of the relationship between Peter the missionary and the mysterious aliens quite affecting. I found the ending quite unsatisfactory - everything was left very open, with a great many questions unanswered.
I think that was the point, though - that faith is required to get through life, that there will be no concrete answers and that you just have to believe in everything working itself out. And that was the main problem I had with the book - it was so infused with Peter's faith, everything relating to God and Christianity, that I found it very difficult to understand. I have read that the author is actually an atheist, which I find fascinating and baffling - as an atheist myself, I struggled with Peter's purpose, motivation and attitudes at every turn, and found the story ultimately impossible to reconcile.
At the basic level, I got involved in the character's lives (though I related much more to the wife left behind on earth than the husband sent to another planet to minister to the natives) and I found the development of the relationship between Peter the missionary and the mysterious aliens quite affecting. I found the ending quite unsatisfactory - everything was left very open, with a great many questions unanswered.
I think that was the point, though - that faith is required to get through life, that there will be no concrete answers and that you just have to believe in everything working itself out. And that was the main problem I had with the book - it was so infused with Peter's faith, everything relating to God and Christianity, that I found it very difficult to understand. I have read that the author is actually an atheist, which I find fascinating and baffling - as an atheist myself, I struggled with Peter's purpose, motivation and attitudes at every turn, and found the story ultimately impossible to reconcile.
