The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
This book is: amazing.
Other elements: loneliness, love, far away places.
Read it: if you want to read something out of the ordinary.
Overall rating: 10/10
I’ve been avoiding reviewing The Book of Strange New Things for ages. Not because I don’t enjoy thinking about it, but because I loved it – really, truly LOVED it – and I have no idea how to explain it to you.
This book involves so many elements that I don’t normally like to read about. It’s set in our world, slightly in the future, in a time when everything is a mess (more natural disasters, pollution out of control, etc). There are aliens. The main character is a Christian missionary. If I had seen it on a shelf and read the back copy, I probably would have put it back down.
Instead of feeling like it was about aliens, religious colonialism, the doomed-ness of our society, space travel, or any of those things, this book just ended up feeling like it had something quiet and true to say about people and the nature of life. It made me think about the world and how people see each other, and why, and if things are as they should be.
When pressed, I describe The Book of Strange New Things as a fantastic work of literary fiction that happens to contain aliens.
I don’t know if you’ll like it as much as I did, but I bet you’d at least think it’s interesting. I’m normally a quick reader, but I savored The Book of Strange New Things for at least three weeks because it gave me so much to consider.
If you’re open to reading something unusual that I thought was great, you should give this one a shot.
My thanks to Edelweiss and Hogarth for providing me with a copy of The Book of Strange New Things for review consideration.
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So I had the totally opposite experience! I read it a few months ago because everyone was raving about it, and I was singularly unimpressed. I was really hoping to have my breath taken away or some big ideas lodged in my mind, but honestly I was bored and found the characters tiring. I felt like there could have been so much more to the story, but it just didn’t deliver.
That’s so funny- To each her own, I guess!
Yep!!
I have read books solely on your recommendation before and was thrilled that I had done so. I’m sure this book will be no different!
Aw, yay! Thanks so much for your faith in my taste – I hope it proves to be justified!
I’m working through The Way of Kings on her recommendation. I like it so far!
I’m glad! 🙂