Gateway by Frederik Pohl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Frederik Pohl’s Gateway is a sci fi classic, winning both the Hugo and Nebula awards, as well as others. I’ve been looking forward to reading it for some time. And I’ve got to say that upon finishing it, I have some mixed feelings. I think the book, on the whole, was decent, a good read, etc., but there were some very unlikeable things about the book as well.

I’ll start with the protagonist, Robinette Broadhead. “Bob” is a first class, egocentric, shallow, oversexed, wussie jerk/asshole and it was really hard for me to like him. He spends the novel being a pansy for fear of flying out on dangerous missions from Gateway, a place formerly colonized by a long-gone alien species called the Heechee. (Who came up with that name anyway? It’s never explained, and that bugged me throughout the novel.) He has a crap job on earth, wins the lottery, goes to Gateway to find his fortune, as “prospectors” flying leftover Heechee ships that no one knows how they work go out to various locales to try and hit it big by finding Heechee materials and winning large cash awards from the Corporation in charge. Broadhead goes there, gets flight training, but doesn’t go out. He’s too scared. Instead he spends his time wandering around, getting drunk, high, and laid (this book is from the ’70s), until he starts running out of cash and is forced to go out on a mission, which is a failure. He develops a relationship with Klara, which doesn’t stop him from having sex with everyone else, but their fights are borderline stupid, and they’re both too scared to go out on missions. OK, missions are dangerous, but isn’t that why you are on Gateway — to face dangers in the hope of striking it rich?

The format of the book is interesting. Every other chapter is of a current day Broadhead session with his AI shrink, Sigfrid. During these sessions, Bob pouts, screams, shouts, insults the computer, tries to manipulate his shrink, doesn’t relay important facts, and is an unlikeable character altogether. The good part of these scenes is they are very instrumental toward the end to unraveling a couple of major secrets the book is building toward in its climax. And I would have to say the climax is partially good. There are a couple of surprises — big ones — that make it worth reading the book through. That said, there are quite a few dry patches in the book, just boring pages following each other into more boredom. I could have used a little more space missions and a little less gratuitous sex. (The other chapters are the tale leading up to his psychological sessions told in chronological order.)

Parts of the book feel a little dated too, although that’s surely a curse for most sci fi books. The psychotherapy, especially, that Broadhead undergoes feels dated. And the science component of the book, dealing with light speed and light years and all that, doesn’t feel quite right. But Pohl’s not a scientist and I’m not either, so I’ll not quibble about that.

I’d have to say I cautiously recommend this book, in large part due to its giant reputation. I’m glad I finally read it and even though it took me forever to make it through its 313 pages due to my growing bored repeatedly, I’m glad I did. That said, I doubt I’ll ever read it again, and I’m reluctant to pick up one of the Heechee sequels. I’m giving this book four out of five stars — barely.

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The Cool War by Frederik Pohl

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I like Frederik Pohl, but by his standards, this book was pretty lightweight. It’s set in the not-too-distant future where there is a “cool war” between East and West. In it, the spies merely try to irritate each other in order to sow chaos. Amusing, but just barely.

Hornswell Hake, a Unitarian minister referred to as “Horny” throughout the book, is recruited by the Team, the post-CIA spy agency, to unwittingly create chaotic events throughout the world in travels they send him on. Sadly, he’s a bit of a bumbling fool, constantly being played by either the Team or their enemies, who also try to recruit him to their side to fight the Team. There’s a great bit of irony in the book and some good laughs too, but there are just some head scratching moments. Case in point: Horny and a parishioner named Alys (who is married to two men and a woman) are searching the Middle East for one of Horny’s opposites, a woman he’s got a thing for named Leota, who has been taken captive by a Mid East sheik to be in his harem. Horny and Alys travel through the desert to this sheik’s place and spot Leota outside. There, instead of grabbing her and fleeing, Alys decides to exchange places with Leota, apparently because she thinks it a bit romantic, as well as the fact that she thinks she’s better with men. Huh? They changed clothes with each other and then Horny and Leota take off while Alys stays. Pretty hard to believe, even if it is a sci fi novel.

I won’t give away the ending, but Horny suffers through all sorts of personal turmoil to get to the end of the novel, only to have it “tied up” nicely by Pohl in just a few short pages, and frankly, rather unsatisfyingly to me. It seemed like he phoned that part of the book in. Weak ending. Still, I did generally enjoy reading it; I’m glad I did. I just can’t recommend this book as a good representation of Pohl or even good sci fi. It’s inventive, but rather mediocre.

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The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this cynical and satirical sci fi novel. It’s about Mitchell Courtenay, a high ranking ad exec in a futuristic American society dominated by advertising. Indeed, it’s virtually un-patriotic to not adhere to advertising’s role in society. Mitch is given the assignment of leading his firm’s intention of colonizing Venus, even though it’s not remotely habitable, by making American suckers go there based on his expertise in advertising. The book starts taking some bizarre twists at that stage, leading to his being essentially kidnapped and put to work as a “crumb,” a common consumer, his escape, his workings with the Consies, or conservations, a Greenpeace-like group which attempts to overcome America’s fixation with rampant consumerism and its negative impact on the world, and more.

This book was written 60 years ago, but it was seriously ahead of its time. To quote another Goodreads member, Nancy Oakes wrote:

“Awesome book! Hard to believe this was written like 50+ years ago, because it is so incredibly relevant to our modern times. For example: it takes a look at the dangers of imperialistic corporations & greed, the plight of workers and the ungodly conditions under which some of them have to work, the clear and unmistakeable division of class in society, the total lack of concern for the environment and the treatment of those who care about it and want change.”

This book is frighteningly applicable to our current times. Pohl (the book was co-written with CM Kornbluth) was a true visionary. The satire is witty and funny. One scene that had me laughing was Mitch’s dissing of Moby Dick due to its lack of advertising. LOL! My only complaint, and the reason I’m only giving it four out of five stars, is that the scene transitions are often lacking. You’re in a scene and then, boom, something happens in the course of a sentence to radically change the plot and you’re left picking up the pieces, trying to figure out what just happened. This occurs several times in the book and I found it very distracting. Nonetheless, it was a good, quick read and I heartily recommend this book.

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Platinum Pohl: The Collected Best Stories by Frederik Pohl

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an excellent collection of short science fiction stories. I’d read some of Pohl’s work and knew he was prolific, but I don’t think I had the appreciation for him that I now have. This is some kick ass work, encompassing decades of writing. Philip K. Dick is probably my favorite sci fi writer because he can do some truly amazing things, but I’d have to say Pohl is probably now my second favorite. Some of the stories which stood out for me were “The Day the Icicle Works Closed,” “The Gold at the Starbow’s End,” “The Day the Martians Came,” “Day Million,” and “Fermi and Frost,” which won a Hugo when it was published. I was worried that such a large collection of short stories might ultimately bore me and become redundant, but that never happened. The material stayed fresh and the editor did a fantastic job at picking out the stories to include in this book. As I’ve learned, Pohl is truly a giant in sci fi circles, and now I know why. Read this book!

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