Brothers

Rating:
Summary: 2 sibling rivals in search of a good story
Review: Ben Bova usually writes workmanlike science fiction novels that are stronger in the exploration of scientific ideas than in characterization. In Brothers, Bova tries to work on characterization and fails miserably.

The story is about two brothers, Arthur and Jesse Marshak, who are opposing each other in a science trial. Arthur has been developing the technology to re-grow organs, a technology that may have led to the death of one his employees. Against this backdrop, the sibling rivalry of the brothers is played out. The story of the problems with the technology isn't bad but the characters just are too unbelievable.

Arthur Marshak is the older brother and a good and decent man. His brother Jesse is portrayed as selfish and self-centred early on but becomes more likable as the story progresses. Jesse is either a jerk or he isn't and Bova doesn't give him enough complexity to balance it. Nor does he undergo a conversion of great significance during the story. Jesse's characterization is bad but his wife Julia's is abysmal. Julia is portrayed as the most sympathetic and compassionate individual in the story. Yet this woman quite literally goes from Arthur's bed to Jesse's. In real life actions like this break up families and are not done by caring, compassionate individuals. Subordinate characters fare no better. The key politician is stereotypically just out for votes. The fundamentalist Christian preacher is unprincipled and perhaps even a crook. It strikes me that writers can only get away with these types of attacks on Protestants and the stereotypes are highly discriminatory.

Will the science trial turn out favourably? Will the two brothers be reconciled? The conclusion doesn't make a lot of sense. Bova can do better.

Rating:
Summary: 2 sibling rivals in search of a good story
Review: Ben Bova usually writes workmanlike science fiction novels that are stronger in the exploration of scientific ideas than in characterization. In Brothers, Bova tries to work on characterization and fails miserably.

The story is about two brothers, Arthur and Jesse Marshak, who are opposing each other in a science trial. Arthur has been developing the technology to re-grow organs, a technology that may have led to the death of one his employees. Against this backdrop, the sibling rivalry of the brothers is played out. The story of the problems with the technology isn't bad but the characters just are too unbelievable.

Arthur Marshak is the older brother and a good and decent man. His brother Jesse is portrayed as selfish and self-centred early on but becomes more likable as the story progresses. Jesse is either a jerk or he isn't and Bova doesn't give him enough complexity to balance it. Nor does he undergo a conversion of great significance during the story. Jesse's characterization is bad but his wife Julia's is abysmal. Julia is portrayed as the most sympathetic and compassionate individual in the story. Yet this woman quite literally goes from Arthur's bed to Jesse's. In real life actions like this break up families and are not done by caring, compassionate individuals. Subordinate characters fare no better. The key politician is stereotypically just out for votes. The fundamentalist Christian preacher is unprincipled and perhaps even a crook. It strikes me that writers can only get away with these types of attacks on Protestants and the stereotypes are highly discriminatory.

Will the science trial turn out favourably? Will the two brothers be reconciled? The conclusion doesn't make a lot of sense. Bova can do better.

Rating:
Summary: 911! Emergency! Book in a permanent vegetative state!
Review: Can we regrow damaged organs in the body without surgery? How can we reconcile the great moral dilemmas? Can we be trusted to play God? Can I be bothered to turn the page?

This book for me highlighted the worst of popular speculative fiction. Bova is a man with a story inside, fighting to get out. Can he liberate it and survive? Only by draining it of originality, bleeding it of the philosophy he pretends to explore and transplanting the characters from cardboard cut-outs 'R' us. By all means write a book on this intriguing subject, but not this book.

Weak, shallow and sentimental. Would work very well on daytime TV.

Rating:
Summary: Not that great not that bad!
Review: I found it slow to start, for that matter didn't really get going, interesting though, and the incessant chop and changing between the present and the past memories got abit annoying trying to keep up with it, especially since it was slow to start<as I said>. Its not to bad, wish the plotline was more developed :

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: I have never read any work by Ben Bova although I know he is very popular. The research that was the subject of this novel is fiction. That is why it's a FICTION novel. This is not a text book or a training manual in molecular biology technology. The novel, however, was very well written, with an interstring plot and very realistic characters. We have to keep in mind that when we read a Science Fiction novel, the author is working based in a theory that could be true in some circumstances. It reflects the imagination of the author, and "Brothers" is a prime example. I think that what Ben Bova wanted to expose is the hardships and obstacles that scientists face while they work in any controvercial reseach: ignorance, stuborness, fear, traditionalists, moralists and every excuse laymen find to obliterate the advance of science.A brilliant work!

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: I have never read any work by Ben Bova although I know he is very popular. The research that was the subject of this novel is fiction. That is why it's a FICTION novel. This is not a text book or a training manual in molecular biology technology. The novel, however, was very well written, with an interstring plot and very realistic characters. We have to keep in mind that when we read a Science Fiction novel, the author is working based in a theory that could be true in some circumstances. It reflects the imagination of the author, and "Brothers" is a prime example. I think that what Ben Bova wanted to expose is the hardships and obstacles that scientists face while they work in any controvercial reseach: ignorance, stuborness, fear, traditionalists, moralists and every excuse laymen find to obliterate the advance of science.A brilliant work!

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Concept, Horrible Book
Review: I think the concept of moral issues in relation to science and tissue regeneration is very interesting and deserves an actual debate, an in-depth presentation of both sides of the issue. "Brothers" does not provide this. The numerous results of a technique to re-generate organs and nerves are barely touched upon. Only the two most popularly discussed aspects (animal research and elitism)are actually discussed, while things like the question of whether, from a humanist rather than religious perspective, immortality is a good thing, are barely mentioned. The pure science aspects are simplified to a level where even I, a grade twelve student, feel like I've suddenly regressed to Kindergarten. That said, the story itself is no better. Both Arthur and Jessie's characters are shallow, while the others are so flat as to be almost not worth mentioning. Ben Bova delves no deeper into his characters than the actions they are forced to by the bare requirements of the plot. He puts his characters into simple, easily defined moral boxes, and they behave accordingly: without personality. On all counts, philosophy, science, and character, this book's a failure.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Concept, Horrible Book
Review: I think the concept of moral issues in relation to science and tissue regeneration is very interesting and deserves an actual debate, an in-depth presentation of both sides of the issue. "Brothers" does not provide this. The numerous results of a technique to re-generate organs and nerves are barely touched upon. Only the two most popularly discussed aspects (animal research and elitism)are actually discussed, while things like the question of whether, from a humanist rather than religious perspective, immortality is a good thing, are barely mentioned. The pure science aspects are simplified to a level where even I, a grade twelve student, feel like I've suddenly regressed to Kindergarten. That said, the story itself is no better. Both Arthur and Jessie's characters are shallow, while the others are so flat as to be almost not worth mentioning. Ben Bova delves no deeper into his characters than the actions they are forced to by the bare requirements of the plot. He puts his characters into simple, easily defined moral boxes, and they behave accordingly: without personality. On all counts, philosophy, science, and character, this book's a failure.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to Read, Easy to Forget
Review: I was 2/3rd's of the way through this book and realized that nothing was going on. Two very self absorbed brothers make amends while each maintaining their own opposing views. I guess I was disappointed to say the least. The ending was very anticlimactic.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to Read, Easy to Forget
Review: I was 2/3rd's of the way through this book and realized that nothing was going on. Two very self absorbed brothers make amends while each maintaining their own opposing views. I guess I was disappointed to say the least. The ending was very anticlimactic.