The Stars My Destination

Rating:
Summary: Sheer inspiration
Review: SPOILER WARNING: SECRETS WILL BE DIVULGED

BUT BY ALL MEANS ORDER THIS BOOK NOW!!!

Bester bests the competition. His influence is pretty huge too. On the avant garde side he influenced Moorcock and Delaney both of whom influenced cyberpunk. And on the stodgy old conservative side he influenced Frank Herbert. (Dune can be read as an extension of Bester's ideas in this book.) As for the hard-sf influence, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a direct descendant.

This is the first of the sf double-whammy books. It works on multiple levels. On the surface it's an action story about revenge and its costs. And the action happens at laser speed, blasting out your cranium like solar rays. Peer a little deeper and the novel is about society and the people who make it up. All the characters are archetypes, universally found and recognized. Just a little deeper is the growth of the character Gully Foyle in a manner just like how society has grown over history, from compulsion ("Do it or I'll chop your head off!") to compassion (Welfare states). At its heart, however, this book is about what makes God God and how humans can attain apotheosis. The answer is NOT teleportation. The answer is in the little poem appended to the story by Blake, "Tyger! Tyger!" as an epigram. The hand which created the destructive tiger also created the world. I believe that "message" is not too far from Bakunin. It's not a simple message, because it's paradoxical: to create you must destroy. Which is echoed within the tale with the PyrE superweapon, which creates new universes.

The single flaw of the book is, at 250pp, it reads like it could use a further 100pp to flesh things out in greater detail. However, I'm certain this is no flaw of Bester's as almost no fresh young talent in genre fiction back then got published in books of any greater length. When I look through my local second hand bookstores I find that the pulps usually are quite short. Just be thankful the publishers had enough brains to publish what they did.

Rating:
Summary: Vengeance and imagination
Review: This is a book of frightening intensity. Bester's imagination was truly boundless. I agree with the writer of the foreword that the original title, "Tiger, Tiger!", was more appropriate to the book's theme and protagonist. If you enjoy this novel, make sure to read Bester's short stories as well.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome book with multiple messages!!!
Review: An excellent book that will inspire the reader to pursue his/her dreams whatever they may be. The main message to be learned is that a person must never give up even if everything seems hopeless. Throughout this book the main character (Gully Foyle) teaches us that the impossible can become possible. Jaunting (teleportation) is a good twist to the story. Wish I could do that - LOL.

Foyle labeled as a person with absolutely no intelligence is left to die in the middle of space, but revenge and hatred keep him alive. Foyle eventually becomes the most wanted criminal. However, as he approaches his evil objective he gets caught between hatred and love. What a dilemma!?!?

One of my favorite quotes from this book is "There's got to be more to life than just living."

Rating:
Summary: Bester's Best Book
Review: My favorite Science Fiction book. Read this book and watch an ordinary "dim witted" man turn into a highly intellegent monster. Action, suspense, mystery, Sex, violence, this book has everything. Best of all he's able to accomplish this in only 258 pages. I highly recommend it you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Revenge is for dreams, never for reality
Review: Having won the very first Hugo award for best science fiction novel with The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester faced a somewhat daunting task in trying to follow up his unparalleled early success. The Stars My Destination (originally published as Tiger! Tiger! in the UK) proved to be a second influential masterpiece from this legendary grand master of the genre; while it can not lay claim to a Hugo award, many fans consider it the better of Bester's first two novels and one of the best science fiction classics of all time. Personally, I find The Demolished Man to be a more polished, enjoyable read, but there can be no doubt that The Stars My Destination is a triumph. The novel introduces us to one of science fiction's most memorable characters. Gully Foyle is essentially 'everyman,' meaning he is essentially meaningless to society. With no education, no skills, and no ambition, his life consists of nothing more than just getting by. Then, he suddenly finds himself stranded alone on a desolate spaceship, forced to spend six months inside a locker no bigger than a coffin (standing up, no less), his life of utter nothingness interrupted only by incredibly dangerous forays inside the vacuum of space on missions to replenish his food and oxygen supplies. If nothing else, though, Gully Foyle is a survivor. After about six months of his torturous existence alone in space, a ship from the very same line he flew on appears; Gully sends flares and signals into space like confetti, yet the ship zooms by, leaving him to die. Gully Foyle does not just get angry; he devotes the rest of his life to destroying that ship and the crew who left him to die. He will stop at nothing to exact his revenge, absolutely nothing.

Foyle's return trip to earth comes by way of a detour that leaves him branded with the tattoo of a tiger-like mask on his face and the words Nomad tattooed into his forehead. It is this mask (and the interplay it eventually leads him to have with his own emotions) that serves as the central motif of the story. The mask represents the beast in him, the man who kills, rapes, plunders, usurps, and storms his way through life demanding it adapt itself to him rather than vice versa, and he has to learn that brute strength and selfishness will not accomplish his goals. Back on earth, his life is suddenly of great importance, as it turns out there was a very, very precious cargo onboard his ship which the government wants and the company who owns it wants back, deeming it the only thing that can avert defeat in the war between the inner planets and the outer planets. This war follows a total breakdown of all socioeconomic and political foundations caused by the discovery of jaunting. In this future, man can now teleport himself hundreds of miles just by concentrating and willing the move to happen. The technological aspects of Bester's future world are interesting if not sometimes prophetic, but this story lives and dies with its main character. Foyle is indeed everyman in a sense, and his thoroughly human (albeit sometimes dangerously psychotic) emotions and desires make him accessible to readers of all generations of the past and future.

I was a little surprised by the degree of comedy buried in these pages; while it is generally dark and sometimes meaningfully sarcastic and scathing in its implications, it manages at times to approach hilarity. The story of how jaunting was discovered is a riot. On the whole, this influential novel is a prototypical example of science fiction at its best; good science fiction does not rely on hard science or brilliant technological assumptions. While a story may necessarily be built in the environment of hard science, success depends almost entirely on the strength of the characters and their humanity (be it good or bad); that is the heart of good science fiction, and Alfred Bester understood this perfectly. That is why this novel will be read and studied for years and years to come.

Rating:
Summary: COPYRIGHT 1956
Review: Keep that in mind as you read this book. Think of all those bad SF movies that you see on American Movie Classics--the ones with bad plots, cardboard robots, flying saucers, our generals planning to nuke the aliens away.

In this novel, welcome yourself to a world where people "jaunte" or teleport from a known point A to a known point B. Where World Wars are replaced by devastating Solar Wars. Nukes are still implemented, but they're about to be overshadowed by an even deadlier creation, known as PyrE. It is little more than a few elements mixed together, but it detonates when triggered by psychokinesis (you think and it happens, in essence, you're God). People see with infrared eyes. Mars is slowly changing its atmosphere so that its inhabitants can breath oxygen. Infants can use telepathy. Religion is outlawed, resulting in Cellar Christians.

Welcome to the year 2436.

All of the above plays a part in the story in some way or another. But the real heart of the story deals with a man named Gully Foyle, who has been floating alone in space for 170 days. A ship comes by. Gully signals it. The ship obviously sees him. But it does not rescue him. Thus is born within Gully a seed of revenge that will grow as the pages fly by.

The book has its slow parts, but the book overall manages to overcome that fact. What I like most about this book is Bester's attention to detail. For example, when he details the history of "jaunting", he mentions the many different ways that it has changed the universe. Diseases spread like wildfire. People can leave towns, states, countries, at will, whenever (and I thought the Arizona border patrol had problems). To me, these minor details are what brought Bester's universe to life.

One can not deny that this book was highly influential in the field of SF. The playful use of words at the end and the illustrations would be an element that SF authors like Harlan Ellison would use in his short story "The Region Between".

I wouldn't consider this book to be the "greatest single SF novel" as Samuel Delany would put it, but it is definitely a classic. Kudos to Bester and his novel. For jaunting the SF field forward.

Rating:
Summary: an early science fiction classic? I think not...
Review: The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester is often hailed as one of the best science fiction novels of all time. Indeed most of the amazon.com reviews are extremely enthusiastic. However upon finishing this book I really have to wonder what the fuss is all about? Not only does this book compare badly to Alfred Bester's other major work (The Demolished Man), but it seems to be non-spectacular from several fronts: prose, characterizations, and believability. Compared to The Demolished Man, a very fine piece of *literature* (not "merely" science fiction), The Stars My Destination seems to be written by a different person entirely.

As for the story, fast forward a few centuries where space travel is common and most of the planets and moons in our solar system are colonised. People have also developed the ability for tele-transporting themselves vast distances (so much for planes, trains and automobiles). We focus our attention on one (justifiably) very angry young man (..long story) and his burning desire for revenge. However in the very end, after some soul-searching and very contrived circumstances, he undergoes a sense of redemption ... and that's about it. Moving? No, it doesn't compare to Crime & Punishment nor even The Shawshank Redemption. Well-written? No, the story line bounces about in a flimsy fashion. Worth reading? I think science fiction fans might still want to give this book a look if only for curiousity value. There are also some vignettes buried within which does keep one wanting to read through until the end. But for all others I recommend reading other early science fiction classics such as The Demolished Man and The Space Merchants (Kornbluth/Pohl).

Bottom line: unjustly judged as a classic. Passable entertainment only.

Rating:
Summary: I am a convert
Review: That this book is over 45 years old and still an "underground" classic is a travesty.

This author perfected the concept of world building before the phrase was coined. Bester visualized a future three hundred years from now that will be demolished and reconstructed by humanity's discovery of a talent for teleportation (jaunting). His insights into how this one factor has affected every level of our society are so fresh and well thought out that my preconceived notions about early sci fi writers being quaint and naiive have been permanently obliterated.

If, like me, you also expect the characters and dialog to reflect a '50's cliche, you will be shamed. Our so-called hero is every bit the foul-mouthed, amoral neanderthal from the beginning, when he is pushed to stretch his mental powers in order to survive abandonment in deep space. From there on, he uses everything and everyone in his quest for vengeance, which necessitates his surface transformation into an educated, civilized man -- indeed, only his language really cleans up. The other characters are also revealed one by one to be ruthless and driven, once they have been crossed or betrayed by Gully Foyle. Bester draws a chilling, fascinating portrait of human nature that is sharpened by dystopia.

For all these admittedly dark and depressing themes, this novel avoids melancholy or bleakness. The pervading feeling is strangely light and hopeful, the people oddly likeable. At the last fifty pages or so, we find plot twists that cause us to question and reevaluate our assumptions once again.

In all, The Stars My Destination was so well conceived that I can only marvel at the distinct lack of copycat authors in ensuing decades. Perhaps Bester is in such a class of his own that the rest of the sci fi genre intuitively shys away from mimicry. Bravo, well done.

Rating:
Summary: Almost reaches the stars
Review: For its first two-thirds, "The Stars My Destination" is a clear-eyed, exciting and chilling tale of one man's drive for revenge. An anti-hero of the first order, Gully Foyle is one of the best-drawn, most nuanced science fiction characters ever. The heat of his passion can't fail to affect the reader and the sinister plot against which he struggles is revealed at a satisfying pace. The depiction of a future of "jaunting" teleporters and an insular, literally clannish society of the mega-rich is refreshing and well-thought-out.

Then I don't know what the hell happens. The Maguffin which has provided such a gripping read turns out to be a heavy-handed explosive plot device. An couple of entirely implausible amorous pairings-off are abruptly thrown into the mix. Foyle's motives become corrupted and nonsensical. Plot threads dangle, the elegant subtlety of the first part of the book is replaced with clumsy and incoherent preaching, and towards the very end the prose is supplanted with pointless concrete poetry and even illustrations. Ultimately, we get a massively disappointing conclusion to a work that verges on greatness for so much of its length.

Rating:
Summary: Nonstop storytelling.
Review: Bester has a deserved place in science fiction as the author of this and "The Demolished Man". His writing is almost scorching in its pace and imagination. No matter that the premise is far fetched, the mark of this good writer is that is doesn't matter.

Bester's characters are sharply drawn, have shortcomings and are driven by their own passions while the dialogue is crisp and genuine.

This is a science fiction novel that can easily be recommended to those who don't like or don't read the genre. A basic document of American science fiction literature.