The Man Who Fell to Earth

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Summary: Responce
Review: "The Man Who Fell To Earth, June 5, 2003
Reviewer: A reader from California "
I would just like to comment on what you said, I must agree with just about everything you said.

And with your words about the movie, I believe this was David Bowie's was the perfect, PERFECT role and he is exscatly how I pictured him looking and acting in my mind! Other than that..The sex sence almost made me want to cry, they had the chance to make a wonderful film, {do not get me wrong, the editing was amazing photography wise} and they turned it into a soft porno.

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Summary: Roger-Paul's review, continued!
Review: ...that was the case for me. my only regert lies not in the book itself but merely in the fact that the onlt edition of it that seems to be in print at the moment is a mass-market paperback- this glorious book deserves to additionally be printed in a more quality edition

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Summary: Tevis at his best!
Review: A tragic force moves through this story of an alien charged with saving his species. The Anthean's long range plan requires T.J. Newton to come to Earth and to construct a ferry boat to return for the rest of the survivors of the planetary wars that plagued their world for centuries. Will the earthlings learn from their sad history? Newton is such a loner, necessarily for fear of discovery, but without the feeling of belonging he descends into melancholy and alcoholism. Though written decades ago, much of the technology translates today. Tevis did an outstanding job.

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Summary: One of the best books I've read
Review: Being a David Bowie fan, I read this book because I knew Bowie was in the film. But I soon found it was not just a book a movie was based on, it was one I'd recommend to anyone. Tevis's strong descriptions vividly touch the emotions of the reader and will captivate throughout. Anyone who has ever felt alienated will sympathize with the conflict the main character faces, both externally and internally. The torment of living in two cultures, an atmosphere which is barely tolerable, and in moral conflict gives Newton (the main character) enough troubles to keep you wondering what he will do to cope. This is one you'll hate to put down

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Summary: Deserves the "classic" label. You'll love this book!
Review: BRIEF SYNOPSIS: A lone extraterrestrial lands on Earth with a mission.

PROS: Excellent story with fascinating characterizations...poignant and memorable.
CONS: A revised edition that is not labeled as such

BOTTOM LINE: Fantastic! This is a classic that's worth reading now and re-reading every so often.

This is one the best science fiction stories I've read in a long time. It hooks you early and holds you to the unexpected end. I read this in two sittings and loved every page.

The alien, Newton, is likable from the start. His outsider's view of humanity and his assimilation are fascinating in content and in the way they are described by Tevis. The author judiciously uses characterizations to advance plot and vice versa. All of this belnds together to tell a compelling story.

I read the revised 1999 edition but own an older, un-revised copy. I personally don't think that the inconsistencies listed by other reviewers are a big deal, nor do they detract from the story in my opinion. I will, however, read the original version when I re-read this in the future. And I will be rereading this again...it's that good!

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Summary: Christ-like alien Thomas Jerome Newton falls to earth.
Review: Gentle, Christ-like alien, Thomas Jerome Newton falls to earth and undertakes a desperate plan to rescue the 300 remaining inhabitants of his war ravaged, resource depleted home planet, Anthea. The tale begins with his landing in a barren Kentucky coalfield, and traces his meteoric rise to the top of the business world, accomplished with advanced Anthean technology and superior Anthean intellect.

The plan works so well, that in a few short years he has amassed enough wealth to construct the ferry ship that will perform a rescue mission to Anthea. But as the project nears completion, after five years of isolation and psychological strain from living amongst earthlings, a gin-soaked, world-weary Newton begins to doubt the plan's wisdom. In frustration and despair, he states:

"Do you realize that you will not only wreck your civilization, such as it is, and kill most of your people; but that you will also poison the fish in your rivers, the squirrels in your trees, the flocks of birds, the soil, the water? There are times when you seem, to us, like apes loose in a museum, carrying knives, slashing the canvases, breaking the statuary with hammers."*

With Orwellian overtones, the novel intertwines aching loneliness, stinging social commentary, convincing characters, and a potent plot reminiscent of Star Trek's most cerebral episodes.

At just under 200 pages, this book perfectly captures the melancholy mood for a gray, wintry, weekend, read. Published in 1963, set in what was then the future, but is now the past, it has timeless qualities essential to great fiction. Enjoyably bittersweet.

* from "The Man Who Fell to Earth"

Rating:
Summary: A truly moving tale
Review: I again, read this book because I am an ardent David Bowie fan. I have seen the film (no lie) more than 20 times and could likely recite entire scenes. But having read Tevis' book, the story line of the film becomes richer, more vivid, and certainly more understandable and easy to follow. He has written what is perhaps the quintessential description of the "alien" or alienated. One is immediately drawn to the main character and yearns to help him as one would a wounded bird. He is child-like and (fallen) god-like all at once. There is a wonderful mix of innocence and madness to him...It is a powerful statement on the utter sadness of societal corruption and the futility of trying to maintain ones' dignity and altruistic aims when enmeshed in such a society. The ending almost makes one ashamed to be a member of the human race

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Summary: a beautiful, provocative book
Review: i am another who read the book because i heard Bowie was in the movie; i read the book before seeing the movie, which undoubtedly was beneficial to my understanding of the movie. i found the book to be absolutely Beautiful, yet often at the same time extremely painful; i was swept away by the imagery and the intensity of the main character-- although i read the book several months ago it is still in my mind- i disagree w/ the reviewer who didn't like the ending; though it was extremely bleak (i, too, cried), the book simply would not have conveyed the same message had it ended on a happier note. i was (and still am?) utterly absorbed by this book; the beauty and vividness of it makes one wish to be immersed in it as much as possible, or atleast that wa

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Summary: A wonderful piece of speculative science fiction
Review: I have found myself to be something of a fan of speculative fictions. And The man who fell to Earth by Walter Tevis has been, for a long time now, a book that I have grown to appreciate in what it says and how it expresses it, about the human condition through an inhuman perspective. And I happen to own an edition that was published in 1963, so you can imagine my disappointment when I bought a new copy and found the revisions, which were not only unnecessary but also inconsistent. Now, I agree that some "dated" books are in need of revisions, however, when Walter Tevis (may he rest in peace) had revised his book, The man who fell to Earth, he left it lacking in it's original believability by leaving inconsistencies in the dates that the novel takes place within. The novel was always meant to take place ten years or so in the future and I believe that before his death in 1984, Mr. Tevis had intended to possibly revise it yet again but hadn't the chance due to his fatal run in with cancer.

The original novel opened with the Section Icarus Descending 1972, the revised version opens with Icarus Descending 1985. The second section of book is Rumplestiltskin, 1975, in the revised version this is 1988. The final section of the book is Icarus Drowning, 1976, and 1990 in the revised edition novel. Now this might not seem a bother at all really but here's where my qualm lies... The section called Rumplestiltskin begins in autumn of 1988. And in that December (not to spoil the plot) late on Christmas night, Thomas Jerome Newton, the protagonist of the novel confesses to the Chemistry professor, Nathan Bryce that he is in fact an alien visitor from another world. The following morning, Thomas Jerome Newton is taken captive by the American government and held for two months. It should be about February of 1989, or there about. However, he is interrogated, at the end of those two months, and the interrogator is commented as saying "It just happens that this is 1988. And 1988 is an election year." - (Page 180 of the revised edition of The man who fell to Earth.) Allowing this little flaw to slide, we move on. And Thomas Jerome Newton is carelessly blinded by his captors and for two weeks he is kept in a government hospital where nothing can be done to help him. The next section of book starts, Icarus Drowning 1990. This gives you the impression that it's at least a year later. However, according to page 197, the very first page of Icarus Drowning, it is only seven months after the end of Rumplestiltskin, let's see... From the end of 1988- Seven months, plus two weeks, plus two months, equals nine and and half months. At most it should be October of 1989. What happened to 1989? Perhaps I have not lived on planet Earth long enough but I'm fairly certain that nine and a half months is not a full year. A second thing I dislike about the revised version of The man who fell to Earth, is something that is missing from the original text. In the original novel, published in 1963, there is an allusion towards the end when Thomas Jerome Newton, our protagonist is compared to Winston Smith, the hero of George Orwell's Nineteen eighty-four. I had liked that. And I don't like that it is missing from the version currently in print. The man who fell to Earth is a wonderfully surreal novel but I just wish that someone would drop the revised version and go back to Tevis' original text from the American 1963 version. I know that it had been Walter Tevis himself to write the revisions for the novel (1976 in the UK and 1981 in the USA) but the fact is Walter Tevis had been an alcoholic and that might have impaired his reasoning when revising his novel. If anything, I feel that people should have the choice to read the original, classic, unabridged text, or the cut, shoddy, inconsistent, and overly politically correct revised edition. This novel is supposedly a science fiction classic and yet the only way anyone can actually read the whole, original text would be by buying a first edition from a used book shoppe or from ebay.com. And I think that it's a real shame, that other then seeking collectable stores or antique book markets, there is no way that anyone can really read the original book, which by the way, had consistent dates. It feels, in reality, almost like the horrific tragedy of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, that society, so obsessed with political correctness, have grown so very careless with it's "Classic" fictions. And we, as a result, lose out in beautiful works on fiction that shall, as a result, fade off in to oblivion, it's original content forgotten or painted over and we are left with cut and "revised" reprints which for all their gloss remain flawed with inconsistencies, bits and pieces missing, and abridgments. And these either insult us intellectually or give us to know that over all, our attention spans have grown so short as to not notice or care.

Ignoring the flaws and inconsistencies with the datings of the revised version of The man who fell to Earth (The only version that had ever been in print in the UK and the only edition available currently in America, since 1981), it is actually a very good, and intriguing piece of speculative- science fiction. And I just think that it's a real pity, a sin really, that no one has even tried to reprint the original, unabridged or non "revised" text for over twenty-two years, even in the USA where it was first published.

Rating:
Summary: great book but
Review: I have the 70's paperback with the Bowie movie picture on it, and am also distressed that new editions have changed the story dates. I couldn't buy a replacement copy after noticing that, so I don't know who changed the book or why or what else was "revised". Certainly if they are going to muck with a great classic like this a word of explanation is in order. That complaint aside, this is one of the best books I've ever read. It's moving, evocative, thought provoking, full of the touches of a writer who was a real artist. It's one of the few books I always need close by so I can pick it up and be swept away by its brilliance. The original gets 5 stars...I'm taking one off for the needless changes.