Rating: 
Summary: A very unusual thriller
Review: The Coming really had me on the edge of my seat for reasons that go far beyond the normal excitement of a plot where the fate of the planet is in the balance. What set it apart from your typical "disaster thriller" is the fact that the characters are not really in the thick of things except at the very beginning and end. I think this is what lends the book such a real feel. The main character is the one who first identifies the message and is involved in the investigation of it authenticity, but she is quickly pushed aside by bureaucrats and somewhat sidelined. What the book is then is a reflection of how those events affect the main characters and the people of the Florida College town where they live. In a unique way the narrative passes on to other people in their lives always winding back to the original cast. It an interesting way of telling a story that I have never seen before. I loved the novelty of it (no pun intended!). The book is quite different not only in narrative style but in the personal politics that Haldeman envisions for the future. The book is quite controversial in that regard and at first I found it kind of shocking. Still the book is quite good and a full meal for the mind!
Rating: 
Summary: Should've been a short story
Review: The Coming takes place later this century in a world wracked by social change. A scientist in Gainesville detects an approaching spaceship, and the news causes some upheaval, though not as much as might be expected. Nothing new, it would seem, but Haldeman keeps the focus almost entirely within Gainesville: very little of the action takes place outside the university town. The novel feels stretched out: it probably would have made a fine short story, but as a novel it left me thinking, "This is it? This is all we get?" Without giving away the ending, it's not a particularly satisfying one. Haldeman doesn't really explain the why of the plot. In fact, the plot feels like just so much baggage while he expounds on a few social themes, like the criminalization of homosexuality and the implications of real traffic control. In the end, Haldeman has many interesting ideas (as always) but it was stretched out far too long. He's a fine author with lots to say - just not here.
Rating: 
Summary: Let's be fair here
Review: The one star review is a little unfair and quite unspecific. There are superficial similarities between this book and Contact by Sagan. They do both occur in the near future and they do both concern female astrophysicists who recieve messages from space and run into opposition, but I think the literary world can support two such works. There the similarities do end. Haldeman's future is scarily believable, and as usual deftly sketched out with a minimum of SF flapdoodlery. The focus is on the story and the characters not the era. There are a couple main characters but the book belongs to their supporting cast as much as to Dr. Bell and her music professor husband. One of the most enjoyable parts of this book is its narrative style; all of the characters hand off the narration of the story chapter to chapter. One character comes into contact with another and the point of view character changes. Excellent way to see the world of the book and its characters from all sides. We do get to see the characters warts and all. There are many twists in the story, and none of them ring untrue. Sure you know something's fishy...sure you think one of the characters isn't what he seems, but you don't know what or in what way...until the end, and it is a good surprise ending (but not a total surprise--it's all there and rings true). And the best thing is we don't come to the end (as we did with -the movie- Contact) and find out the aliens are her dead father! What a gyp!) So anyway, this book is much better than the other reviewer would lead you to believe. It is well worth the time. And I will say so in my review which I will now write for a review journal (which shall remain nameless). Go! Read this book. It's Good.
Rating: 
Summary: Garbage
Review: The worst "novel" I've read in years.
Rating:
Summary: Garbage
Review: The worst "novel" I've read in years.
Rating: 
Summary: Luckily a short book
Review: The year is 2054. Aurora Bell, an astronomy professor inFlorida, receives a message from outside the solar system that says"We're coming". The source of the message is heading towardsearth and expected in three months time. During this 3 month period,the story takes you through the social fabric of the times. Designerdrugs are prevalent. There are exotic sexual devices. A war is aboutto break out overseas in Europe. Characters also take on a life oftheir own, though sometimes shallow. Such as Norman Bell and hisillicit sexual history and the extortionist by the name of Willie JoeCapra. I did like the smooth transitions from chapter too chapterand some of the characters, but I thought the ending was rather dull.
Rating:
Summary: Don't bother
Review: This book has a meandering plot line, no memorable characters, and the ending was very weak. Would have given it no stars.
Rating:
Summary: Cut the middle and add the ends
Review: This book is terrible. Not an opinion I give lightly but I have to be honest.
Basically it is a very short story that takes on issues irrelevant to the plot and lets them dominate.
Even as a short story this would not fly as it is so cliched as to be farcical.
Obviously the author was more interested in putting forth implausable political ideas than telling a science fiction based story.
The whole idea of aliens approaching is but the thinnest of backgrounds as oppossed to the main plot as potential readers are led to believe.
The main line deals with a ridiculous blackmail scheme involving a musician and his being gay in an America where homosexuality is a crime akin to child molestation of today. Yet in a world where virtual reality sex is common.
This is one of those books that like those strange movies that appear on HBO you stick with hoping it will get better and the ending will bring everything together but it doesn't. You end up feeling cheated and upset with yourself for having wasted your time.
Do yourself a favor and do not bother with this title. There are far too many other great books out there far more deserving of the attention lavished on this stinker.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: This highly derivative work which reeks of Sagan-rip-off shows that Joe Haldeman can only write sci-fi war stories. He tries to here, but the fails miserably. Only the ending is seemingly interesting, but it too is derivative.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps it should have been a short story
Review: This is a disappointingly weak book, especially from a master like Haldeman. Although it is ostensibly a first-contact story, most of the book is devoted to subplots of Mafia blackmail and political in-fighting that are only tangentially related to the eventual alien encounter. Most of the time I felt like I was reading a mystery/action thriller rather than a science fiction novel.Perhaps the most bizarre problem with this book is that a significant portion is devoted to characters that have no meaningful connection to the overall plot. Haldeman takes constant breaks from the main narrative to tell us about bartenders, college students, and homeless people. Many of them are genuinely interesting characters, and throughout the book the reader will wonder how they will eventually tie into the story. Unfortunately the book ends without ever tying them in, and the reader is left wondering why Haldeman spent so much time telling us about such irrelevant characters. Considerable attention is given to a young, beautiful medical student who supports herself by starring in pornographic videos. Haldeman describes her sexual escapades in lurid detail, but she never contributes anything to the plot or interacts with any of the other characters in a significant way. It appears that Haldeman included her in the story for no other reason than a gratuitous pseudo-pornographic interlude. 'The Coming' isn't a complete wash; most of the characters are genuinely interesting, and it's entertaining to watch them run around Gainesville trying to blackmail and backstab each other. Unfortunately the book's potential is spoiled by its irrelevant characters and subplots.
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