Engine Summer

Rating:
Summary: Lovely tale of a life's story thast changes the world
Review: After the destruction, little BelAir is a community of truthful speakers who have survived and built a unique city- a microoculture with deep roots in the recovering earth and a rich emotional life. Crowley's young protagonist goes on "Walkabout", in search of their version of sainthood and finds far more than he envisioned. He achieves his goal, but in a terrifying and poignant way that he (and you) never dreamed of. This powerful little masterpiece has remained in my heart for 30 years. I take it out and reaquaint myself with it often.

Rating:
Summary: Unusual Powers
Review: Crowley's rare prose facilities are very evident in Engine Summer. From Little Belaire, the spiral home of antihero Rush that Speaks, to the Avvengers, who wander a post-apocalyptic America where the present day is lost in the mists of memory, every phrase, idea and resolution is perfect. Rush's wistful romance with Once a Day is a wonderful love story. As with other Crowley books, there is a strong flavor of the psychedelic. The plot is mechanical, but also so surprising and human that I felt drawn into fate itself by this story. That feeling didn't subside when I put the book down.

Rating:
Summary: Like a dream
Review: If Little, Big is supposed to be his absolute masterpiece then I'm really looking forward to reading it (it's next on my list) because this book was one of the most lyrical and poignant books I've ever read. Crowley is one of the most poetic writers to grace the SF/fantasy genres, the only comparsions that come even close are Tim Powers, Michael Moorcock and Samuel R Delany and even then they're nothing like Crowley. This book here is his major contribution to the SF canon, but because of its out of print status (my edition was printed in the early eighties, how long ago did it go out? and why?) it's mostly stayed relegated to cult novel catagories, leaving people like me and others to sing its praises and get his name out there. But about the book. A riff on the theme of post-war America, this is completely unlike any of the books I've ever read on the topic. It's not surprising plot wise (in fact the plot is rather straightforward, progressing from point A to point B quite easily) and the idea of people growing up in the shadow of the end of the war, it having happened so long ago that nobody can even remember the old days, surrounded by pieces of machinery created by the old civilization (the angels) and just basically living. But I don't know, because of the way he writes, the entire novel is given this pastoral feel, like it takes place in an endless summer, I can vividly picture Rush That Speaks and his people frolicking in the lost land not even knowing what it all used to be. It gives it this dreamlike quality and sometimes the action borders on the surreal, but it's always gentle and lyrical. Simply put this is one of those books that has to be read, and slowly, to let the images develop in your head and lounge around there for a bit. And the ending is one of the best and most satisfying that I've seen in a long time and a little sad at the same time. Enough with the plaudits, this is one of the most distinctive SF books ever written and more than deserves everyone's attention.

Rating:
Summary: Post-Apocalyptic Youth Quest
Review: John Crowley is a great talent, but this is not his best effort. Every SF/Fantasy writer is compelled to write a post-apocalypse novel, a simpler people living in the aftermath of a future world technology-driven disaster precipitated by man upon himself - and this is Crowley's contribution. Within this sub-genre, there are better efforts to recommend (Miller's 'Canticle for Liebowitz' immediately comes to mind). It is an interesting story crafted by a gifted storyteller but it is not a compelling novel in a literary sense. This book by Crowley reminds me of several of Philip Dick's alternative history books, albeit more lyrical and sentimental and less philosophical and/or psychological than Dick. The comparison with Dick is an interesting one. Crowley the superior literary talent is almost completely out of print. Dick, appealing to the mainstream SF community with several movie take-offs to sustain him ('Blade Runner', 'Screamers', 'Total Recall') is available en masse - almost all of his novels and several collections of short stories are immediately available. Dick was not capable of anything along the lines of Crowley's masterwork 'Little, Big', although Dick was a creative, intelligent talent that went unappreciated for too long. Hopefully, Crowley will earn his due recognition in his lifetime.

Rating:
Summary: Post-Apocalyptic Youth Quest
Review: OK, there are probably a few Crowley stories I haven't read... but this lyrical picaresque coming-of-age story is unsurpassed by his later work. In a post-apocalyptic future a young naif slowly comes to terms with a world in which people lie to themselves, in which tradition is entropy, and where people are divided between those who wish to become more clear and those who wish to become more occult... and that's only part of the ideas explored. There's a late '70's eschatological feel to the story which I no longer have much sympathy for but if you can get beyond that it's a wonderful read! Strongly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Crowley's best story
Review: OK, there are probably a few Crowley stories I haven't read... but this lyrical picaresque coming-of-age story is unsurpassed by his later work. In a post-apocalyptic future a young naif slowly comes to terms with a world in which people lie to themselves, in which tradition is entropy, and where people are divided between those who wish to become more clear and those who wish to become more occult... and that's only part of the ideas explored. There's a late '70's eschatological feel to the story which I no longer have much sympathy for but if you can get beyond that it's a wonderful read! Strongly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A gentle, charming myth of character and loss
Review: You must read all of John Crowley's books, including the classics Little, Big and Aegypt. But save room in your heart for Engine Summer, the sunniest, wisest, and happiest. If you ever fear that you have grown too old and world-weary to be happy, if you have forgotten the child you were, if you can't remember the time before you knew that people lied or hurt others on purpose, read this wonderful book and be transported back to your heart's true home.