#michelfaber — Public Fediverse posts

Book Review: The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

Peter and Beatrice Leigh are 30-something British couple who are devoutly evangelical Christians and are living in a Britain of an imagined near future. In this imaginary Britain things look largely similar to how they are right now, except that there’s a colony of humans living on a faraway planet called Oasis. These pioneers are eking out a civilisation and trying to engage with local alien life there.

Enter Peter Leigh, a devout pastor on earth, who is hand-picked to join the small crew on the distant planet for a diplomatic mission to civilise and convert the alien population, whom he dubs Oasans. Meanwhile Peter’s wife Beatrice is left to her own devices on an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable Earth.

This novel by Michel Faber, (I have reviewed other books of his before) is completely astonishing and amazing. I have to admit that I’m not a fan of sci-fi and avoided reading this one for a while. As Michel Faber is a wonderful wordsmith and one of my favourite authors of all time, any reservations I had about this novel were swiftly put to bed. It’s deftly and masterfully written, by an author who can completely allow you to suspend your belief system and enjoy an amazing yarn about what it means to be human and all of the spectrum of human emotions that haunt us.

The book strangely enough doesn’t read like science fiction, even though it’s set on another planet. It’s a novel that’s relevant to the human condition as War and Peace or Anna Karenina.

The Book of Strange New Things is endlessly compelling and you won’t be able to put it down. I have avoided all spoilers here except to say that the unspooling and unravelling of Peter and Beatrice Leigh’s relationship is like watching a couple of very likeable humans failing, having blind spots and being exceptionally beautiful and beautifully ugly at the same time. It’s incredible, powerful and moving. It’s also unlike any other novel I’ve ever read before in my life. I recommend you get this for your summer or (if you’re in the northern hemisphere) your winter reading.

Content Catnip

Born this day: 04/13/1960
Michel Faber is a Dutch-born author of literary science fiction, based in Scotland. His novel Under the Skin, about an alien who picks up hitchhikers for sinister purposes, became a 2013 film. His SF novel The Book of Strange New Things was shortlisted for the Clarke and Locus Awards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Faber

#Literature #SciFi #ScienceFiction #books #bookstodon #coverart #bookart #bookcovers
@books @scifi @Scifiart @sciencefiction
#MichelFaber

https://astralcomputing.com

This a review I wrote ten years ago but the novel remains a contemporary classic: Michel Faber, The Book of Strange New Things (2014).
#ScottishSFF #sf #sff #MichelFaber #RoadToGlasgow2024 #worldcon #worldcon2024 #Glasgow2024

https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/subtle-weave-layers

Starting my first holiday book - #TheBookOfStrangeNewThings by #MichelFaber // he’s such a brilliantly slippery author, never content to repeat himself. So far, this one is shaping up to be brilliant. #books #bookstodon

Hello, time for my #introduction.

I live in #Yorkshire with my girlfriend and two kids. I work in #softwareengineering using #golang.

I like #bookstodon and #film #cinema.

Some random favourite #books

The Crimson Petal and the White by #MichelFaber
A Tale of Two Cities by #CharlesDickens

Some random favourite #films

#Arrival
#AMonsterCalls
#TheThing
#TheElephantMan
#LordOfTheRing

Letterboxd name: petherin

It might reveal my interests better if I share my recent Google search history!