The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (23-Oct-2014) Paperback

Disappointed. Too much is left unresolved. As a sci fi novel, it comes up short. As a novel on Christianity it's the work of a well-intentioned layman. It was too slow and went on too long. Interesting enough to keep me reading. Foolish me to think there were going to be plot points resolved. And then some unexplained plot devices near the end.

More of a theological treatise than straight-up science fiction or drama. Well written and enjoyable nonetheless. Some of the characters have stuck in my mind for a few weeks. Some of the central questions (plot points, not theological ones) are never addressed, much less answered. Some of it reminded me of The Sparrow and Speaker for the Dead. But overall it's not really like any book I can think of.

While the story was strange in many of the details, it really was quite a statement of truths that transcended the strangeness. It was very insightful in the sections where Peter re-wrote parts of Scripture to put across truths from God's Word in ways the natives could pronounce and understand more easily.

I loved this story. The characters evolved and the author built a world that I could envision. (Btw, I watched the first episode of the prime show Oasis based on this book, and they've changed it to be almost unrelated.)

I found this book fascinating. The alternative world, natives, culture and community of selected "experts" were all vividly drawn. The communication between worlds was sad because words were so limiting. The challenges we face every day were more shocking in this context than what I read each day in the NYT. Didn't find believable the pace at which things on earth fell apart. Sci-fi fans and those who like to explore alternatives will enjoy this.

Faber delivers a well developed tale that seems plausible, yet fantastic. This was a difficult book to summarize to friends, but wholly enjoyable. The first 25 pages didn't give me enough the first time I tried to read the book, and I ended up setting it aside for 2 years. Once over this admittedly small bump, I was hooked to the end.

Very thought provoking. As a Christian I could understand how Peter spoke and felt. I felt I needed more action and more explanations and I've been left a little lost. I did enjoy it but expected more. I wonder if there is a sequel? It left me with more questions.

After reading several reviews of the book, I almost didn't read it. it knowing how much I love The Crimson Petal and the White ( I have read it three times), I decided to give this a try. This is the best SCI-FI I have read. I loved the characters and the aliens. Now is he going to leave us hanging for years while we wait for a sequel? I still want more of Sugar.

A read that starts with promise, the author obviously understands the various and diverse technique (s) of skillful writing, however, this book has no point, is an exercise in futility and drags us along for page after page toward eventual nothingness, profoundly disappointing and meaningless narrative, with continuous hinting at mankind's doom...

Totally different from his previous novel The Crimson Petal and the White and just as wonderful a reading experience. I was so moved by this book that I have set it aside to read again in a couple of months. The correspondence between the husband and wife are so realistic one can just picture the anguish and other emotions they are speaking of.

A beautifully written book that digs deep into the nature of human faith and how it can be tested in the face of loss and alienation from the familiar. I have always enjoyed Faber's writing very much and this was equal to his best work. The science fiction part of the story is well done, and the natives and their world are brought to exceptional life and the distant drumbeat of an Earth falling apart is chilling. I'm not a religious person at all, and though this book is focused heavily on Christian teachings, it works brilliantly. Regardless of your beliefs, this is is a remarkable story and highly recommended.

This book stretched my brain and philosophies on life even if the author didn't intend in any certain way to do so. Nevertheless, that's what happened. Actually I'm still not sure what the underlying message was. I'm still processing it in its entirety.
I gave this book 5 stars because it was written well and made me think. I've always loved michal faber's writing style and the thought that goes into his words.
You will not be disappointed if you are the philosophical, deeper meaning, soul searching type of person.

Science fiction and spirituality mix in this novel. If you liked Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow and Children of God (which I loved, especially the first one), you'll like this book. A beautifully crafted alien world and deeply human characters along with benign but inscrutable alien beings.

As a member of ALA (American Library Association) I receive e-mail newsletters of soon to be published books in various genres. Last summer, among the usual array of thrillers and romances, one stood apart from the rest: Michel Faber's 'The Book of Strange New Things'. The premise, a missionary sent to a newly colonized planet to minister to 'the natives' is experiencing a radical transformation relating to a foreign race while his wife is experiencing profound despair at the deterioration of the collapsing society back home, was fascinating. I made a note of it and looked online for more about this Michel Faber. An eclectic author, he had written pseudo science fiction in a literary mode, but his most acclaimed novel, 'The Crimson Petal and the White' depicted a prostitute's rise in Victorian London.

Flash forward a few months and I read the justly praised 'Crimson Petal' and now finally tackle the book that drew me originally. Peter Leigh is a born again Christian who turned his life around completely from a life of drugs, thievery and homelessness which culminating in him jumping off a building on the run from pursuers, breaking both ankles, who met his future wife, Beatrice, as a nurse in the hospital where he was treated. With her inspiration and love, he turned his life around, they married and he later became a minister. He seizes the opportunity to minister to an alien race as part of what he assumes is part of the interplanetary diplomacy of USIC, the organization that has set up a base on site. Although Bea is supportive of the decision he feels conflicted about leaving his wife behind. Nevertheless, he goes and encounters the strangeness of the base, which resembles an airport terminal, and the workers there, none of whom seems the least bit religious or spiritually inclined. After acclimatizing himself to the gravitational effects of the planet, named Oasis by a schoolgirl who won the naming contest back home, he is anxious to meet the natives.

The aliens are in a remote settlement a couple of hundred miles away from the base. What he sees is very difficult to describe or reconcile to any previous reference point he can recall from previous experience.
“Here was a face that was nothing like a face. Instead, it was a massive whitish-pink walnut kernel. Or no: Even more, it resembled a placenta with two fetuses — maybe 3-month-old twins, hairless and blind — nestled head to head, knee to knee. Their swollen heads constituted the Oasan’s clefted forehead, so to speak; their puny ribbed backs formed his cheeks, their spindly arms and webbed feet merged in a tangle of translucent flesh that might contain — in some form unrecognizable to him — a mouth, nose, eyes.”

Because of their physiological makeup, the Oasans have great difficulties pronouncing 't' and 's' sounds. In this case, the Kindle version of the book was easier for me to read than the print version. In the print version, these letters are reproduced as something resembling Greek or Yiddish letters. In print the 'technique of Jesus'—what they refer to as the teachings of Jesus—is presented as 'Pechnique of JeSuS'. They also refer to the Bible as 'The Book of Sprange New ThingS', hence, the title of the novel. On Oasis, days and nights might last an equivalent of three of our days or nights. There are periods of strong and steady rain followed by periods of nothing. The landscape is barren and desert-like, Scrub bushes appear occasionally but the SIC employees have been unable to make anything grow in the alternately dry and humid climate. Part of the diplomatic exchange involves delivering drugs to the Oasans in exchange for whiteflower, the most universal and prevalent crop on the planet, which the Oasans have mastered the art of growing and which supplies the basis for much of the food the cooks at the base prepare. In return the Oasans have repeatedly emphasized that they must have a missionary, which is why Peter is there. His predecessor disappeared one day and no one knew where he went or even if he was still living. The same thing happened with a linguist who was trying to learn their language and teach them English. These exchanges recall many other earthling/alien encounters I've read such as Ray Bradbury's 'The Martian Chronicles' and Ursula K. LeGuin's 'The Left Hand of Darkness', to cite just two examples. Peter has 'gone native' to a certain extent. When he's with them he loses track of his earthly conception of time, ceases to eat nearly as much since the Oasans eat very little and returns to base emaciated and dehydrated. He is thrilled with the enthusiasm and receptivity of the Oasans of 'Freaktown' as the SIC employees at base refer to their settlement. He has difficulty distinguishing males from females. They have their own unpronounceable names but for easy reference he calls them 'Jesus Lover One, 'Jesus Lover Two' and so on.

The novelty of his fresh new experience is contrasted very harshly with the messages Bea sends him through 'the Shoot' a kind of interplanetary e-mail. Her reports are filled with accounts of tsunamis and earthquakes and the society around her is breaking down. Poverty, crime and drug abuse are increasing as public services such as garbage pickup virtually cease. Compounding this is the fact that she is pregnant. Their baby was conceived just before Peter left, unbeknownst to him. He had thought they had mutually decided to wait on having children so she assumes that he is resentful of her for deciding for both of them. As her pregnancy progresses her isolation and insecurity and hormonal changes are playing havoc with her religious faith. His attempts to reassure her with Christian platitudes, as sincere as he intends them, are interpreted as patronizing and lacking in understanding by his despairing wife. The helplessness he feels is amplified by the extreme distance from her. He grows more desperate in his feeble efforts to communicate and finally concludes that he must attempt to return.

The closest person he has to a confidant is the caustic pharmacist who wants to be addressed only by her surname, Grainger. There is a growing sexual tension in the air between them as he sees beneath the barriers she puts up and she, in turn, grows sympathetic to him despite her skepticism. Grainger may not be a believer as Bea is back home but at least she's here and understands firsthand what he's experiencing.

As a reader, I was drawn into the tension and helplessness as Peter sees his relationship with Beatrice become as remote as the physical distance between them. I also had to overcome my general skepticism regarding missionaries in general. Peter is not totally clueless. He may be oblivious but he eventually realizes what he had not realized before. He is also more effective and understanding than the obtuse, inflexible Abner Hale in James Michener's 'Hawaii', the only other novel I've read depicting a missionary. I had difficulty reconciling the drug abusing, homeless person Peter used to be with the godly missionary of the novel. Although extensive flashbacks to his earlier life would have been irrelevant to the story at hand, some depiction of his growth from homeless addict to devoted man of God would increase the understanding of his journey.

Faber has created a masterful achievement. He has set a very provocative, original premise in motion and populated it with very believable, flawed but Good/Godseeking characters all experiencing physical or psychological wounds. Whether one buys what Peter is selling is irrelevant to the thematic import of the novel. Peter is exploring a world that was originally intended to be a Utopia but results in feeling like a purgatorial prison/waystation while his wife is stranded, alone and pregnant, on an increasingly dystopian Earth. The drama of such a unique but believable predicament is rendered perfectly. Faber has stated that 'The Book of Strange, New Things' is probably the last novel he will write. He feels he has said everything fictionally that he set out to say. While one respects his decision to know when to quit, I would still welcome the chance to see where he might venture next, if the Spirit should move him.

A touchstone work in science fiction like "Childhood's End" or "A Canticle for Leibowitz," it must be read for its transcendent qualities grounded but inclusive of the ordinary. We are compelled by the humanity of the alien and the alien in ourselves. Don't miss it.

I purchased the book after watching the pilot episode on the store. I was far less impressed with the book. In my opinion the book was ploddingly slow and vapid. Alas if I were more of a Christian I might have enjoyed it more, but in retrospect I wished I'd stopped reading half way through and spent my time more productively.

I have liked everything I have read by Michel Faber. If you are a fan, this book will not let you down. The characters are complex and believable, the storyline is captivating, but as will all of Faber's work, the ending something seems...unended, but this does not take away from the beauty of the work itself.

I was initially reticent about purchasing this book as I was afraid that it was a pro-Christian novel without any depth. I was wrong! While the protagonist is sent to another world, literally, to preach the good word, it's so much more. It grabs you in from the first page and never lets up. I'm so glad I took the ride, and I'm sure you'll be as well.

The author gets into the nitty gritty of human desires- took me aback a bit. But that is a part of life.. even life on another planet.
I wish the author had fleshed out the end of the novel better but at the risk of giving away anything I will not elaborate..

The premise of bringing religion to aliens on their world is about as unusual as can be. A very interesting take on it
Enjoyable read, but if it's a one off, it asks many more questions than it answers

A very provocative book on the nature of our relationships and our dedication to ourselves, our loved ones, God and humanity.

The moral ambiguity that the author depicts in the story forces you to confront what you would think is most important.

Three stars because I am ambivalent as to whether I truly enjoyed the read or not. Mr. Faber conveyed the notion of relationships and their inherent dangers quite well. However, some of the graphic descriptions were unnecessary for me. A little left to the imagination would have been better. Would I recommend this to anyone I know? Probably not.

Enjoyed the story but as I approached the end and saw my kindle get into the 90's for percent complete I started to wonder when he was going to get to parts he had set you up for. What was the weird thing about the aliens, what is happening at home? It was a book where he set the stage for climax moments that never occur. I found the end truly disappointing. Was he just not able to come up with something so he just ended it?

Two believable worlds are depicted here, one falling apart, the other a barely grasped possibility. Faber then weaves in extreme mindsets: that of the optimism-filled evangelist, the straight-faced, matter-of-fact technologists, and the yearning Oasans. The lessons learned cut to what is important in mortal life: love, memory, connection.

I wanted more, more of the new world and what lay beyond the endless horizons, more about the mindset of absolute faith, more of the gruesome but somehow expected end our world meets.

A remarkably well-constructed novel that takes an SF premise and uses it to explore ideas of faith and addiction (the latter is very subtly done). The notion with the chapter titles is both simple and ineluctable in its ability to make you read on, and is haunting my subsequent reading. It would have been easy to get the central character's simple faith wrong, jarring and unendurable. Instead Faber turns it into a key plot device. There is one section I found so brutal (unfortunately credibly brutal) that I almost stopped reading, but it was followed by a plot-revealing irruption as outrageous as that of Lucky in Godot. One of the most electrifying reads of the year.

A good read but a disappointing ending (though not one of those out-of-the blue) finishes. The science fiction is plausible. The travel to another planet is vague, but the narrative about the planet is possible and interesting. There's an element of "Father Tim in space" (from the Mitford series), but it is somewhat darker, though not much. I don't regret reading it but it doesn't make my top 100 list.

While there were many interesting ideas to think about while reading this speculative fiction, there were not enough answers for me at the end of the book. Also, my ideas of the Bible and Christianity differ from the author's. I found myself mentally arguing with his views.

Speculative fiction can be as important as any other genre of fiction, and this book proves it. Wanted it to be tightened up, but that's my only complaint. Make that 4 1/2 stars. A study of what it means to be fully alive and the role religion might or might not play in the end.

Faber writes an engaging novel about a pastor sent on a mission to another planet. The story isn't standard sci-fi, and it's not standard religious fiction, either. There are some unexpected twists and turns from how the story begins, but everything hangs nicely together.

Horribly unsatisfying ending. Lots of build up with wordy never ending monologues. I started speeding through those monologues to get to the interesting part that made the store turn this book into a new TV show.
***SPOILERS***
I know my bible and my science fiction. Spotted clues here and there to bible narratives that could be supported in an intriguing manner in a science fiction novel (Eden / pre-Noah weather / Mana) but nothing came to fruition. Perhaps there was no plan and it was just coincidence that these themes seemed imminent. Yeah hope they change everything for the TV series. There was a lot of good promise but nothing got finished. Apparently the author says he won't write another book. Honestly this book feels unfinished. There needs to be a second book to finish the story.

A very well written meditation on faith, relationships, toleration and openmindedness all packaged around a dystopian future. It kept my attention throughout but upon reflection I was wanting of a more realized outcome. The journey of the plot was so intricate and I realize the point of the book.

I find it difficult to write this review because I don't want to spoil what I think are several devastating and consoling developments that come late in the novel. As an atheist, I wondered whether I would be able to empathize with the main character, Peter Leigh, an Evangelical Christian preacher who travels to another word, billions of miles away from the world he has known and the wife he loves, to preach to aliens. But I did. His correspondence (the equivalent of wormhole email) with his wife, Bea, sharply delineates both his strengths and flaws. He's a rather otherworldly, naive, and non-judgmental person, and those qualities are key to why he ends up on Oasis (the other planet) and how he adapts once there. But they are also qualities that blind him to certain truths and strain some of his relationships, most especially his relationship with Bea.

This is the first Faber novel I've read, and he's given me a great deal to think about. The nature, desire for, and limitations of faith are, for me, the overarching theme--clearly religious faith, but, also, I think, faith in the redemptive power of love, whether romantic or compassionate. The plot moves at a pretty gentle pace, but the narrative becomes more intense about halfway through. I found it increasingly gripping, and the conclusion quietly, but strongly, moving.

This doesn't get five stars because there was one revelation/development that I didn't wholly buy. There is an explanation late in the book to explain why certain personnel were chosen to colonize Oasis. I understand the logic of the reasoning--not only how it makes sense within the internal narrative but also why Faber (may have)decided on that reasoning--but I don't know if I'm sold on it being believable. Or maybe I don't want to find it believable.

Overall, this novel effectively highlights aspects of the despair and triumph of the human condition.

This was a well written novel. It was entertaining and had much promise.Unfortunately for me the promise went unfulfilled. The ending left me wanting something more. There needed to be more answers and more story lines filled in. Despite these issues it was a good read!

The ability to write "science fiction" that is also literary is so rare. This book does it - beautifully written with just as beautiful Biblical analogies. Thanks to public radio for interviewing the author; knowing what he and his wife were going through at the time it was being written added a whole other layer to it.

This book really captured my imagination and drew me deeply into the personal journey of the lead character. The book turned out for me to be about relationships and priorities. I sincerely loved it.. and Faber , who has an insiders perspective on faith and devotion challenges many of humanities obstacles , the chief being "self" awareness.

Crimson Petal and the White was one of my favorite books from the 2000's, and I eagerly anticipated this new novel from Michel Faber. Although it has pretty much nothing in common with the former, The Book of Strange New Things was a fascinating and very different read.

I try not to read too much about a book I am really looking forward to in advance, as I don't like to have any preconceptions. All I heard about this book was that it was "Sci-Fi". Those looking for a sci-fi novel will be disappointed, as this book is as much (if not more) about faith, relationships, and the effects that literal and metaphoric distance has on people. The sci-fi element made the book even more interesting to read, but the mission to a distant planet could have easily been swapped with a mission to Africa (for example) without changing the overall effect of the book.

The fact that Faber did set this book in another world is what makes him a first-class writer. How many books have you read about a complicated man who travels to Africa? Lots. How many books take him to another galaxy, while still making the book about the man, and not about the aliens? None that I've read.

I have read that this will be Faber's last novel, and that is just a shame. But if it is his last, he is going out at the top of his game, and his few works should be treasured by future readers. One of the top books of the year, if not the decade.

It was an engaging book without a satisfactory ending. The characters were very engaging but it was like the author just decided to quit without finishing a great story. Very disappointing. I was captivated by the characters but left feeling like the story had not ended. Remarkable story not completely finished. I could not put the story down but felt I needed to know what happened to Bea. Not sure I could recommend this book with the authors ending.

Strangely Good:/
What a different refreshing way to look at the world and unknown beings. I really enjoyed this book. It has a theme of saving souls in the main story line but it in no ways 'takes over' the story. I highly recommend this read.

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber is the worst kind of book: a bloated, tiring read that is somehow just interesting enough to drag you along to the next page. In short: don't start this book. You'll regret it.

The premise falls neatly into the priests-in-space subgenre. Peter leaves his devoted wife Bea after being recruited by the USIC -- a shadowy Dharma-like multinational -- to be a Christian missionary to the natives of the strange planet of Oasis. But upon his arrival, he is surprised to finds that 1) a number of the Oasans are already Christians, having been converted by a previous missionary who has since gone missing; and 2) handily, they also speak English, thanks to the work of a linguist, who has also gone missing. They are even familiar with the Bible, which they call "The Book of Strange New Things."

And as Peter works with the Oasans as their pastor and in building their church, he soon learns that his coming was actually a requirement of the Oasans for their continued support of the USIC's work on Oasis. Meanwhile, he learns through missives from his wife that in his absence, the earth is being besieged by a series of ever-worsening calamities and food shortages. Also, she's pregnant.

Now, that's a pretty decent set up. But the execution falls flat. And drags. And draaaaaaaagggs. And did I mention it drags?

First, Peter is not believable as a missionary. He shows little interest in the Oasans who are not already converted, confining himself to his small flock. He also struggles to muster even the smallest amount of empathy for what Bea is going through, repeatedly resorting to the worst shiny happy Jesus-y cliches.

Bea is at least a strong character, and she deserves better. Her messages to Peter ("Shoots," which are sort of an interstellar email) are the highlight of the book as she tries desperately to pry information out of him about what he's doing, what he's dealing with, what he's feeling, and just to get him to give a damn about her plight. It's sad for our sakes that she is not more successful.

As for the USIC, Faber treads heavily in racial and gender stereotypes, and the characters are mostly flat and uninteresting. For them, life of these hand picked pioneers is a busy existence free of romantic entanglements, and really pretty much anything that doesn't concern work. The overall character of the USIC organization itself is far more interesting, and there are hopes for a payoff as Peter finds out what they are really up to. But for all the subterfuge, that payoff is sadly underwhelming.

As for the writing itself, we are repeatedly told that Peter is bad at describing things, as if that is an excuse for the author's failure to do so. At one point, Faber actually has Peter say: "It would take a novelists skill to capture those nuances in words and, as I've discovered to my embarrassment, I totally lack that skill." At which point, I screamed at my Kindle "But you're a freaking novelist!" Le sigh.

I could go on, but you get the idea. Even at its best, The Book of Strange and New Things is just one giant tease. Don't bother.

Starts slowly and then gets quite fast in the last 30%. But this is not a book about tempo. Rather, it's about how distance may affect personal relationships, and how faith works in people who are really good Christians (and simply decent guys) but who are also faced with unusually adverse circumstances.

I enjoyed this book very much, leaving me with much to puzzle over long after it was finished. From a writing point of view, what impressed me the most was the slow, but deliberate pace of the story and Faber's restrained and elegant style. Timeless themes, interesting questions, and beautiful and strange imagery. Definitely what I look for in a good novel.

I loved the characters, who are convincing, well-rounded, and infuriating at times, just like real people. So why did this book leave me feeling undernourished? There seems to be an emptiness at the heart of this book, leaving unanswered questions I can't quite articulate. Well written, but wholly unsatisfying...

This is indeed a "strange" book! I found the first two thirds interesting, not arresting, but a bit righteous. The last third was truly the meat of the novel and had a completely unexpected ending. One I found humble and endearing.

While the concept had plenty of potential, I thought the book fell short on multiple fronts. The idea of colonizing a new planet by a global corporation was intriguing. As was the insertion of religion -- sending a missionary to the "native" population. But the lack of curiosity by Peter about the purpose of the entire enterprise, about the way the Oasans lived and worked, was frustrating. He immediately accepted that this odd group had already embraced the Bible without delving into any credible reason why, and who might have originally lit this flame of passion in their "souls." And the complete breakdown by his wife, Bea, over such a short time period, was hard to take. She went from being a stable, competent, independent adult who had saved Peter from a life of addiction, to a quivering and shrill nut-case in less than 6 months' time. I liked the descriptions of life on Oasis, and how quickly Peter found himself with a calling there.

the store did its part and the book arrived on time, in excellent shape. The story did not live up to the book reviews I read. The characters were bland and the story just not that engaging. It wasn't bad, just alright