Hodgepodge

TITLE The Stars My Destination

AUTHOR Alfred Bester

PUBLISHER Vintage -Trade paperback -258pp

COPYRIGHT 1956

PRINTING 1996

Considered by some to be Bester's best novel, it is the tale of Gully Foyle, a spacer of no renown who speaks gutter and gets only the lowest jobs on a ship. His life changes drastically when he is marooned for six months as the only survivor of the wreck of the Nomad. The Vorga passes by close enough to hail but it goes on leaving Foyle stranded. He gets so worked up over this he manages to find a way to leave the ship and lands in the asteroid belt where a group of people rescues him but disfigures his face.

The story from here is all about the grudge against the Vorga, and no one holds a grudge like Gully Foyle. He rapes, maims, and murders to find the crew of the ship that left him to die. He becomes the most wanted man in the solar system and poses as a circus master to cover his tracks. In the end, he finds out why he was passed by and even more shocking information.

This is a fantastic story, but it is quite dated, as are many classic science fictions stories of the 40 and 50. I also felt that the character of Gully Foyle is not very well developed and that many of his escapes from certain capture are too contrived to be believable.

There is a quote on the cover that states this is considered by many to be the greatest science fiction novel ever. I dispute that strongly. Several novels by Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov and others wrote much more interesting stories that stand up today. In fact, I would say this isn't near as good a novel as The Demolished Man. The novel is worth reading certainly and I enjoyed it, but it has its flaws.

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