alien. tractor beam. blaster. death ray. dystopia. first contact. homeworld. moonbase. parallel universe. worm hole. time travel. George Lucas. Star Wars. Star Trek. William Shatner. Captain Picard. space: the final frontier. blue milk. sci-fi conventions. nerds.
Nerds. NERDS. (Just kidding—I’m a nerd.)
Here’s the thing: I’m not a sci-fi reader. I don’t get space travel. I don’t get the appeal of a good, sensible person wanting to be torn apart by his molecules and be jettisoned across the cosmos to meet a distant alien race. I don’t want to have to fight for my life by shooting a blaster in the enemy’s direction. I would die. I would straight-up die and not by an alien’s death-ray but by snagging my suit on some branch and popping like a helium-filled balloon at a child’s birthday party.
So, needless to say, I am not a sci-fi reader. My mind just doesn’t get it.
But, give me a character that I can relate to and a storyline that is feasible and you have me. See, it’s not that hard.
In The Book of Strange New Things, Michel Faber brings all of this to the reader and then some. [Faber is most known for his second and most commercially successful novel, The Crimson Petal and the White.] The journey that Faber takes the reader on shows the beauty of a strange new world and the juxtaposition of a failing and disaster-ridden Earth.
Meet Peter Leigh, our protagonist who is about to venture into the unknown. Peter, a Christian pastor, has been selected by a company called “USIC” to minister to the native population of a newly colonized planet called Oasis. Peter will be separated from his wife, Beatrice, by light-years. Peter leaves behind Bea, their cat, Joshua, his church, and an Earth filled with pre-apocalyptic events taking place every time the reader turns a page.
In The Book of Strange New Things, Faber doesn’t try to stretch the reader’s mind too far. We have a man, a planet, a cryptic company sending and supplying men with whatever materials are needed, a workforce made up of characters who have dark pasts, a previous minister who has gone missing, and a new alien race. I appreciate that there are no space wars, no blasters, and nothing to distract me from reading. It’s as if I know I am reading something similar to science fiction but I’m not actually reading science fiction. I’m only reminded when Peter and Bea communicate via “shoot,” which is USIC’s version of digitalized messaging, and Bea comments on the travesties that are ensnarling the earth both economically and geographically.
Peter is eager to start his mission (no pun intended). Yet, it seems that Peter is a bit out of his element at the USIC base, which seems to be filled with people who believe his Christian mission is pointless. The native civilization, which some members refer to as “Freaktown” or more politically correct, C-2, is some 50 miles away from the USIC base. Having rested a bit, Peter is ready to meet his new congregation with the help of Grainger, a USIC pharmacist with a troubled past.
Farber describes the natives from Peter’s viewpoint, “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, kneed 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.” The Oasan’s know some English but have trouble with “s” and “t” pronunciations. This will prove a challenge later when Peter is transcribing passages. Their voices are not mellifluous rather they “sounded like a field of brittle reeds and rain-sodden lettuces being cleared by a machete.”
Peter’s one and only goal is to minister to the Oasan’s but he finds, with great surprise and relief, that the natives already know about Jesus and are extremely delighted to find out that Peter has “The Book of Strange New Things,” but dare not call it a Bible. In reality, Peter, now known as Father Peter, only has to keep the Oasan’s happy and take them further into learning about Christianity.
Over time, Peter cannot empathize with the troubles of Earth nor can he relate to his wife, who only sends him distressing news of events back home. Gradually, Peter all but stops responding to his wife’s concerns. In addition, the more time Peter spends with the Oasan’s the more he cannot even relate to those he works with at USIC. Often, he finds himself not being able to stand loud noises, pointless conversation, and the sterile living quarters of USIC.
I enjoyed the character of Peter and how I could relate to him as a reader. No, I’ve never gone into space to evangelize to aliens, but I do know what it is like to have an overall goal and to feel distant from others because of what my work entails. The reader can find themselves in Peter and can empathize, if not religiously, with him on many levels (i.e. human struggle, an incomprehensible goal, the struggle of being away from a loved one, etc.)
Naturally, questions are raised throughout the story. Are the events of Earth pre-apocalyptic? What will happen with Bea and Peter? What happened to the first minister? Does Peter know that the Oasan’s are truly peaceful? Is a relationship forming with Grainger? Does Peter have the desire to even return to Earth?
All are answered in Michel Farber’s The Book of Strange New Things.
(And not a single blaster shot or blue milk spilled.)
Written by Laura
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