Will Byrnes's Reviews > The Book of Strange New Things

Of course, everybody on earth had the power to reshape reality. It was one of the things Peter and Beatrice talked about a lot. The challenge of getting people to grasp that life was only as grim and confining as you perceived it to be. The challenge of getting people to see that all the immutable facts of existence were not so immutable after all.

Sustaining a relationship over a long distance presents serious challenges. I tried it once or twice in my twenties. Of course that was back before the invention of the wheel, when communications technology lacked the immediacy of Facetime, Skyping, texting, instant messenger, even cell phones and e-mail. And calling long distance entailed costs far in excess of what one might incur today. Distance, it turns out, did not make the hearts involved grow fonder. Pastor Peter Leigh and his wife, Bea, face some of the challenges many of us did back in the distant past. Of course they are already married, which has to boost one’s commitment to keeping in touch. (or not, depending) But the distances involved make my New York to London, or DC, or New Hampshire connections seem paltry in comparison. Instead of hundreds or thousands of miles, try trillions. And despite the scientific advance that allows spacecraft to cover vast distances by jumping through worm-holes, the communication tech is a lot more like Pony Express than Star Trek cell phones communicators. One might think that is probably not such a big deal to Peter, as he did not possess a television and was not interested in reading magazines or newspapers, but the loss of connection to Bea is a big deal, particularly as existential concerns are a clear and present issue for both.


Michel Faber - from New Republic.com

Peter had been recruited by the mysterious USIC corporation (we never learn what the letters stand for) to minister to the locals on a planet named Oasis. They refer to the bible as The Book of Strange New Things. Although he wanted Bea to come with him, she was not given an imprimatur by the selection committee, so he is off to spread The Word, solo.

There is a trinity of material relationships involved. Peter interacts with the residents of the USIC base, some more than others. Alexandra Grainger is his handler, and some dynamic tension develops between the two. He has dealings with other USIC staff, but it is spread lightly across the group. He communicates with Bea through a poor excuse for e-mail com-tech. It is called a Shoot. But seems it might have been better called a Toss. It is limited to text-only, for one. Messages have to pass the censor before being transmitted, and there is no certainty when the message will get through. Peter’s communications with Bea consist primarily of her describing the accelerating collapse of economies, of civilization itself on Earth, spurred by large dollops of natural catastrophe. Makes one want to hurry home, no? The third interaction is Peter with the locals, or as the Terran sorts refer to them, Oasans.

The residents of the planet Oasis are humanoid, although looking not much like us, at least the us one sees without the benefit of hallucinogens. Here is a description, which is presented about one fifth the way in, but if you prefer to wait until you read the book, I am putting it under a (view spoiler)[

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 three-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.

(hide spoiler)] shield. Somehow they (or at least a sizeable portion of the local populace) manifest an intense desire to better know a savior. Did they arrive at this need through some sort of divine revelation? Was it prompted by the prior cleric, say, the intriguingly named Jacob Kurtzberg? I found myself wondering about the state of his health. A quote from Desmond Tutu also ran across my mental crawl

When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.

Fittingly, I suppose, Peter does not question the origin of the locals’ interest in Jesus and the bible, opting to take the purity of their interest on faith. Much of the story is on how Peter goes about establishing his church on Oasis, how he gets to know and feel for the locals, and what he learns about the physical environment in which he is living. He is trying his best to be the rock on which this church is built. The Oasans have a culture, a community, but they are very unlike humans.

At the time I was hatching the book, I was very wearied by all the hidden agendas and neuroses of human beings. I think that one of the reasons I made up the Oasans was that it was like a fantasy of being able to hang out with people who were totally benign and totally un-ego-driven… The Oasans, on another level though they are a bit like sheep, or bees in a hive. Human beings are wonderfully various and distinctive and memorable and a lot of what makes them that way is their dysfunctions and their neuroses; you can’t have one without the other. – from Faber interview on The Awl.com

The environment that Faber concocts for Oasis is, despite a gross similarity to the planet we all know and litter on, quite different. Maybe it takes more exploration, but where are the mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, forests? It does seem like a pretty lightly seeded rock for the most part. But it has some interesting characteristics, mostly having to do with how water cycles through, and how the local flora is transformed into edibles. There is also a lower life form that offers some surprises when it appears in numbers.

I am no particular fan of religion, but I found Peter to be a very engaging, honest, sincere sort. He is possessed of a powerful faith, which tends toward the bromitic, but he seems a pretty good guy and it is easy to get past differing belief systems to wish him well, not only in his attempts to fulfill his mission on Oasis, but in his struggle to sustain his marriage. It was Bea, after all, who had found a drunk, homeless Peter hitting bottom in the hospital in which she was working as a nurse, and resurrected his spirit with a bit of the old time religion. It is no wonder that he clings to his beliefs like his old self might have to the last available bottle.

The loneliness of the long-distance missionary was fueled, after the writing had begun, by a dire event.

I didn’t know that Eva [Faber’s wife] was going to be diagnosed with cancer, but it certainly ending up being suffused with the anticipation of loss. The book’s about many other kinds of loss as well.

It certainly seemed to me that the devastation being reported on earth might have been intended to echo damage to Peter and Bea’s marriage. And also might be a literary projection of the damage disease was wreaking on Faber's wife.

The book is hardly short at 500 pages. I found it slow going, although Faber manages to infuse enough tension and mystery into his tale to keep you turning the pages. How will Peter and Bea manage? Will Peter ever be able to go home? Why is earth going to hell? Will there be a home to go back to? What’s the deal with the Oasans, and why did they get all religious? Are they really serene or is there a dark side? Why did the Oasans pick up and leave their town when USIC arrived, setting up a greater distance away? Are they hiding something or merely trying to maintain a comfortable margin? What happened to Kurtzberg? Why does a corporation employ a missionary?

Home figures large as a theme. Some of the base employees see themselves more as French Foreign Legion types, unconnected to place, than most of us might be. Is home a location, a community, a state of mind, a relationship? Much thought goes into figuring out the right thing to do in difficult situations, which makes this tale one of moral and not merely physical survival. Biblical and religious imagery appears with some frequency. One cannot but think of Noah when Bea is reporting on incessant rain, and biblical end times certainly pop to mind as she describes the natural catastrophes that seem to be occurring on a daily basis. Peter’s time with the locals, and being out of touch with base, reminds one of earlier, lengthy sojourns in the desert. The locals have a ritual that seemed quite resonant with earthly communion.

This is not an action adventure novel, jam-packed with a new danger every chapter, car chases, gun battles. It is about survival, personal, emotional and big picture. You will get through it, but will not inhale it. There is enough to savor that taking one’s time will be rewarding.

Review first posted - 2/20/15

Published
----------Hardcover - 10/28/2014
----------Trade paperback - 6/30/15

=============================EXTRA STUFF

The author’s FB page. His personal web site has vanished since we updated this last, and his FB connection was last updated in 2020, so take that for what it's worth. I did not find a twitter account for him.

Dutch-born Faber was inspired by the creative geniuses of Marvel Comics as a kid, and in the acknowledgments section, mentions that all the surnames used in the book are based on those of the Marvel artists. He adds that the character Jacob Kurtzberg has a lot to do with Jack Kirby.

There are several musical numbers mentioned in the book – here is a link to one, Patsy Cline singing Walking After Midnight

There is a very interesting interview with Faber in TheAwl.com

In this link to BookBrowse, there is a video of Faber talking about this book, a text interview with Zachary Wagman, Faber’s editor and a 2003 text interview with Faber

October 7, 2017 - Although it aired in March 2017, I only recently (September 2017) discovered (when subscribing to Amazon Prime) that a series had been (or was being) made of this book. The title is Oasis, which may actually be a better title than that of the book. Sadly, only a single, pilot episode has been shown. I do not know, but presume, that other episodes have been produced, but have, for whatever reason, not yet been aired. At least I hope that is the case. The pilot was quite good, capturing much of the core of the book. I very much hoped there would be further episodes ready to roll, and that a second season (if the first does not complete the story arc) would be in the works. Alas, it died on the vine, with only the single episode. Here is a wiki about the show.


Richard Madden, late of his Robb Stark role you know where, plays the lead - image from Amazon