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Welcome to our Random read of Gateway!

The story of Bob Broadhead recounting his experience with the alien ships at Gateway, this book seems more of a character study than space xploration.....

Planning on joining in? What did you think?

Maggie wrote: "Welcome to our Random read of Gateway!

The story of Bob Broadhead recounting his experience with the alien ships at Gateway, this book seems more of a character study than space xploration.....
..."

Totally agree - I was surprised by this; this was not at all what I expected.
It was almost... maybe... Holden Caulfield IN SPACE!
The sci ti was very notably secondary to everything else.

Refreshingly different than anything else I've read recently though and the length didn't hurt; it never really had a chance to get too stale. The alternating past/present storytelling's helped that too...keeps you riveted to find out what finally happened to make this unlikable ass-hat rich and psychotic.

lolol@ Holden Caufield in Space!

and yeah-it is a fast read....

Good to know it's fast read. I was disappointed (and surprised) that it wasn't available digitally. Unfortunately, where I'm at there aren't any booksellers with anything other than the Koran in Dari or Pashtun. I'm hoping that shipping won't take too long. It sounds fascinating and I'm looking forward to a good discussion.

BTW - Irony? Broadhead, narrow mind? lol

This is one of my favorite books. I loved the AI Freud as a storytelling device and just the concept of space exploration as a huge lottery. Just great story-telling.

I like the Holden Caufield comparison!

Pohl is 92 and still active. Check out his blog at
thewaythefutureblogs.com

Lots of good stories about the golden age as well as his thoughts on recent developments in Science.

Yes, the psycho-analyst! It confused me at first, as those sections were making me hate Bob, but it was a great way to tell the story...When Bob started crying all the time, I started to have a lot of empathy

Just started the book--interesting. Glad your comments are here to keep me going!

Also glad I'm not the only one who finishes sentences with...IN SPACE!

It's interesting reading the comments from those of you who find the AI Sigfrid a good storytelling device. I'm about 50% through the book and I just find it very annoying. I have to push myself through those chapters to get to the real meat of the story. I'm hoping that it changes, but I was hoping that from the beginning. I'm really enjoying the other chapters and the story. I assume that at some point, the two plot lines will come together. As others have said, I'm really not liking Bob all that much. I'm interested in him enough to keep reading, but, at this point, he really isn't someone I'd like to spend any time with, nor do I particularly care what happens to him on a personal level.

Yesterday, I read Cat's Cradle on a flight that was too dark to read a paperback on. (I have Cat's Cradle on a Kindle App and Gateway in paperback.) I couldn't help but compare the two main characters. Neither is very likable, or all that interesting, for that matter, but they both serve the purpose of advancing the story along. And the story is what's more important in both books. I'm not sure that it's fair to compare the two, but they were written about the same time and Gateway won the Hugo and Nebula, while Cat's Cradle wasn't nominated for anything, which seems a real shame. Cat's Cradle was much more thoughtful, and more sarcastic, which I like. I'm also a big Heinlein fan. When I compare Gateway to Cat's Cradle or Heinlein's Starship Troopers, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, or Stranger in a Strange Land, I'm having a hard time understanding why Gateway was considered so great. I don't know if that's fair or not, but I'm just not seeing it so far.

Mark wrote: "It's interesting reading the comments from those of you who find the AI Sigfrid a good storytelling device. I'm about 50% through the book and I just find it very annoying. I have to push myself ..."

Hopefully you can make it through, there is a good reason why those therapy sessions are included.

I have to admit that I had a hard time finishing this book, simply because of the character flaws of Bob Boradhead. Not at all an admirable person, which made it not only unsympathetic, but a chore to read. However, there's that big Aha! moment when you realize that of course he had to be written the way he was in order for the hard science gateway chapters to be tied together with the therapy chapters.

Interesting how Pohl was able to include faster than light travel without having to explain how it is possible. Of course it can't be explained, the Heechee have all disappeared, so it's a mystery!

Yeah my drive towards the finish was powered entirely by the storytelling's technique, alternating 'past' and 'present' and waiting to see what made him rich and what edged him up. Being so short didn't hurt

It pains me though to compare it to Cats Cradle though. That's one of top 5 all time. I think its far deeper even with its depth so barely veiled.

I'm on page 216, right after Bob's first trip and right after Sheri and crew returned from their highly profitable, but terribly costly trip. I feel like this is one of the darkest, foreboding books I've ever read. It's so depressing. I know that Bob is going to have a similar trip and I just can't help but wonder how it can all be worthwhile. I'm reading this during a deployment to Afghanistan and I can't help but see some major similarities. We can either stay safe and sound on the forward operating bases (FOBs) or go out and risk our lives and our sanities trying to accomplish something. Either way, you lose, either in health or self respect.

I want Bob and Klara to succeed, to live happily ever after, but it isn't going to happen. It's very depressing and, at this point, not in a redeeming kind of way. It makes it hard for me to continue reading. I don't know that I WANT to find out how it ends and what happens to them.

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Well, I just finished, and, I have to say that I really didn't see that particular ending coming, though there was plenty of foreshadowing. It certainly sets up a potential sequel. (I haven't checked yet to see if there is one with this plot line.)

While I recognize the catharsis that Bob feels, or will feel, I don't know how cathartic the ending is for me as a reader. I certainly feel like I've been through the ringer of an intense counseling session. LOL. It will be interesting to see how I feel over the next couple days. I'm interested in how you all felt afterward, both immediately after finishing and a couple days after.

I thought a lot about t his book, too Mark. As you said, an intense counseling session.
I keep taking away from it that not making a decision is the same as a decision to do nothing....

I got to Gateway late and just finished it a couple of days ago. I really enjoyed it, both sections. Bob is certainly an unlikeable character, but still interesting.

I was likening it in my mind to prospecting in the California and Yukon Gold Rushes - everyone went, in fairly dangerous circumstances, for the small chance you might end up rich. I thought Bob was an interesting look at someone who thought they were up to the risk, but then had real problems with it when it was staring him in the face.

And somewhere up the thread, Mark said that Cat's Cradle wasn't nominated for anything - I saw it this morning on the list of Hugo nominated books I have. I don't know about the Nebula, and I don't believe it won anything, but it was nominated.

I'll be getting to that one too, eventually. I always tend to be a step behind on the monthly reads - too many books in Mount TBR.

Some folks have commented on this being more of a psychological book than an SF book. It's got a lot of that in it, but I really liked Pohl's handling of space travel. I read this thing 15+ years ago, and I can still picture the inside of the space capsule and the scientific inevitability of the ending. I think this is a great example of science fiction concepts being used to advance a character driven story.

That being said, I felt no real need to read the sequel, because it was never about the Heechee for me.