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The End of Eternity

Andrew Harlan is an Eternal, a man whose job it is to range through past and present Centuries, monitoring and, where necessary, altering Time's myriad cause-and-effect relationships. But when Harlan meets and falls for a non-Eternal woman, he seeks to use the awesome powers and techniques of the Eternals to twist time for his own purposes, so that he and his love can survive together.

Discussion opens February 1. Please hide spoilers behind spoiler tags.

Happy reading!

Some of us might also want to watch a Russian film of it. Just over an hour, and subtitled:

I checked the library and they don’t have this book. Amazon wants $13 for a kindle version. Ouch! That seems like a lot.

Oops, I thought this was a March read... I've got it out and will read asap.

Wow, I did not realize availability would be an issue. There used to be lots of editions floating around used book shops, even thrift stores. But you're right; paperbackswap doesn't have it either. AbeBooks has it reasonable: .

And it is indeed avl. as e-book, also e-audio, if your library doesn't have it maybe you can ask them to purchase it.

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "Oops, I thought this was a March read... I've got it out and will read asap.

Wow, I did not realize availability would be an issue. There used to be lots of editions floating around used book shop..."

I did do a “recommend�� on Overdrive. I’ll check if any thrift stores nearby have it. I used to live by a half price books but not anymore.

openlibrary.org does have a scanned copy free to 'borrow' to read online:

I'm about 1/2way and just not sure. Not fully engaged... trying to understand why it used to be so popular... remembering that I've always preferred Asimov's short stories to his novels... :sigh:.

Harlan is immature & arrogant & impulsive, though he thinks that he's none of those things. He's like an adolescent. I'm giving Asimov the benefit of the doubt and assuming that the character was intentionally written just like that. I just can't believe that he was intended to be a typical SF hero of the 1950s.

The machinations, both bureaucratic/institutional, and of time travel logic & rules, are not easy for me to understand I'm getting the impression, the way everything is gradually unfolding, that the reader is meant to be confused at the beginning, to become more understanding whilst reading along, and that all will be made clear at the end. I hope!

Asimov was brilliant in so far as he was intelligent, clever, imaginative. But I've never thought of him, or heard of anyone else thinking of him, as wise.

So I don't know how much in this book is carefully deliberate. I mean, on the face of it, he worked so hard and so fast, and also he was fairly young when he wrote this, that nuances of literary value would likely have been beyond him.

So, when he explains why there are no females working in Eternity, with the excuse that due to the fact that they are the ones that give birth and nurture children, and that taking them out of (regular) Time is far too likely to cause chaos... is that sincere, or a plot-device, or sexism by a man who doesn't want to be seen as sexist?

And when, throughout the book, he almost always refers to women as 'girls' but at one point says something like "Boy, you should be with that woman," was he acknowledging the sexism of the word 'girl' or was that wording specifically only in re' the character using it or was it accidental?

I do now know that this is a book that must be read to the end to appreciate. Any reviews you see from people who didn't finish it, disregard.

I really like the ending. Even if I didn't appreciate fully everything building up to it.

One thing missing is humor. Except for a bit when they talk of the literature of the 20th century and believe that the only sort of time travel logic explored by the "Primitives" was the grandfather paradox, dismissing the idea that we could have thought about alternate or parallel histories or anything else.

Then there's this one character. A brilliant young man who doesn't quite fit in. Named Brinsley Sheridan Cooper. Is one of the developers of "The Big Bang Theory" tv series a fan of this book?

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "openlibrary.org does have a scanned copy free to 'borrow' to read online: "

Two week wait list. I was able to read the first 21 pages and then had to go on a wait list.

Ouch.

I am sorry you are having such a tough time getting a copy Cheryl. I would loan you my Kindle if you lived closer. I am about 3/4 of the way through and am enjoying it. I have to read it with the same thought process that I watch old television shows it is just difficult to read and eye roll at the same time. I am enjoying some aspects of the book. I am looking forward to see where the journey of the story ends and hearing what everyone else thinks.

Lizz wrote: "...it is just difficult to read and eye roll at the same time..."

Ooh... that's a wonderful way to put it! Thank you for that insight... yes, lots of 'classics' require us to develop that skill!

I hope you find the ending & the book as a whole worth it, as I did!

(I read it. See all my comments above. It's Nancy having difficulty.)

Hello. I haven't participated in a group read for a long time! I decided to read this one in between other things I am doing. I am a big fan of Asimov and have read most of his stuff (Foundation, the Robot series, etc.) I think I may have read this in my youth but don't remember much about it. I am liking it even though it seems a little primitive to me. I guess because it was written so long ago and our culture has matured since then?

Well, I think it's more that SF has matured, and some modern SF is more literary. And that it's Asimov's style to be direct, unsophisticated. And that you're not done yet... there is development.

Asimov still a master

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "One thing missing is humor. Except for a bit when they talk of the literature of the 20th century and believe that the only sort of time travel logic explored by the "Primitives" was the grandfathe..."

I think it's pretty funny how the eternals use the word "time" like a curse.

Still waiting for a copy��.

Glynn, yes!
Thank goodness for a little levity; too much fiction takes itself too seriously.

I’m still waiting for a copy. It was supposed to be a two week wait.

Nancy wrote: "I’m still waiting for a copy. It was supposed to be a two week wait."

Wow. Sorry you are having to wait so long. Looking forward to your impressions of this book. :)

I finally have copy to read. I was on a long wait list. I will read it this weekend.

How'd it go?

I enjoyed it. The ending wasn’t what I expected. The use of the word eternity to refer to the “place�� and “eternal�� were the people who worked there made it confusing at first. When you get to the end then the title makes sense.

:smiles: