[MFZ]≡ Read Light A Novel Kefahuchi Tract M John Harrison 9780553382952 Books

Light A Novel Kefahuchi Tract M John Harrison 9780553382952 Books

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Light A Novel Kefahuchi Tract M John Harrison 9780553382952 Books

This is the 1st of Harrison's work that I've read, and it was a challenge. I would direct you to other reviews which delve into the several, seemingly unrelated, stories and timelines of this book. This was a difficult and, at times, frustrating read from the beginning. The experience reminded me of reading Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum," where every other sentence (or so it seemed) had some tidbit about which I had no idea....made for a challenging (to say the least) read, let alone, comprehension experience. I seem to be geared towards some degree of comprehension before moving on to whatever is next. On the other hand, while I agree that a major criticism of "Light" is (and rightly so) that our dear, brilliant author does not give the reader a sufficient foundation upon which to build, I am left wondering whether we are being exposed to so called "quantum" literature, "...the place where the rules ran out,"; or, find out what the author was smoking.

In other words, traditional linearity, or linear story telling, is sort of at odds with or subsumed by the quantum experience; or, the "art" of it all ; however, by choosing the vehicle of a book, the writer has to compromise and, at least, provide enough linear or 3D information; or, the reader is left floundering or dog paddling just to stay afloat. It wouldn't surprise me if some readers started but did not finish "Light."

The good news is that hanging in there long enough seemed to lead to my being more comfortable in the book's quantum field, so to speak, as well as with the central characters and whatever it was that they were up to. And, I didn't have to understand every quantum or quantum -like concept to come away with the "feel" that all of the so called story lines were, perhaps, happening simultaneously on different timelines. In fact, about 1/2 way in, I noticed that I had some appreciation for the actors and even found some humor. The brilliance is there and, for me, I'll jump in the ocean again, re-read it...this time with an inner tube.

Even worse, I'll most likely read the 2d book in this Kefahuchi Trilogy despite having no clear idea of what is the Kefahuchi
Tract?


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Light A Novel Kefahuchi Tract M John Harrison 9780553382952 Books Reviews

Really vivid imagery, interesting and engaging read.....until the ending, which was a huge letdown. It was like, I read through all this really weird and different stuff (some really inventive stuff too) expecting the ending to be equally profound, only to have the ending be so typical as to undermine everything in the rest of the book. With all the author's inventiveness, seeming philosophic profundity, crazy imagination, insane characters, etc... it was really weird that the conclusion was so...normal. Too bad.
This was recommended to me by a writer so I thought I was in for a treat. Harrison is obviously a talented and imaginative wordsmith but I had a hard time finishing this book. The characters are bleak, the intertwining plots are bleak, the settings are bleak. So basically it is 400+ pages of unrelenting bleakness. After finishing this book I was ready for some sunshine.
‘Light’ is the introductory novel of the trilogy. It is a braid of the lives of the three main protagonists separated either temporally or spatially – from the present day to the future, and, from Earth to the edges of the Kefahuchi Tract, which is a “singularity without an event horizon, the wrong physics loose in the universe”.

It is riddled with quantum theory concepts which got me googling the subject. After muddling through Uncertainty and Exclusion Principles, Planck’s constant, Wave-particle duality, Schrodinger’s Cat, Bosons, quarks and spin I emerged in the present time-space continuum more befuddled then before.

A pan-dimensional entity turns the present day protagonist into a serial murderer of women. Incidentally, this resonates in the next part of the trilogy. Does this suggest that people fighting their personal demons or psychiatric illnesses have some sort of quantum instability rather than a neurotransmitter imbalance in their brains?

The author seems to be plagued with a feline fixation and a morbid interest in mucoid bodily secretions.

Concepts like space rogues peddling “earth-heroin cut with the ribosomes of a tailored marmoset”, man-machine bio-physical interfaces (like the Space Hawks of Peter Hamilton), compulsive onanism, extreme genetic engineering, worm holes and FTL abound the yarn, making it a compulsive read.
I was here once before, but that was in a different life, a life where I was only a reader, not a writer of science fiction. Now I see the Kefahuchi Tract with new eyes. The fantastic details, magical, metaphorical physics, and techno-poetic prose are dazzling, bringing to life within me a jealous monster. Harrison tows some of his suns into Radio Bay with alien technology. I use a devil to move stars into my Cluster. Harrison says, “suddenly everything was out of the bag every idea anyone had ever had about the universe was available, operating, and present.” That is my “spiritual universe”, my “heaven.” So, sometimes we think the same thoughts, but his language is light-years ahead of mine. But as the Shrander says, “Don’t be naive, Steady Eddy. You can’t stay still in this life. You go on or you go down. What’ll it be?” It’ll be, read more of Harrison’s books, follow his ion trail.
This is the 1st of Harrison's work that I've read, and it was a challenge. I would direct you to other reviews which delve into the several, seemingly unrelated, stories and timelines of this book. This was a difficult and, at times, frustrating read from the beginning. The experience reminded me of reading Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum," where every other sentence (or so it seemed) had some tidbit about which I had no idea....made for a challenging (to say the least) read, let alone, comprehension experience. I seem to be geared towards some degree of comprehension before moving on to whatever is next. On the other hand, while I agree that a major criticism of "Light" is (and rightly so) that our dear, brilliant author does not give the reader a sufficient foundation upon which to build, I am left wondering whether we are being exposed to so called "quantum" literature, "...the place where the rules ran out,"; or, find out what the author was smoking.

In other words, traditional linearity, or linear story telling, is sort of at odds with or subsumed by the quantum experience; or, the "art" of it all ; however, by choosing the vehicle of a book, the writer has to compromise and, at least, provide enough linear or 3D information; or, the reader is left floundering or dog paddling just to stay afloat. It wouldn't surprise me if some readers started but did not finish "Light."

The good news is that hanging in there long enough seemed to lead to my being more comfortable in the book's quantum field, so to speak, as well as with the central characters and whatever it was that they were up to. And, I didn't have to understand every quantum or quantum -like concept to come away with the "feel" that all of the so called story lines were, perhaps, happening simultaneously on different timelines. In fact, about 1/2 way in, I noticed that I had some appreciation for the actors and even found some humor. The brilliance is there and, for me, I'll jump in the ocean again, re-read it...this time with an inner tube.

Even worse, I'll most likely read the 2d book in this Kefahuchi Trilogy despite having no clear idea of what is the Kefahuchi
Tract?