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A review by trin
The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
2.0
This is a hard book to review, because from what I’ve heard/read/absorbed through fannish osmosis, this book has been influential in inspiring/shaping a lot of time travel narratives since it was first published in 1973. Unfortunately, a lot of what was once innovative now seems old hat—I’m not sure anything featured in this book was new to me. So I guess I appreciate it, intellectually, but on its own it didn’t do much for me.
I knew all the major things that were going to happen from the beginning, and I enjoyed some of them more than others (a lot of other reviewers seem skeeved by the protagonist having a lot of sex with himself, which frankly sort of puzzles/amuses me—but then I guess I am a big old perv, so perhaps I should envy them their innocence). The knotty logic of how the various time jumps affect everything eventually gave me a bit of a headache; I still don’t understand all the intricacies of it, really, nor can I be sure it actually works, although this is all so theoretical that I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I’ve actually gotten much more pleasure out of time travel narratives that make much less sense—Terminator, Back to the Future, etc. This book is really more of an intellectual exercise than a fun story, and again, I see why that was important, but now that the groundwork’s been laid, I didn’t find it terribly exciting.
Also, the protagonist’s kind of an idiot. If I wanted someone to pen an article entitled, “How Not to Have Any Fun at All With Your Awesome Time Travel Belt,” I’d totally look to him to write it.
And speaking of idiocy…I really wish the copy of this that I got off BookMooch hadn’t been the 20th anniversary edition. Because “anniversary edition” turns out to mean “updated edition.” I hate this trend of “updating” books so that newer readers only have to be exposed to books that take place in their present, instead of in the time they were written. One of the things that I love about older books is that they’re artifacts of their times—I want all the crazy clothing trends! The pop culture references! The outdated political concerns! (I also feel, on some level, that it’s insanely stupid to do this to a time travel novel. Or is it just really meta?) I don’t need to read a book that I’ve tried to get into a ’70s mindset to enjoy, only to be confronted with a reference to 9/11.
Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is that this is a good book to read if you’re trying to learn about the history and development of science fiction, but if you’re just looking for a fun yarn, you should search elsewhere. And I suppose I could go back in time to say that much more succinctly, but we all know that WOULDN’T END WELL, would it?
I knew all the major things that were going to happen from the beginning, and I enjoyed some of them more than others (a lot of other reviewers seem skeeved by the protagonist having a lot of sex with himself, which frankly sort of puzzles/amuses me—but then I guess I am a big old perv, so perhaps I should envy them their innocence). The knotty logic of how the various time jumps affect everything eventually gave me a bit of a headache; I still don’t understand all the intricacies of it, really, nor can I be sure it actually works, although this is all so theoretical that I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I’ve actually gotten much more pleasure out of time travel narratives that make much less sense—Terminator, Back to the Future, etc. This book is really more of an intellectual exercise than a fun story, and again, I see why that was important, but now that the groundwork’s been laid, I didn’t find it terribly exciting.
Also, the protagonist’s kind of an idiot. If I wanted someone to pen an article entitled, “How Not to Have Any Fun at All With Your Awesome Time Travel Belt,” I’d totally look to him to write it.
And speaking of idiocy…I really wish the copy of this that I got off BookMooch hadn’t been the 20th anniversary edition. Because “anniversary edition” turns out to mean “updated edition.” I hate this trend of “updating” books so that newer readers only have to be exposed to books that take place in their present, instead of in the time they were written. One of the things that I love about older books is that they’re artifacts of their times—I want all the crazy clothing trends! The pop culture references! The outdated political concerns! (I also feel, on some level, that it’s insanely stupid to do this to a time travel novel. Or is it just really meta?) I don’t need to read a book that I’ve tried to get into a ’70s mindset to enjoy, only to be confronted with a reference to 9/11.
Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is that this is a good book to read if you’re trying to learn about the history and development of science fiction, but if you’re just looking for a fun yarn, you should search elsewhere. And I suppose I could go back in time to say that much more succinctly, but we all know that WOULDN’T END WELL, would it?