A review by bookmumblings
The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
3.0
If you’ve not read this book, I would recommend going in blind. The blurb is enough to hook you in and Bester’s writing style takes care of the rest. The wonder of this book is how it really clinches you in. Be warned though, there is a Freudian element to this book.
This had so much potential. The concept was intriguing and the writing style was succinct, clever, and witty.
Some of my favourite parts of the story:
• The concept – the tiered levels of ‘peepers’ and how telepathic conversations were depicted was just genius. I loved how a character could just say ‘Peep me’ to convince someone of what they were saying. It cut through unnecessary prose and dialogue.
• The dialogue was stellar and unexpectedly funny. There were some real gems here - the unforgettable song, the greeting of "pip, pop, bim, bam". Powell’s character was written so well. As a reader, its remarkable to see how Bester can expertly juggle telepathic communication and verbal dialogue. It was clever and fun to read. I genuinely felt transported. This is Bester’s talent; transporting the author without long prose but clever and witty dialogue.
• Humour: this was so unexpected yet welcome. There are some real laugh out loud moments during the cat and mouse game. This linked to how the main characters, Reich and Powell, were multidimensional.
During the first half of the novel I kept thinking, ‘This is so much fun!’
…Then I started thinking, ‘what the hell is this?’
First, the chauvinism. Now, I kept trying to excuse this, ‘hey, it was published in the 1950s.’ … but it became inexcusable. I kid you not, EVERY SINGLE female is an air head with exaggerated sexuality fawning over a man. I mean hats off, it’s actually remarkable how Bester manages to staunch his talent for creating a multidimensional male character and redirect it into creating caricatures of woman.
Our stellar female cast consists of 1) “the epitome of the modern career girl - the virgin seductress”; 2) an overly sexualised woman “transformed by pneumatic surgery into an exaggerated East Indian figure … the painted figure head of a pornographic ship” …
This had so much potential. The concept was intriguing and the writing style was succinct, clever, and witty.
Some of my favourite parts of the story:
• The concept – the tiered levels of ‘peepers’ and how telepathic conversations were depicted was just genius. I loved how a character could just say ‘Peep me’ to convince someone of what they were saying. It cut through unnecessary prose and dialogue.
• The dialogue was stellar and unexpectedly funny. There were some real gems here - the unforgettable song, the greeting of "pip, pop, bim, bam". Powell’s character was written so well.
Spoiler
The villain / friend act between Powell and Inspector Beck in the aftermath of the murder had me laughing and genuinely enjoying the story. Then, the instantaneous communication between Powell and Reich’s lawyer was just brilliant.Spoiler
One of my favourite moments was Powell’s monologue to the party trying to get them to consent to his ‘peeping’, I could feel the tension and Powell’s expert control over the people in the room.• Humour: this was so unexpected yet welcome. There are some real laugh out loud moments during the cat and mouse game. This linked to how the main characters, Reich and Powell, were multidimensional.
Spoiler
We have the story of Dishonest Abe which instantly dispelled the image of Powell being a one-dimensional police prefect. But we also have Reich’s unexpected charm which Powell picks up on but we as the reader have already picked up on this from the very first pages when he apologises to his valet and charms him with a smile.During the first half of the novel I kept thinking, ‘This is so much fun!’
…Then I started thinking, ‘what the hell is this?’
First, the chauvinism. Now, I kept trying to excuse this, ‘hey, it was published in the 1950s.’ … but it became inexcusable. I kid you not, EVERY SINGLE female is an air head with exaggerated sexuality fawning over a man. I mean hats off, it’s actually remarkable how Bester manages to staunch his talent for creating a multidimensional male character and redirect it into creating caricatures of woman.
Our stellar female cast consists of 1) “the epitome of the modern career girl - the virgin seductress”; 2) an overly sexualised woman “transformed by pneumatic surgery into an exaggerated East Indian figure … the painted figure head of a pornographic ship” …