The Book of Strange New Things

by Michel Faber

'I am with you always, even unto the end of the world . . .'

Peter Leigh is a missionary called to go on the journey of a lifetime. Leaving behind his beloved wife, Bea, he boards a flight for a remote and unfamiliar land, a place where the locals are hungry for the teachings of the Bible - his 'book of strange new things'. It is a quest that will challenge Peter's beliefs, his understanding of the limits of the human body and, most of all, his love for Bea.

The Book of Strange New Things is a wildly original tale of adventure, faith and the ties that might hold two people together when they are worlds apart. This momentous novel, Faber's first since The Crimson Petal and the White, sees him at his expectation-defying best.

WINNER OF THE SALTIRE BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD
AS HEARD ON BBC RADIO 4

• ISBN10: 1782114068
• ISBN13: 9781782114062
• Publish Date: 23 October 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 11 August 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Canongate Books
• Edition: Main
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 592
• Language: English

Reviews

[ibeforem]

Many years ago, I read [b:The Crimson Petal and the White|40200|The Crimson Petal and the White|Michel Faber|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1408937589l/40200._SY75_.jpg|1210026] and fell in love with Michel Faber's writing. I finally picked up this book, and it couldn't be more different in subject matter.

That's not a bad thing! This was sort of a crazy read, but it wasn't unpleasant. Peter is a pastor who has been chosen by a company called USIC to travel to a distant solar system and minister to a colony of aliens there (are they actually aliens if we're on THEIR planet?). The previous pastors have sort of disappeared, but the colony really wants to learn about The Book of Strange New Things (the Bible), and the humans need to keep them happy in order to survive in this strange new land.

If you don't like reading about religion and scripture, this book is not for you. I confess I did a good bit of skimming at times, through Peter's religious musings. But the story beneath the religion is interesting. Peter is quite sanctimonious, possibly due to him being "born again" after a past full of drug abuse and homelessness. He manages to keep this mostly in check when talking to other USIC employees, but his poor wife Bea, stuck back on Earth, really bears the brunt of it. She is going through a hard time, and often receives only scripture in return from Peter. This is understandably maddening. It's also interesting to see what happens to Peter over time, how he manages to fold himself into the Oasan community, living happily with them, almost becoming one of them. You have to wonder, is this how he became a pastor? Is he just good at assimilating to his environment?

The stuff happening to Bea back home was the most interesting to me. Honestly, I got real 2020 vibes out of it, as things in her world just seem to get worse and worse.

Don't expect a whole lot of resolution at the end of the story. I think it ended in a good place, but you don't exactly get a bunch of answers.

This book was not at all what I expected, but I am still glad I read it. I definitely will think about it for a long time.

[sarahjay]

I'm distraught. This book is so beautifully written, but I found the ending very unsatisfying. Still, everything that led up to it was wonderfully creative so I'm going to just try to forgive that. I don't think I would recommend this book to everyone because parts of it are very emotionally difficult to read, and the subject matter doesn't seem like something that would be universally appealing (I could be wrong on this, I can of course only speak to the life experiences I personally brought to this book). And if you like books with closure, this maybe isn't for you. But at this point in my life, there was a lot in here that I could relate to, and I loved it for that.


edit: Never mind. It's perfect and I wouldn't change anything.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/27/arts/michel-faber-plans-to-stop-writing-novels.html?_r=0

[violetpeanut]

I'm struggling a little bit with my thoughts and my final rating of this one. I feel like it's one of those books that is critically very good, but I just didn't enjoy reading it like I hoped I would.

First, I enjoyed the world-building and descriptions of the settings. I felt completely immersed in the environment of Oasis, whether Peter was on the base or with the Oasians. The descriptions of the atmosphere and the rain were particularly evocative. I also loved reading about the Oasians themselves. As an alien race, there are aspects of their physiology and community that are familiar enough to make them accessible to the reader, yet different enough that they truly seem alien. It's not another "human" race on another planet, and they're not monsters.

As characters, I feel like the Oasian personalities develop for the reader just as they do for Peter. At first we don't know much about them, but eventually we can distinguish their personalities. This was well done. As for Peter, he is a deeply flawed character. Outwardly, he is a faithful missionary who wants to live by God's word. He tries his best to be an example for others and lives his life by the Bible. In reality, Peter is self-centered and is blind to his own prejudices. He shows little compassion for the hardships of others except as an excuse to spout Bible verses and platitudes. This is not a conscious thing for Peter. He genuinely feels that he is helping people but has no concept of how he comes off as condescending.

I also really liked reading about the failing relationship between Peter and his wife, Bea. It's the epitome of a long-distance relationship as she is still on Earth while he is light years away on Oasis. Along with the physical distance, there is a growing emotional distance because of Peter's inability to process events outside of his own immediate environment. I wish we would have had more about Bea's side of the story. I would really have liked more details about the crises happening on Earth and how she was handling them.

I'm only giving this three stars mainly because for long stretches of this book I was bored out of my mind. There are long passages describing the minutiae of Peter's life. More details than I needed or wanted. This book was much longer than it needed to be.

On a deeper level, this book raises a lot of questions. The end section of the book is an allegory with Peter's life as a parallel to the life of Jesus (temptation, resurrection, etc...). What is religion really? Is this how the story of Jesus came to be? What does it mean to have faith and be faithful?

I can see how readers who enjoy a philosophical read would enjoy this more than I did. I, however, read mostly for pleasure, and while I can appreciate the deeper questions, I was just too bored to rate this higher.