The Demolished Man ~Alfred Bester
–published 1952
–250 pages, Shasta Publishers
–Winner of first ever Hugo award, 1953
–4.5/5 stars
In the endless universe there is nothing new, nothing different. What may appear exceptional to the minute mind of man may be inevitable to the infinite Eye of God. This strange second in a life, that unusual event, those remarkable coincidences of environment, opportunity, and encounter… all may be reproduced over and over on the planet of a sun whose galaxy revolves once in two hundred million years and has revolved nine times already.
There are and have been worlds and cultures without end, each nursing the proud illusion that it is unique in space and time. There have been men without number suffering from the same megalomania; men who imagined themselves unique, irreplaceable, irreproducible. There will be more… more plus infinity. This is the story of such a time and such a man… The Demolished Man.
Last Thursday night the one and only copy of The Demolished Man in circulation amongst the many branches of my local library was placed in my hands by a very courteous and accommodating librarian. I proceeded to my part time job with the intent of getting a start on this Alfred Bester classic. After all, Jeff was currently reading it and our friend Cameron had given the novel glowing praise. I wanted to join in on the discussion that was sure to ensue at our weekly gathering of men this coming Wednesday (later today in fact). What followed was my immersion in a cover-to-cover read through of the book, ending just after midnight on February first… a book I counted as my tenth and last read for January 2008.
Depending on one’s familiarity with the early science fiction, Alfred Bester may not be a name that rings bells in the way authors like Issac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, or Arthur C. Clarke do. However Alfred Bester, at least with his novels The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man, proved that he can stand shoulder to shoulder with these greats.
The Demolished Man, worthy recipient of the first ever Hugo Award (and boy did Bester set the bar high), is one of those novels that you can read and list a whole host of stories and films that pay it homage, whether on purpose or by sheer coincidence. In the future that Bester envisions, a class of men and women conduct the affairs of everyday life by the use of telepathy. The highest level telepaths allow for a world in which crime, most especially premeditated murder, simply cannot happen. The Demolished Man tells the story of what happens when one man pits himself against a telepathic world and does the unthinkable…commits a well planned murder. What follows is a police procedural, a novel that follows the protagonist, Ben Reich, and the officer, Police Prefect Lincoln Powell, who is assigned to solve the murder. For 250 pages Alfred Bester unveils a taught, suspenseful tale of a future that is as frighteningly controlled as the more well known (due to film) stories later penned by Philip K. Dick. Ben Reich is described in the novel as a charming individual and it is such an apt description as that is exactly what he is. In Reich Bester introduces a character who is at once extremely unlikeable and at the same time charms you. In Lincoln Powell he presents a mirror image of the Reich character in that he is certainly not the evil person that Reich is and yet there is an unlikeable aspect to him as well…perhaps owing to the fact that he represents the government, the law, and we have a propensity for sometimes wanting the bad guys to win.
That conundrum stays with the reader throughout the novel. One is uncertain exactly who to root for and that uncertainty adds to the suspicion, paranoia, and mounting suspense of the story. In a relatively brief amount of pages Bester realizes a fully formed and complete story that reads as well as anything written since its release.
Like Stars, The Demolished Man is a unique reading experience in that Alfred Bester has a writing style that is all his own. Perhaps more than any other classic science fiction that I have come across, Bester’s work feels contemporary. One of the many interesting things Alfred Bester does in this novel is to give the reader a glimpse into the type of conversations that Espers (E.S.P.ers–the telepaths) engage in by showing how their ‘conversations’ flow via a graphical representation of the way their thoughts are ordered. A skilled writer, Bester does this on only a few occasions and by doing so gives a perfect visual representation in one page what might have taken multiple pages were he to convey that meaning in a more traditional fashion. Bester also employs what could be described as beat culture slang that was certainly ahead of its time. It too is used sparingly and used to such effect that it does not feel dated…it actually has a slight nostalgic sense that makes it transcend the years that have passed since this book was published.
I am more than impressed with both of my experiences with Alfred Bester’s work. The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man are somewhat on the dark side, with anti-heroes that at no time conform to the norms of the ‘good guys’ that one is supposed to root for. And yet Bester manages to write these characters in such a way that their is a readily identified human element to them. Bester’s characters are not cookie-cutter in any way.
The Demolished Man builds in suspense right up to the shocking conclusion. Ever the master, Bester manages to leave hints in the denouement that perhaps more is going on than initially meets they eye. This is a book that deserves discovery by those who have not read this classic author. It is a captivating read that does not disappoint.
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As I mentioned earlier, I checked this book out from my local library. The second I saw it I was in love. I have mentioned before how much I like old books, especially red ones for some odd reason. This well-loved book has so much character that I am sorely tempted to abduct it. If it wasn’t for the knowledge that this action would possibly deprive future readers from the experience, I might find the temptation irresistible. To pacify my covetous nature, I share some pictures that I took of the book that will have to stand in for me once I finally am forced to return the actual article.
Ahhhhh……
Sounds like one to keep my eye out for.
If you really wanted that particular version, couldn’t you abduct it and replace it with a different edition? Is that a terrible thing for me to suggest, especially considering that I am a librarian 😉
I suppose the tiny stories contest is dead and buried.
It was supposed to be in November no?
A burial announcement would have been nice though.
What Fence says makes sense.. I’m betting the library would be very happy for a newer copy. Can’t hurt to ask, all they can do is say no. But I bet they say yes!
I have a feeling it’s a book hard to find in hard back though, or you probably wouldn’t have used a Library book. (i do know you like to own your books!)
Fence and Deslily: I thought the same thing. I need to look to see if any hardback versions exist as I too suspect finding this in hardback would not be an easy call.
Nela: Sometime before Once Upon a Time starts the loose ends of the R.I.P. challenge will indeed be tied up. But not today.
I love the look of this book, and the smell brings back memories of my junior high library.
Oh, and the story itself sounds interesting too.
Oh, I can totally understand that urge…it’s a gorgeous little book!
One of the things I maybe hinted at but neglected to mention fully was how much I like the game of cat and mouse that goes on between Reich and Powell. It is an interesting game of fugitive as Reich tries to stay one step ahead of and outwit Powell and a bunch of other telepaths. It is interesting to read a novel in which you are torn between rooting for a murderer (because hey, a murder isn’t a nice guy) and a seemingly nice officer who represents the kind of big brother intrusion and control that we all inherently abhor. It makes for an interesting psychological exercise as one reads it.
This sounds awesome! I’ve had The Stars, My Destination on my list ever since you reviewed that one and sad to say, I had never heard of Bester before that. Glad to have found him though. Can’t wait to actually read his work! I love that book too. As soon as I saw the pictures I wanted it…The design of the cover is awesome..I love the placement of the letters and the shredded edges and everything. It’s sort of like that new clothing style where you buy your jeans with the holes in them already 😉
That is exactly it, Chris. I could not stop running my fingers over the indented letters of the title. I have no idea what the dust cover of this book may have looked like, but from a design standpoint this book as it is here is very interesting and eye catching. The way the letters of the title are displayed is a visual queue to the Espers thought structure that Bester explores visually in the story. It is very cool. I went by the library today but just couldn’t take it back. Not yet. I’m going to have to get on ebay and see if I can track down an old copy of this very book for myself.
I think you would find both Stars and Demolished man very interesting. They are not ‘hard’ sci fi, but they have thought provoking science fiction elements to them and are both certainly different than anything I’ve read previously. Especially Stars. Bester is well known and his contributions are highly praised in the science fiction community, but until a few years ago I hadn’t heard of him either. It wasn’t until authors I admire, like Neil Gaiman, started mentioning the influence of Stars that I decided to find out who Alfred Bester was and what his books were about. He has earned a degree of literary immortality, that is for certain.
This one sounds great – another to add to the list!
I did some looking – hope you don’t mind – and came across these:
http://www.showlettwestbooks.com/si/1600.html
http://www.parigibooks.com/si/7376.html
They’re both hardcover editions, but with the dust jackets in place it’s hard to tell if they’re the same as yours {though both jackets are very interesting in their own ways.} Either way, I hope you find it. Something like that would make a great addition to any personal library!
Thank you so much Chelle. I will email them a link to this post and ask them if their books, under the dust jackets, look like this one. Cool! I never mind when someone does me a good turn. 🙂
I found one on Amazon too Carl…looks like it’s an old Hardcover from a used seller at a good price…might want to check that one out too!
I will, thanks Chris!
The story sounds good, and I love the cover!
Oh God, Carl as soon as I logged on, I fell in love with the edition. Book Porn indeed! Now, lower your heads and shuffle your feet in shame people. I did and I feel better.
Cameron, you crack me up. Tune in tomorrow for more!
I find the cover of this one quite striking.
Reading your review I immediately thought of the film Minority Report (which I love), although I know that is supposed to be based on a Philip K. Dick short story.
Poking around on google, I found this review of Minority Report which mentions The Demolished Man.
I’m popping this one on “the list” too. 🙂
I thought of Minority Report, the film, when I was reading it too and looked to see that PKD did indeed write his story after Bester wrote this one.
I will also agree with everyone else in stating the cover shown above is COOL.
I enjoyed this book as well. The duel waged between Reich and Powell is filled with tension. I didn’t find Reich charming as Carl did but in reflection I could see where one might. He just represented corporate greed and entitlement to me and right from the get go I hated him. The beat speak in the book is a lot of fun and is never over done in a way that becomes distracting. This is the second Bester book I have finished and while for me I didn’t enjoy it as much as The Stars My Destination I still would rate quite highly as Carl did. I’ve read part of a third Bester book called The Computer Connection based on Cameron’s recommendation. It’s pretty crazy so far as compared to Stars or Demolished but I’m definitely curious where Bester goes with it. I’m glad I finally read some of Bester’s work recently. I’m ashamed it took me so long. 🙁
I certainly didn’t take the instant disliking to Reich that you did. I may have been a bit predisposed to not having such a strong reaction once you told me how much you disliked him when you started the book. I certainly didn’t find him as bad as Ramon Espejo in Hunter’s Run, at least not in the beginning. What I found interesting, and perhaps the reason part of me was rooting for the anti-hero in him, is that he really does represent the fight against the establishment even though he is not a nice guy in any way. I liked Powell a bit more but was naturally more distrusting of him because, unlike Reich, we weren’t always sure what Powell was hiding. Bester certainly created two characters with many facets to them and played them so well off of each other in their battle of wits. I will be reading Computer Connection sometime in the future and look forward to checking out my book of Bester short stories. I hope we continue to discover classic, and contemporary, science fiction authors of this caliber.
You were predisposed to liking him after I told you I didn’t like him. What’s that all about? I don’t get that? You crack me up.
I see Reich as what’s wrong with corporate greed and so I didn’t feel for him as Powell was investigating him. Again this is just my reaction. I just didn’t see his fight against Powell in the sameway as you I guess.
I guess I liked Powell a smige better but I really didn’t like him either. That’s one reason I just like the novel and don’t love it. I just didn’t feel emtionally attached to either of them in positive way. I need to be able to root for someone eventaully,ala Roman,but I never felt that way about Reich or Powell.
Computer Connection should be interesting because from the first 50 pages I’ve read Bester really pushes the taste meter much more so than anything in Stars or Demolished IMO.
What I meant was how when someone says a film sucks and then you see it and think it isn’t so bad? You disliked him so much that I went in and thought…okay, he’s not *that* bad. I think it was that kind of reaction. Not a conscious “Whachu talkin’ ’bout, Jeff?” 😉
I think in the end I ended up reaaaallly liking the novel because:
SPOILERS!!!!!
SPOILERS!!!!
SPOILERS!!!!
I ended up feeling empathy for both of them considering what happened to each of them and wondering just who was at the top pulling those strings. I felt like they were ultimately both victims. This is the kind of mind games Bester plays with those hints at the end. For the past several days I’ve been wondering just who had been demolished and how many times they possibly could have been demolished. If you think about it, it is kind of scary. I don’t always have to have a good emotional attachment to a character to be happy with the end of the story. I do most of the time, but with a novelist as skilled as Bester just the fact that I had an ongoing conflict throughout the story about who I felt what about and what I wanted the outcome to be made it a high rated novel for me.
I certainly didn’t have the feelings I ended up having for Roman and for the alien guy…can’t remember his name now…but the relationship they had during most of Hunter’s Run had a real similarity to the relationship Reich and Powell had. At least in the hunter/hunted sense.
SPOILERS ENDED!!!
Anyway, hope the predisposed comment made sense now.
Computer Connection will be a fun one to discuss once we both get a chance to get to it (or get back to it in your case).
Now, I’m off to snake the drains!!! Pity me
Of course, I always pity you. :0
Spoilers
I was wondering who was pulling the strings as well in the end. I like your comment about people possibly having been demolished more than once. I hadn’t thought about that. I definitely would feel sorry for them. To go through that once would be bad but multiple times. Ack!
As for your movie analogy, I can see that. I suppose I did say he was horrible and in comparisons to Roman he wasn’t as brutal in some ways but I thought he was actually worse in a psychological way. The way so many people in power use that power to humiliate people and demean them is horrible and that is way I felt Reich did and then he went on to murder when he didn’t get his way. He then has the audacity to believe he can cover up the crime and get away with and he felt that was his right and ok. It just made me a sick. I guess in Roman’s case he and his wife were both treating each other bad which doesn’t make it right but they were doing it to each other but they felt like equals. I guess with Reich others didn’t feel like they could retaliate against him because of the unbalance in power they had with him.
I think I’m just rambling now. I hope that last sentence made sense. 🙂 Overall I think there is nothing wrong with either of our opinions I just think they are different. I think my personnel baggage in this situation causes me to feel one way that is different than you. There’s nothing wrong either of our interpretations it’s just the way it is.
As for the emotional connection for me. I need a happy ending for me most of the time. I read to be entertained and at the end of the day I want a good feeling usually. I can get past that with a novel like Time Traveler’s Wife where it’s such a great romance I can live the ending because the journey was so incredible but even at the end of the day I would have tweaked the ending myself. I’m just a romantic sap. What can I say? 🙂
I respect Bester and I liked this novel don’t get me wrong. It’s just not one I would read again. Which is the case of most novels for me so that’s normal. It’s weird I was thinking yesterday as I was driving as much as I’m enjoying the Scifi experience I haven’t connected yet with an author on a high level for me. I’m hoping to find another Gaiman or Martin like feeling connection this year and I haven’t hit it yet. It’s very rare for me. I’ve enjoyed Asimov, Harrison, and Bester. I just haven’t connected with them on an emotional level. I did somewhat with Card the most but not on a Gaiman or Martin level. My favorite book last year was Baltimore and the year before was The Time Traveler’s Wife. I want more books to connect with me like that. I guess it’s that reader’s ” high ” that I’m always in search of. Books are like crack. The more you read the harder it can be to find that magic sometimes but it doesn’t stop me from reading. 🙂
I will stop now.
Why stop, you’re just getting going?
As I’ve said before, whenever I have these “emotional/connection” conversations I always feel that I have to set aside Gaiman, Stoker, Poe, and Harrison. Certainly other books I’ve read may equal or even exceed experiences I’ve had with those four, but they somewhat sit in a class all their own. I think I’d have to throw Tolkien in there as well.
Beyond that, I think I compare stuff with the experience I had with Time Traveler’s Wife, The Thirteenth Tale, Gene Wolfe’s Wizard Knight series for example. My experience with the combination of Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead are right up there with them and comparable to those I ‘set aside’.
Ever so slightly down would be my experiences this year with Foundation (that series just blew me away) and Demolished Man.
As far as sheer enjoyment and ‘damn good reads’, The Bleeding Dusk, Hunter’s Run, Halting State, and The Accidental Time Machine have been right there. They are just rip-roaring good times…so much fun to read.
I’m a hopeless romantic as well, but I still really enjoy darker books like Bester’s books and We and others. As long as they are well written that dark, heavy impact can be just as satisfying, though not as feel good or smile inducing, as books with more satisfyingly romantic endings.
And it is great that we have slightly different tastes or we wouldn’t be able to have these conversations.
And I wouldn’t be able to use my trademark phrase.
🙂
And that phrase would be… You are Awesome!!!
Great thoughts. Slightly different tastes? We both dig Big Trouble in Little China. We’re two peas in a pod. 🙂
I was over on someone’s site the other day…actually I think it might have been an article SF Signal linked to…where folks were dissing Big Trouble big time! I just had to shake my head sadly…there is no accounting for taste. Ha!
And the phrase is ‘You’re an Angel!” by the way.
We need to make up a word or phrase to describe those extra special books that are magical reading experiences to us. That way we could all use it and we would all know exactly what the other person was talking about!
aah… alfred bester…! i say his name knowingly, even though i haven’t read either of those big ones of his because i have been MEANING to for the longest time…
i’d oddly never actually read a synopsis about this, and i must say the plot sounds very cool indeed!! i love it when crime and science fiction merge like that!
another golden oldy carl! you’re having a ball!! 😀
I really am having a ball, J.P.! 🙂