| Title | : | Longer |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1250229812 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781250229816 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 |
| Publication | : | First published May 28, 2019 |
Gunjita has "juved" for her second and last time, but Cav is reluctant to join her. Instead he's obsessed with the unidentified object that they encounter out in space. Is it alive? He believes that it just might be. The prospect of first contact is possible, but their marriage may not survive the challenge.
Longer Reviews
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While I have never read Michael Blumlein before, this novella reminded me a lot of Echopraxia by Peter Watts, who is also a big fan of evolutionary biology. There is a thread in Longer about the role of smell in social development. If that sounds random, this short book is stuffed to the gills with enough ideas and concepts to make the reader’s head feel like a pool table.
The world-building here is deliberate and dense, with a lot thrown at the reader. For example, the word HUBIE is used several times before its meaning is given … in a footnote. Similarly, the characters tend to spout in Big Idea Talks rather than converse like normal people.
I realise that a lot of what I like here – the denseness, the demands placed on the casual reader – are the very characteristics likely to turn people off SF. But make no mistake that Longer is Literature with a Capital Letter. The characters are difficult to warm to – are we to believe the main couple have been together for half a century?
The resolution is ambiguous in a kind of Spielbergian sense, while the actual ending is very Kim Stanley Robinson-cum-Ian McDonald. Highly recommended if you prefer your SF to be (literally) out of this world. -
When is enough enough? If you could take a treatment to make yourself young again, would you do it? Of course you would. Would you do it a second time? A third? If it was only available to the rich (as it inevitably would be) would you still do it? What if there were risks?
In this short novella, a husband and wife make opposite choices about getting the second treatment. Other stuff is going on, too, but that is the central conflict. -
This review and others can be read on my blog,
Black Forest Basilisks.“Death was a journey, composed of little deaths, little steps along the way. Sometimes the steps were close together, tightly packed, and death came rapidly. Sometimes they were spaced far apart, and it approached at a crawl. Suicide offered a choice of speeds. it was the ultimate in self-determination.”
Longer is a poignant, uncomfortable, and genuine snapshot of life, death, and the threshold between the two. It is simply written, but impeccably so – while you won’t necessarily find lyrical, poetic prose, you will find a thoughtful and intense discussion on old age, fairness, and humanity. There is a lot packed into this short novel.
At its heart, this is a novel about a man choosing to die. He has the chance to juve – to take a cocktail that will reset his body back to its peak – but is instead choosing to commit suicide by refusing it. Suicide is an intensely personal and delicate topic, and I was impressed by the tact with which it was handled here. Cav’s experiences rang true to anyone who has contemplated suicide in the past. It is an end, a choice, an embrace – yet at the moment of truth, Cav is pulled back when he can see the edge. I was initially worried this novel would be one that glorified suicide as sacrifice, but am very pleased to say that is not the case where Cav’s final experiences are concerned.
Most people with a history of depression have come to that precipice in the past. They’ve looked death in the eye, and saw it as a comfort. An option. An escape hatch. To Cav, it is all of these and more – it’s also a way to speak out against the unfairness inherent in who can or cannot afford to juve. It was painful to watch Cav’s slow decline, as he drew away from his partner, Gunjita, who had just recently juved. She, too, hurts and feels the pain of watching someone she loves deeply and dearly slowly recede.
While I did not love this novel, precisely, it was a novel that made me feel very deeply. I did not like reading it, particularly, because I saw myself at my worst reflected in it. At the end of the day, I don’t know if this novel is good or bad for those who are in a bad place in life. However, I do think that it’s discussing an important topic in a way that I don’t often see.
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I got longer in an end-of-year sale shopping spree from tor.com, one of my favorite publishers. As a result, I didn't know too much about it before starting besides there being research on a space ship.
However, I could never really connect with the story or the characters. It is more philosophical in tone. If one can rejuvenate a limited number of times, is it more selfish to do so or not to do so? Personally, I wasn't convinced about the max. 2 times rejuvenation - it felt like a little bit a cheap solution to the question whether people would live forever now.
This one was not really for me.
Find this and other reviews on my blog
https://www.urlphantomhive.com -
Thank you to Tor.com and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this story in exchange for my open and honest opinion.
“An island of bliss in a sea of amnesia”
This story touches on some important issues. What it means to live. What it means to die. When do you live enough life? Classicism. Love and marriage over a long period of time. Yet, even with its loftier goals of deep discussion and narrative, the story falls bitterly, and entirely flat.
The story involves four different characters over the course of a few weeks.
Cav – Scientist, 84. Cav works on a space station with his wife Gunjita. They study a drug that can halt and reverse aging, but is not successful yet. He has rejuvenated once already and has not rejuvenated the second and final time. Cav has reservations about the rejuvenation process and the socio and psychological ramifications.
“Death was a journey, composed of little deaths, little steps along the way. Sometimes the steps were close together, tightly packed, and death came rapidly.”
Gunjita – Scientist, 82. Cavs newly rejuvenated wife. Also a scientist and working in concert with Cav in zero-g.
Dash – Friend and newly rejuvenated doctor. He has a new special ability in his fingertips.
Asteroid with weird Organic Splatter – This object is a point of contention between Gunjita and Cav. Is it alive, or inert?
Cav and Gunjita work in a space station studying an anti-aging drug that. If they are successful they could roll back death turning humans into Methuselah. If you are rich enough to afford it. Obvious class conflict. Extended life is given only to those born to privilege or circumstance. The repercussions of this are something that Cav struggles with. Cav and Gunijta find an asteroid speckled with what looks like vomit. Cav believes that the speckle could be sentient and Gunjita believes that it is not. This causes a rip in their marriage. This story attempts to speak very plainly about age and marriage. Yet, I found that the marriage depicted in the story lacked realism and edged towards vapid. As a couple that had been married for 50 years as well as two prominent and respected scientists, their discussion of science and relationships are shallow, and at times verged on tedious. This paired with the characterization of youth versus age threw me out of the story many times. The trope of youth as a place of wonder and excitement, while age is the place to be endured till you can afford to be rejuvenated again, is flat and unrealistic. Youth does not make you a magically vibrant person. Nor, does age make you wise.
This story had quite a lot of graphic representations of scientific horrors involving embryos and could be triggering for some. I just found it to be gratuitous on top of the bloated and unrealistic narrative.
This is a bitter story, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Because in the end, you feel nothing. Nothing towards the story, the characters, their plight. Nothing. Maybe that was Blumlein’s intent. Because in the end, it is all nihilism. Although I wanted to like this story, Blumlein is a skilled writer, I didn’t. I cannot get behind the sentiment, characterization, pacing, or message. I do not recommend. -
So tired of people writing these philosophical tomes, setting them in the future, and calling them SF am I.
Science fiction by including a space station is not. Yssss. Hrmmm.
A great philosopher was needed to discuss this thinly-disguised philosophy tract, which this story is, so this review was written with the assistance of the English to Yoda-speak translator found here
https://lingojam.com/EnglishtoYoda -
Almost got four stars, but the ending/epilogue felt a bit abrupt. I might change my mind about the fourth star, as the book has a lot to recommend it. I need to think about it some more. Review soon at Skiffy and Fanty.
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DNF - page 47 (20%)
I love the premise, but I just can't get into the writing. 😞 -
I received a copy of Longer through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Longer is one of those science fiction novels that'll make you think. More than that, it'll make you feel. I'm not ashamed to admit that Longer made me cry like a baby at times. It cut through me and forced me to view the tale on an emotional level.
This novel follows two scientists – Gunjita and Cav. Both are working on an orbiting space station run by Gleem Galatic. Their both married to their work, and are significantly older than they appear.
But there's so much more going on than that. Gunjita has become rejuvenated in her works, while Cav is drowning in doubt and so many more complicated feelings and emotions. Their journey here will make you question so much about science and life.
In this world people have the option to juve when they hit a certain age. That is, they can set back their biological clocks to a younger version of themselves. The earlier you juve, the more time you've lost. But the later you juve, the riskier it becomes. And one can only juve twice in a lifetime.
For more reviews check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks -
Unfortunatley I was not a fan..
Full review:
http://evelynreads.com/arc-review-lon... -
Longer is a unique dive into the human psyche to examine what it means to extend the human lifespan. It’s the best kind of character piece, focusing on personal conversations and overarching themes that go beyond explosive plot points. This is the story of a woman who wants to live forever and a man who feels he’s had enough.
The writing is on another level, pairing an ethereal conversation style with a few converging plot points that never fully materialize. There are world-changing events always on the perimeter, but the focus remains on Cav and Gunjita as they try to come to terms with time and what it means for their futures. It’s an extremely personal take on the common life extension question: is it right that we should go against natural aging and give ourselves multiple lifetimes? We get both sides of the conversation. For Gunjita, there can never be enough life. She wants to horde as much time as possible, to fulfill every dream she’s ever had and to become more. For Cav, he doesn’t believe it’s natural or fair to get more time, especially when everyone can’t afford it. The cost is too great in his eyes.
In a way, the novella leaves you feeling strangely connected to these characters. It’s hard to describe Blumlein’s style of writing, but ethereal seems to be as close as I can get. The spoken words are never fully formed, adding a sense of realism that I didn’t know was missing. When Cav speaks, we see that sense of introspection that comes with aging. His mind works differently than his younger counterparts in the station, mixing a childlike wonder of his surroundings with a floundering train of thought. He’s dying, yet he’s living more than either of his companions. It’s a strange and inspiring state to witness.
Overall, Longer is something special, a look into the human soul to ask the big questions. What does it mean to be human? What would you do if time wasn’t an issue? And finally, does more time necessarily mean a better life?
NOTE: I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. -
An interesting look at some of the implications of immortality. I enjoyed parts of this story, but overall it was not to my taste. This is a hard science book, but there is not a lot of science in the book, it is mostly about the dilemma of too much longevity. Artfully written, but not to my style.
Have a GoodReads. -
Sorry to say that this book kind of dodges all of the themes it lays out and doesn't meet any of its promises. Too bad--it started out interesting. I think you're better off watching Ad Vitam on Netflix.
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I read about one third of it and found it too tedious to continue.
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Turned out to be less science-y and more philosophical than expected, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The ending did leave much to be desired though.
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This book clearly had so much potential (alien life? extended life? marriage a century in? clearly a set up for the question of what the end of life is, and when having a choice in it teeters into suicide and when it doesn't? it's all right there). But instead it disappointed on every. level. Where to start?
I got the feeling the author was trying to use a terse/direct/short style of writing to align with the scientific elements of the story and his characters. I've seen this done well, in fiction as well as in academia (my grad school had a program for all grad students across all disciplines which taught how to coil your writing into such preciosity that you could use one word where before you used six- that was the editing goal). Blumlein...does not do it well here. Rather than being brisk and precise, he's just short in a way that makes you re-read the sentence wondering where the grammatical error is.
Perhaps the most frustrating thing about the book was that it forced you to suspend your disbelief the entire time, and not about the possibility of alien life, the progress of civilization, or the technologies in place. Instead, in a book whose premise is the ability for people to "juve" and revert their aged bodies to youth...we're supposed to also believe that once your body has the look, strength, and vitality of a 20 year old, you have forgotten your previous 80 or 140 years of life experience and act like a dumbass 20 year old again.
I'm not saying that jackasses aren't still jackasses at 80, and so would be jackasses at 85 in a 25-year-old body. I've met 80-year-old jackasses. Returning their bodies to youth would just make their ability to follow through easier again. But most 80-year-olds have also learned a few things and act according to the lessons and experiences that they've had. To be trivial and make my point, maybe the 80 year old jackass has learned to never prank or mess with women's hair based on a prank they pulled when they were 12 and suffered endless hell from.
The book tries to make a point that there are hormones in place during the juve process which can lead to some personality changes...that only goes so far. Because aside from having to buy into the notion that they revert to an idiocy that 80 years (at least) should have shaved a bit off of, we also have to swallow the premise that it's to such an extent that it ends a relationship that has lasted 50 years. "I've been with you for 50 years....but now you're old and slow me down and I have no patience for it, so bye," with the only support for this idea being the reversion to youth (and not other prior relationship problems) is just silly. At least, I didn't think it worked.
The other elements of the book didn't quite work either. They were there and had promise, but it was never really followed through on. Maybe there wasn't space? At the same time, despite being relatively short, this book seemed like it would never end. It attempted to be brusque, and instead was just short and poorly fleshed out, adding elements and thoughts without the power to make them resonate.
Overall...disappointing. -
Longer is a story set in a future where people who can afford it can "juve" -- they can reboot their bodies from their 80s to their 20s while retaining all memories and experiences they've lived up until then. Cav and Gunjita have juved once already, and Gunjita has juved her second -- and final -- time. The two are working in orbit on a procedure that will allow people to juve more than twice, but Cav is unwilling to juve his second time. His reluctance is causing a rift between them, which is widened when they capture an interstellar asteroid and find what Cav is convinced is life on its exterior.
Longer is an engaging treatise of life, change, morality, and love. It's a moving story that captures the readers through its characters and ends on a note that leaves you with questions, but doesn't leave you unsatisfied. This is a book that will make you think and make you care. It's a little dry in parts, because Blumlein writes about hard science, but the journey is worth it. -
This felt clumsily written to me. For example there is a lot of dialogue but that dialogue is totally unconvincing, as in two people conversing would never talk like that. Then there are plot elements that are introduced and quickly forgotten having made no significant contribution to the story.
I have seen reviews saying that the novella discusses questions of immortality and relationships, and maybe it does though I didn't learn anything new from it. But as a form of literary entertainment I found it a failure. Everything about the story feels unnatural and forced, and I ended up finishing it out of stubbornness rather than because I was enjoying it.
It's rare that I would advise people to avoid a book because it simply isn't worth your time, but this is one of those occasions. -
I have a hard time figuring out what the actual story was here.
Didn't like how the POV jumped within the same chapter, or how there was such an inexplicable focus on sex and Cav's penis for about 60 pages and then nothing.
Also, it brought up The Hoax, but never bothered to explain it.
Had a hard time following the dialogues, what with there being few indicators as to who said what. -
Longer is a strange and fascinating little book with a shadow of a plot underneath many bright starbursts of philosophy. The science fiction setting serves as the backdrop for what is really a four-person drama about the ethics of mortality and what we determine the word "living" to mean. Thought-provoking and uneasy, as much of the best sci-fi happens to be.
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Dr. Blumlein's characters grapple with issues of life, longevity, ageing, and death in this novella written while he was facing his own death. His knowledge of sciences, especially his own biomedical forte, makes for good science fiction. A compelling read, I could not put it down. My mind returns to the thoughts expressed in this one.
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Interesting sci fi novella. A meditation on life and death maybe with or without an extraterrestrial entity.
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*review forthcoming*
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Recommended.
Review posted at Tzer Island book blog:
http://www.tzerisland.com/bookblog/20... -
Some interesting ideas but overall left me feeling...meh.
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Interesting but a little vague. Wouldn't hurt to be more clear on who says what in a dialogue.
