Peter Leigh, a dedicated Christian pastor, leaves his wife Beatrice on a crumbling, disaster-stricken Earth to travel to the planet Oasis. Employed by the mysterious corporation USIC, Peter’s mission is to provide religious instruction to the Osa, an indecipherable alien race that specifically requested a missionary to teach them from the Bible. While Peter builds a church and struggles to translate scripture for beings without human anatomy, his communications with Beatrice reveal a civilization undergoing total collapse. The physical distance between the couple mirrors a widening spiritual chasm as Peter becomes obsessed with his new flock.
Readers of speculative fiction who prioritize psychological depth over technological detail will find this narrative focuses on the fragility of human language and long-distance devotion. It attracts those interested in the friction between organized religion and extraterrestrial life. The reader walks away with a stark observation of how isolation alters personal identity and how faith can both bridge and create unfixable gaps between people. It provides a sobering look at the logistical and emotional cost of attempting to save a soul while one's own home is vanishing.
Deep, inward-looking, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
Insights from The Book of Strange New Things
“If you are not with me, I am not anywhere.”
Peter thinks he can save a whole planet. He doesn't notice his own wife is falling apart back home.
“They are the technique for not being broken.”
The Oasans want to hear about Jesus because they are terrified of dying. Physical bodies are just too fragile for them.
“What is the point of a message that takes weeks to arrive?”
Distance does something terrible to a marriage. Letters from Earth start to feel like white noise when you're light-years away.
“The Book of Strange New Things was what they called the Bible.”
Language has limits. The aliens can’t even pronounce certain letters. Some parts of our souls just don't translate to others.
- Published
- 2014
- Publisher
- Hogarth
- ISBN
- 9780553418842
- Language
- EN
