Arthur C. Clarke, I Owe You So Much!
It's Over.
Never to be repeated again.
Now What?
A few days ago, I finished the last novel in Arthur C. Clarke's "Odyssey" series: 2001, 2010, 2061 and 3001. I enjoyed these books immensely. This was the first series of books that I have ever read. Sure I've read all the Harry Potter books, but I haven't read the series. There are still 2 to go.
The reason why I liked these books so much, was because they blended a subtle parody of pop culture, a in depth look at astrophysics, and a philosophical view on life. The monolith is one of the most mysterious objects mankind has ever known. If you watched the movie and were puzzled by those omnipotent black gods, you were in the same boat as me. I tend to go overboard on the movies, so I watched it another 15 times. I even went downtown to see it at the cineforum, where I had a nice discussion with some "actual" film students, and was delighted that all of my assumptions were correct, and even enlightened a few of them as to the meaning of the Star Child. It was on a whim that I decided that I would ask for these books for Christmas, after I saw the amount of Clarke that was at my school library. I didn't expect to get any of them, but my mom bought me all four. I began to read 2001 on Boxing Day, when I returned from HMV with my newly purchased Dark Side of the Moon. From that moment on, Pink Floyd and Dave Bowman became a large part of my life. I raced through 2001, absorbing every detail from the ending, which was different from the movie. I realized that the book was entirely different from the movie, and I loved the new version. With all of the characters pre-cast in my mind, I was ready to fly into 2010. Heywood Floyd, who delivered the most hypnotic phrase in Kubrick's film ("deliberately buried"), returned in 2010, and in 2061, where he was a passenger on a luxury liner headed for Halley's Comet, but had to make an emergency rescue on Europa. In 3001, Frank Poole was resurrected after being frozen for 1000 years in space, and must deal with a world after Europa. I tend to like a story that builds as it progresses, unlike some of the drivel that I was forced to read in my English literature class. I also like a novel that jumps right into the story and explains the present, as you go along. It allows me to get into the story faster, and it makes me ask more questions in my head, which lead me to noticing more detail about a novel, instead of knowing everything at the beginning and waiting for a specific thing to happen.
Clarke also made it easy for me to love these stories, by giving a chapter by chapter analyzation of where he came up with all the ideas that he came up with, and more importantly, how real life has imitated his art. While this is insightful to read, along with how well respected he is among the astronautical society, the true imitation that must be recognized, his is ability to write such plausible characters. The responses, the questions asked by Bowman, and Floyd, and Poole's ability to cope with his new environment are so real that it makes these books so hard to put down. This is also why I like to read the Harry Potter books so much. Plausible characters make a real connection with the reader. It's easier for a reader to understand the mind frame of a character, when they agree with every step the character has taken thus far.
While I'm sure I'll continue to read Clarke, It will be difficult to imagine a universe without Bowman drifting somewhere in the shadows of space, watching, and more importantly.........waiting.