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Title:
2010: Odyssey Two Author:
Arthur C. Clarke Hardback: 291 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books (1982) Amazon: Instant Look Up Appraising Eyeballs: |
About the Book:
Nine years after the disastrous Discovery
mission to Jupiter in 2001, a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition sets out to
rendezvous with the derelict spacecraft *to search the memory banks of the
mutinous computer HAL 9000 for clues to what went wrong . . . and what became
of Commander Dave Bowman. Without
warning, a Chinese expedition targets the same objective, turning the recovery
mission into a frenzied race for the precious information Discovery may hold
about the enigmatic monolith that orbits Jupiter. Meanwhile, the being that was once Dave
Bowman, the only human to unlock the mystery of the monolith, streaks toward
Earth on a vital mission of its own . . .
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Bruce’s
Appraisal: Funny,
how time works coincidences. My
operation had me reading about Santa Claus in the About
five years ago, as a curiosity, I picked up 2001: A Space Odyssey. The movie had always been a guilty
pleasure in spite of Stanley Kubrick’s bizarre stylistic decisions, and I’d
always wondered about the novel that had given rise to the movie. I expected to flip through the pages and return
it to the shelf, “for later.” Instead,
I became engrossed in a work of literary art that captured my every spare
moment for several days. Eagerly, I
went to the sequel, and there I stopped for the next five years. At
it turns out, 2010: Odyssey Two, is
a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s movie, and not to Arthur C. Clarke’s original
masterpiece. While the alterations are
largely cosmetic (aside from the fact that the location of the monolith is
outside another planet), it took
time and distance to work up the interest in a follow up to the vastly
inferior film. With time and distance,
though, came appreciation. Arthur
C. Clarke’s writing style can be seen as a study in economy. Short, tightly constructed chapters combine
as individual steps on the path to a climax.
Each paragraph has its topic sentence, and each chapter has its
individual topic, as well. The
storytelling is lean but somehow simultaneously evocative. There is just enough to get the imagination
working overtime. Despite—or likely
because of—the lack of melodrama, a descent into the heart of Jupiter is
literally breathtaking. Reading that
passage brings about a sense of falling, a very real vertigo that left me gripping
the book’s covers. And while this book picks up
where the first movie leaves off, 2010 is
not a slave to the sequel film. Clarke
wisely avoids the dated Cold War references that plague the second
movie. The Russians and Americans work
together in an altogether modern fashion, and current tensions over Chinese imports
and currency valuation lend still more credence to the author’s apparent
prescience. One great theme that struck
home much more clearly in 2010 is
the notion that Hal is Frankenstein’s monster. Here is this thinking, apparently feeling entity, made by a man who
seems to lack most of which he bestowed upon his creation. That entity is given conflicting orders
which he is bound to obey, and in doing so commits acts that humanity deems
evil. Yet there is pity here, because
it is the fault of his flawed creators and not his own inadequacy that led to
the tragedy of Dave Bowman’s mission in 2001,
and threaten to repeat again in this book. The scene where Dr. Chandra
explains to the crew of the Leonov
that they are asking Hal to repeat the same sort of act that led to his
mutiny in the first place is chilling and ever so relevant. How many times have we humans repeated the
same act expecting a different result, beating our heads against an
impenetrable barrier in the very definition of insanity? Compassion, even pity, arise for Hal, and
the ending he receives in the novel is far more satisfying than that of the over-simplified
movie version. Just as 2001 did before it, the end of this book stole my breath,
captured my attention in a relentless barrage of cosmic awe. There is the sense of such greater things
at work, and Clarke ups the ante as he pulls the curtain back just a little
farther than he did at the end of the first book. Now we gain insight into the race that was
so pointedly absent in the finale of 2001,
and we gain just a hint as to their nature.
Again, the book sports a far superior ending to that of the movie,
strong enough to engender relief that they didn’t go on to make a film of the
third book. Delightful. |