lepreau (03/08/83)
Read Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" instead. Same topic, better written, more entertaining and lots shorter (of course!). And not as doctrinaire. -Jay Lepreau
steve (03/08/83)
#R:iwsl2:-15000:zinfandel:18100001:000:238 zinfandel!steve Mar 4 16:11:00 1983 I posted a longer, less favorable review of SPACE to net.space last November (before net.books). Rather than resubmit used bytes to the net, I will send a copy by mail to anyone interested. decvax!sytek!zehntel!zinfandel!steve nelson
idhopper (03/08/83)
I have not read Michener's Space, but I have read both Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" and Oriana Fallaci's "If The Sun Dies". I found the latter to give much more insight into the characters involved; the former tended to have a bit of a gosh-golly-gee-whiz attitude about it. If you have time, read both, as the insights they give are complementary. If you have time to read only one, I would recommend Fallaci's book (the most recent Whole Earth Catalog says it's out of print, and that is probably still the case, so you'll have to dig around a library or used book store to find a copy). --ravi
jeb@eisx.UUCP (Jim Beckman) (02/27/84)
I recently finished reading James Michener's SPACE, which I picked up in paperback. This happens to be the first Michener I have read. His POLAND novel is showing up high on the best- sellers lists recently. I understand that Michener's approach is to immerse himself in a subject, do lots of research, etc., before commencing a novel. However, on the basis of SPACE, it appears that even after all that study, the man still doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Some of the things Michener says about airplanes and test pilots in SPACE are just plain ridiculous (I guess it's always a problem to read novels concerning subjects about which you have some knowledge). These mistakes then cast doubt on the veracity of the rest of the story. Are the characters (other than the historically accurate ones such as Von Braun, Lyndon Johnson, the Mercury astronauts, etc.) supposed to be representative of actual people? Or is the whole thing just fabricated? If so, why all the research beforehand? I am willing to believe that everything in THE RIGHT STUFF is the truth (actually, I mean to agree that Tom Wolfe believes that everything is the truth). How much of Michener's book is supposed to be accurate? I also found it hard to believe some of his characters. People just aren't that consistently good, trustworthy, and so forth all the time. Too many of the characters seemed one-dimensional. Also the dialog occasionally was too stilted for belief. Summing up, SPACE is a good enough story as stories go, but I'm glad I didn't pay hardback prices. And I'm not going to bother with POLAND. Anyone out there care to defend James M.? Jim Beckman ATTIS, South Plainfield, NJ
brockh@tekig.UUCP (Brock Hannibal) (03/13/84)
I have a theory about Michener which needs confirmation. I think he has a team of writers and reasearchers working for him. How else could he crank out such giant books every six months. I too have been disappointed in recent Michener, but his older stuff such as "The Bridges at Toko-ri" or "The Bridge at Andau" was very good. "Hawaii" was also good.
annej@hammer.UUCP (Anne Jacko) (03/14/84)
I don't recall where I read it (some magazine article about Michener) but he does indeed have a staff of researchers. They research, he writes. -- Anne Jacko, Tektronix
waltt@tekecs.UUCP (Walt Tucker) (04/22/85)
The recent airing of "Space" goes to prove two things that most of you
probably already know:
1. Never read the book before watching a mini-series
2. Hollywood can really bastardize some good novels
I read the book when it first came out in hard-cover. Consequently, I was
interested in how the mini-series treated many of the characters. I didn't
expect the mini-series to be 100 % or even 90 % faithful to the book, as that
is asking too much. I read a review in the local paper, which pretty much
ranked it in the middle as far as mini-series go (Above "A.D.", but below,
say "Roots").
Up until the fifth night, although not following the book exactly, I could
accept many of the plot changes. Obviously, there was a lot more emphasis
placed on sex than Michener places on it in his novel (but, hey, that's
Hollywood). There were a lot of things that could have been explained more
fully, but that is often hard to do in a mini-series. For example, the
Battle of Leyette Gulf was completely ignored (Michener goes into a rather
lengthy explanation of what happened; but I imagine this would be hard to
portray on TV. It made for good reading, but might as well be ignored for
TV purposes), and the problems the Germans had to face to chose who to
surrender to in the face of the on-coming forces was never fully explained.
Also, a number of minor characters were changed. In the book, the rape between
Funkhauser and Leisel never takes place. Nobody does away with Funkhauser
and he appears later as a minor character working for Allied Aviation.
Mott has two sons, not one. The contrast between Kolff's son (who is a
straight A student and gifted muscisian) and the sons and daughters of the
Americans are ignored. All these changes to the subplots were acceptable,
as they did not affect the major characters.
While Part I contained a lot of bedroom scenes to set the mini-series up as
your normal night-time soap opera, I was impressed with Part II. The problems
faced by the German's coming to America were portrayed well. I was very
satisfied with how this one went off. Parts III and IV were mediocre, but
I liked all the film clips that were thrown in.
The major plot change that I had trouble swallowing, though, was the affair
between the Senator and Penny, and John's resulting characterization. In
the book, both the Senator and Penny have feelings for each other, but they
must each come to grips with the problem in their own mind. Senator
Grant's wife is mental mush (much more so than in the TV presentation), and
Penny is separated from her husband for many months at a time. While both
want to release their sexual tensions, it is much more of an inner stuggle
concerning their own morals. In the end, they both remain faithful to their
moral commitments, and there is no resulting problem for John to be concerned
with. As I said to my wife after Part I, "It'll be interesting to see if
Grant and Penny hop into bed. Knowing Hollywood, I bet they do, but that
sure would be a major plot change." I guess it is much easier to create
an affair than to have to deal intelligently with any form of complicated
plot.
Which brings me to John Pope, who (in the book) is a straight-arrow type,
who bears a striking resemblence to John Glenn. He doesn't smoke, drink,
or chase women. He runs 10 miles a day, and is up at the crack of dawn.
He is faithful to his wife, while the others are off taking advantage of
the groupees. Quite a different character than the one in Part V of the
mini-series.
By the way, Cindy Rhee was one of the best characterizations on TV. She
turned out just like I imagined, and they didn't change anything when
when she stated that her goal was to sleep with all six astronauts.
All and all, I guess I would have to agree with that reviewer who ranked
this mini-series in the middle. I don't watch that many of them, but it
was a lot better than some I have seen, and worse than others.
My suggestion is to read the book, which is heads above anything you saw
on TV last week.
-- Walt Tucker
Tektronix, Inc.