Frameshift is not my sort of book. I found it really clunky. Serious name dropping (and speech quoting -- "I have a dream," really?) will not save bad dialog and bad narration. I don't have the book in front of me or I'd give some quotes. A ho-hum plot and a serious penchant for overexposition does not help. Strangely, it being dated didn't bug me too much, but more on that later.Two things I liked: I enjoyed a sci-fi book teaching me about Huntington's, and if the point had been to show someone's life with that disease, it would have been better for me -- though, having action with a incurably ill man and a geriatric Nazi was kind of fun. It wasn't a bad vehicle for teaching a bit about the illness though, and so I'll credit it that. Another thing I liked was Pierre's obsession with time and Nobel winners. If this hadn't been handled so poorly (if his disease and the whole time/death/legacy issue had been the point of the book), it would have been great, not just a good part of a mediocre book.What I found most wrong with it also fits into two categories (leaving aside not-awesome writing (it really was like a French Canadian was trying to write his first book in English): 1. the idea that interest in a subject equals a good story; 2. the "HBO-effect" or brutality equals authenticity.1. I really want to generalize to the whole sci-fi genre, but I'll resist. This book was really interested in DNA and technology that can do stuff with DNA. Everything else felt like an afterthought. The characters were way less filled out than the exposition on the possible DNA activity that generated their defining characteristics (Huntington's/telepathy). The whole element of "where could this go" (often a big part of sci-fi) felt like an add on to a book the author really wanted to write: he really wanted to just write a book for laymen on genetics. And the whole Nazi plot was, as with assigning each of the main characters a major genetic issue, added on for spice, to create some sort of movement to the book the guy didn't want to write: a serious encounter with someone with a genetic illness and the life changes that occur with such a thing.2. Nazis? Really? The "HBO-effect" as I'm dubbing it, is all about showing some really harsh "reality" as a means to create tension, sympathy, drama, whatever. I will stamp the whole Nazi subplot and the whole Neanderthal thing with this accusation. There is so much drama already there in the idea of a couple where one of them has a genetic disease (I'll dismiss the telepathy here) trying to raise a baby, that we really don't need the whole sub-human/still human argument, and the whole idea of exploiting someone's fertility issues is way harsh and real by itself without a caricature monster like Klimus "all for science" guy.Now, I might be accused of not taking the book for what it was, but what it was was weak. And it did not sit well with me. It was overdone, and played up for action and drama. If the author wanted to write a sci-fi book about all this stuff, he could have gone off about the whole genetic potential (even the Neanderthal history) of humanity, but bringing in the family angle and the terminal illness -- well, either they were extraneous to a crazy ride of a sci-fi "what could happen" X-Men book, or they were the only part that was real.As for being dated: it was trying way too hard to be contemporary, but that is a common fault. I forgive it
### Amazon.co.uk Review In the guise of a mainstream biomedical thriller akin to Ira Levin's _The Boys From Brazil_, or the novels of Robin _Coma_ Cook, Nebula Award-winner Robert Sawyer has crafted a most ambitious tale. As a teenager, Pierre Tardivel discovers that he has a 50 per cent chance of developing the hereditary Huntington's disease. The knowledge drives him to become a scientist working on the Human Genome Project at Berkley University, where he falls in love with Molly, a psychologist with the genetic "frameshift" for telepathy. A series of murders are traced to local neo-Nazis, someone is conducting an illegal experiment with Neanderthal DNA, and Department of Justice Agent Avi Meyer is hunting Ivan Marchenko, the concentration camp guard known as Ivan the Terrible, The Butcher of Treblinka. What makes _Frameshift_ remarkable is the sympathetic and realistic portrayal of a progressively disabled hero, together with the interweaving into the story of the hunt for a real Nazi war criminal. Here Sawyer skilfully draws on the scandalous persecution of John Demjanjuk, a man mistakenly tried as Marchenko in the 1980's, a case documented in Yoram Sheftel's powerful _Show Trial_. Robert J. Sawyer has woven a labyrinthine novel encompassing sufficient themes and plots for a handful of ordinary thrillers. He offers complex and imaginative scientific speculation, a thoughtful examination of the ethical implications of genetic testing, a slow-burning but dramatic thriller with a blockbuster climax, and a touching love story with a genuinely moving ending. _Frameshift_ is a griping, and ultimately inspiring novel.--_Gary S. Dalkin_ ### Synopsis From the winner of the 1995 Nebula Award, a science fiction thriller about the Human Genome Project. Pierre Tardivel is a scientist working on the Human Genome Project. He is a driven man, working with the awareness that he may not have long to live: he has a fifty-fifty chance of dying from the incurable Huntington's disease. While trying to get medical insurance he discovers that his insurer is secretly taking genetic samples of policy holders. When he investigates what he thinks is merely a plot by the insurance company to illegally screen clients at risk from genetic diseases, he finds a string of unsolved murders of people insured by the company. The implication is terrifying. With the help of the same scientific breakthroughs as Pierre himself is making, an insurance company is weeding out the weak and helpless to boost profits. But when Pierre investigates further, he finds that even this appalling scenario falls short of the evil enshrined in the truth behind the murders.
What do You think about Frameshift (1997)?
In my opinion, Robert Sawyer is terrific. Every book is a hit every time.This time however, I have a lot to complain about – but it’s not directed at Sawyer, it’s regarding the narration (I listented to the Audio verison). Absolutely the WORST interpretation of a French Canadian accent I have ever heard. Hands down. I live in Montreal, I do speak French, I am surrounded on a daily basis with French Canadians speaking English. This guy obviously never set foot in Quebec! His accent is so comically bad that it’s doing this otherwise compelling story a huge disservice. Really, it’s distractingly bad. (At the risk of being perceived as a lunatic, I even wrote to Robert Sawyer about it in case he has some sort of creative control over these things for future books).French Canadians ‘tok da en-glish like diss’. I promise you ‘Zay do not zound lika zizz’ ... (if you will allow me a tangent, they don’t speak English, they talk English. They don’t make decisions, they take decisions. They don’t turn off the light, they close the light. But those details are not related to their accent, and I can understand how Sawyer would not want to include a lot of phraseology that only a small percentage of readers would understand)If you aren’t Canadian or if you just don’t know what a Quebecois accent sounds like then you probably weren’t distracted. If like me, you are Quebecois – then you were annoyed and irritated the entire way through.When a French Canadian speaks English, The = da. This = Diss. They drop Hs when they should be there, and add them where they shouldn’t be, for example: I am happy to see you = “I am appy to see you” How are you = “Ow are you” It’s so hot outside = “It’s so ott hhoutside” Happy Birthday = “Appy Birdday”Can I ask you a question = “Can I hhask you a question” That guy always thinks he’s right = “Dat guy hhalways tinks ee is right”Is that her book over there = “is dat err book hhoe-verr derr”I won’t even get into examples of how they put the emphasis on the wrong syllable, more towards the end of the word – naturally where it would be in French.All this to say, the story was excellent but the narration disappointed me immensely.
—Simone
Frameshift is a thought provoking, well written sci-fi novel. Heavily centered on genetics and genetics research, Pierre Tardivel is a genetic scientist who suffers from Huntingdon's Disease working on the Human Genome Project. His wife Molly can read other people's thoughts. Early on in the story he is attacked by a man with a knife. He survives the knife attack. This sets into motion a number of seemingly unrelated events. Because of his Huntingdon's he wants to have a child but not pass on his bad genes. This leads to the in vitro fertilization of his wife with his boss's sperm. The boss, Burian Klimus, is a Nobel Prize winning scientist, who may or may not be Ivan the Terrible from the Treblinka prison camp. Meanwhile, Avi Meyer of the Justice department has been trying to track down Nazis and Ivan the Terrible in particular for years. There is also a sinister insurance company that figures into the story as these separate story lines converge.This is the first Robert Sawyer novel that I have read, and I enjoy his prose and story telling style. The characters are well developed. There is a sufficient amount of tension in the story, and there is a decent mystery component to it. There were some flaws in the novel. I thought the genetics described in the book was a little more detailed than it needed to be. The beginning of the story jumps in time back and forth and was hard to follow. The story went a little too heavy into conspiracies, and in particular, the one involving the insurance company made me groan. That being said, this was a well written and enjoyable story that I would recommend.Carl Alves - author of Blood Street
—Carl Alves
This was a great story. I read it in a few days because it was so hard to put down. Sawyer does a wonderful job of developing his characters and the reader has to see what is going to happen to them next. This book combines descriptions of hard science (genetics) with a dramatic storyline. I've read several of Sawyer's novels and they are all of great quality. A major part of the storyline has to do with Neanderthal DNA and it acts as a preview of the Neanderthal trilogy of Hominids-Humans-Hybrids.Frameshift was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1998.
—Mike
