What this book isn't: A novelization of the television show of the same name. Which I found outrageous. Truly, truly outrageous. However, I got over it pretty quickly as I kept reading.What this book is: An indictment of industrialism, capitalism, nationalism, and colonialism. If you don't want to see the darker side of some or all of these -isms laid bare, this may not be the book for you. I have conflicted-at-best opinions of all four, so a book where all four are taken to task was a fascinating read.It's odd to read a book where it's so clear from the beginning that everything is going to go poorly, can only go poorly, for the main characters without it branching into the horror genre. For some the downfall is by no fault of their own, for others their downfall is so spectacular as to bring down others, including entire countries, as they collapse. Due to this, I had a little trouble finding the time to sit down and actually finish the book to see what final horrible decisions everyone would make. Finally, I pushed through, and was glad for it.(view spoiler)[My breaking point was right around the nuclear annihilation of the United States by the power brokers from the fuel bloc, one of three loosely held together mutual protection blocs of the novel's near future. At that point, I expected just a wholesale slaughter of the characters, and as the food bloc settlers on Jem are preparing to nuke the fuel bloc settlement, I prepared for the worse.Perhaps the biggest twist is the final chapter of the book, really more of an epilogue set over a century later, as everything closes out with unexpected hopefulness. Humanity coming together, coexisting with native species, and trying to make a new home world after the great disasters on earth. It's the last ending I expected while surrounded by dogmatic nationalists, and one precipitated by a man who only ever wanted to have a conversation with an alien. Not be a colonialist, not be a soldier, just to talk. And therein lies the message of the story: what if we just talk to people? And then, perhaps more shocking, what if we then listen to their answers? The story is filled with translators, trying to make some connection between the blocs and between humanity and the aliens, but the only person who makes any contact in either way is the conversationalist, not the translator. The character who figures out language not by trying to process it, but by trying to have conversations.I've read a certain amount of science fiction that deals with humanity spread across the stars with an implication that Bad Things happened back on earth. It's a common trope in Andre Norton's writings, among others. In some ways this novel feels like a common prequel to all these, laying out a course by which humanity can destroy itself back home but come together among the stars.And, in the end, isn't that outrageous? Truly, truly, truly outrageous? (hide spoiler)]
‘The discovery of another habitable world might spell salvation to the three bitterly compelling power blocs of the resource-starved 21st century; but when their representatives arrive on Jem, with its multiple intelligent species, they discover instead the perfect situation into which to export their rivalries. Subtitled, with savage irony ‘The Making of a Utopia’, Jem is one of Frederik Pohl’s most powerful works.’Blurb from the 2001 Gollancz SF Masterworks paperback edition. (no 41)In this satirical novel, black comedy at its blackest and ultimately bleakest, the earth is divided into Blocs and is at an uneasy peace. One bloc is responsible for fuel, one for food and one for people (i.e. Human Resources or workers)Then, a life-bearing world is discovered by the People’s Bloc (comprising mostly of what we would term the lands of The East). America, which is part of the Food Bloc, channels its outrage through the person of Margie Menninger, the daughter of a high-ranking politician and the holder of a high rank herself in the army. She seduces a hapless linguist and persuades him to apply for a grant to visit the new world, an act which in itself demonstrates Margie’s forethought and cunning, but is nothing to what she does later.Jem, or Kung’s World, turns out to be home to three intelligent races. One is ratlike and lives underground, another takes the form of an enormous asymmetrical crab, and the third is a species of gas-filled jellyfish-like creatures which float around in the sky. Apart from occasional dining on each other’s children, the three races live together in peace.Once all three Blocs have camps ensconced, a war begins between them and its escalation drags in the unfortunate alien beings.Like several other really good SF novels, it holds up a mirror to Humanity as a whole and has a horrible ring of Truth to it.This could be an allegory of how more advanced cultures have invaded other countries and used their natives as fodder or tools of war. It could be a chilling prophecy of how we actually would treat any alien race with whom we come into contact.The fact that this novel is actually quite funny makes the truth of its message all the more important.
What do You think about Jem (2004)?
Although ostensibly a story about first contact and colonising another planet its real focus is on how the politically rival forces on earth rip each other apart and, exporting such tensions to the new colonisation expedition, how the colonisers nearly do the same to each other there as well.Initially I found it quite hard to get into and I wasn't particularly enjoying it for a long part of the story. It failed to convey the wonder of space travel and exploration of an alien planet. Things picked up later on and I began to enjoy it when I discovered where the real focus lay.This book, written in the cold war era and firmly embedded in a cold war mentality, predicts a not too distant future in which a kind of cold war persists but the balance of power has evolved into a precarious tripartite set up; those countries with a surplus of food, a surplus of oil and a surplus of labour. When a remote earth like planet is discovered, the three powers all send colonising parties that are supposed to cooperate but inevitably end up taking the political divisions and mistrust with them. The cost of supporting such expensive expeditions causes much strife at home which escalates tensions between the three powers and consequently between the colonising expeditions too.This story contains quite a bleak and cynical view of humanity that must have seemed quite a plausible future for humanity at the time although with end of the cold war it does seem now a little less so. There is a bit of a 'phoenix rising from the ashes' up-tick at the end as the author (briefly) describes a new utopian society that might emerge but I found that far less plausible.All in all it does have its merits but I'm not quite convinced it deserved its place in the SF Masterworks series.
—Simon
Starting off as a somewhat standard space exploration story, with perhaps more governmental influence than usual, this book takes a dark turn to consider not unlikely paths of exploitation, greed, and misunderstanding, through the lens of patriotism. The last half of the book becomes this escalating train wreck that you feel compelled to read to see how far it travels.It ends on a "lighter" if still satiric note, for which I'm grateful. Somehow that made it easier to reflect on the book and set it down.The characters are interesting but not deep, and most of the comments about sexual appetite feel a bit like caricatures. It is just a backdrop to comment on society and paint the story.
—Marianne
Part of my effort to get through all the old science fiction sitting on the shelf.Prior to this, I read one of Pohl's short stories, "Day Million," and really enjoyed his witty approach. Stylistically and conceptually "Jem" hits a lot of the same notes and is really not a bad book overall. The characters are very human, with all the flaws and virtues necessary to make them interesting. The way in which the various country blocs vie for control of the planet, nicknamed Jem, is entirely believable, as are the difficulties faced by the first settlers. Some of the most interesting portions, however, are told through the viewpoint of the indigenous species; Pohl manages to put us in an alien headspace and explores what sentience or intelligence might mean on other worlds.Certain passages held my attention less than others--not really extraneous, but he seemed unable to sustain the tone that pulled me through the first few chapters. My other issue is the datedness of the Cold War politics. This is really one of those old SF works in which you have to keep putting yourself in that timeframe, which diminishes its ability to speak completely to the current context.Nonetheless, I enjoyed where Pohl cleverly went with the story in the end and his willingness to experiment with different viewpoints to tell a story. I would still recommend it, with the caveat that it speaks more to a certain political climate in history than the current world. For me the most interesting speculations were on human colonization of other worlds and extraterrestrial life.
—A
