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They Walked Like Men (1962)

by Clifford D. Simak(Favorite Author)

3.7 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0532959302 (ISBN13: 9780532959304)

languge

English

genre

Science Fiction

publisher

Manor

review 1: Ah! La fantascienza classica! Ricca di immaginazione, ingenuità, ironia, intelligenza e speranza!Nonostante sia un romanzo degli anni '60 (1962 per la precisione) lo stile ed il linguaggio sono freschi e attuali, scorrevoli e non obsoleti. Alcuni momenti sono molto noir, altri decisamente esilaranti; la narrazione parte un po' lenta, ma tempo 4 pagine e chiudere il libro ( o spegnere il Kindle, nel mio caso) diventa veramente difficile.Poi, sinceramente, il tipo di invasione ideata da Simak è GENIALE!
review 2: First draft of review:I have tried to start this book review in so many ways, trying to be witty or funny, but I’ll have to write it as honestly as I can because the book itself is one, long punch-line. I picked it up about a month or two ago, intrig... moreued by the cigarette burns and yellowed pages that are red on edges, popular with old science fiction books. On the cover, there are a myriad of balls seemingly invading a road (they don’t stray onto the lawns of what looks to be an English countryside at midnight) that have twin disks that are glittering fiercely from the low-hung moon. It’s ridiculous looking, to be honest, and I yanked it up quick. How could I with a catchphrase (on the cover) that stated: spaceraiders determined to buy Earth roll relentlessly toward conquest! I wasn’t disappointed.Mixed with good ol’ fashioned sexism, bowling ball aliens, dames, skunks, newspapers, economy, and talking dogs, this hard-boiled Sci-Fi novel by Clifford D. Simak has a bit of everything…everything ridiculous. Our hero is Parker Graves, a tough reporter that has a flair for inner monologues and contemplations, sometimes leading into poetry…sort of (e.g. “Above me I heard the tiny singing of the tiny light bulb and I knew by the singing that it was on the verge of burning out). His gal, Joy, who goes into hysterics occasionally, but knows when to keep her mouth shut. And their ally, the talking dog, which Parker ingeniously names The Dog. The main problem in their town is that real estate and business are being bought out and then torn down for no reason. People are suddenly losing their homes to much richer (and unseen) investors and things are getting desperate. One night as our protagonist stumbles his way home after a few too many drinks at the local bar, he finds a trap set out for him in front of his apartment. And not just any trap, as he goes on to describe awkwardly: “It was a human trap, I told myself, it had been set for humans.” Surprise, though, as the trap turns into an alien bowling ball and tries to attack him, along with cartoon effects (“I hit with quite a thud and banged my head, and my brain was full of stars. I got my hands under me and hoisted up my front and shook the stars away.”). The bowling ball manages to roll away, though. Parker deserves an “obvious win” point for description for his trouble: “It was a trap, of course-no regular trap, that it. For regular traps do not wilt and roll into a ball and go rolling away when they’ve failed to catch their quarry.”So, after that he starts to find out that major stores in the area are being bought out and destroyed, including houses and apartments. He looks into it and then the bowling ball aliens start stalking him at his apartment. One great quote that came after being stalked, he was shaken up and thought that they were in his closet, so waxes some kind of poetics. It makes no sense to me (but I’m not a man, so maybe that’s why I wouldn’t understand a man’s love for his closet): “A man’s chair may develop jaws and snap him up as he bends to sit in it; his scatter rugs may glide treacherously from beneath his feet; his refrigerator may lie in ambush to topple over on him; but the closet is the place where nothing of the sort can happen. For the closet is a part of man himself.” That gem comes from page 93.Long story (256 pages worth), short, so the bowling balls can take the form of people by somehow using dolls. They become people and buy out companies hoping to rule the world and turn it into a resort-type hotel because of all the scents that are on Earth. One bowling ball gets into a sexy human doll to try to talk our hero into becoming in on their plan (she’s described as every man’s dream from the 1950’s as “part blond goddess, part efficient secretary” on page 193). Suddenly there’s a talking dog that is another space realtor, but hates the bowling balls, and he’s trying to help Parker. So, stuff happens. Finally the blond goddess asks him to be their PR and he’s likely to survive them taking over and whatnot, plus lot of money and a new car. He says that he’ll think it over because he’s feeling a bit hopeless since most people think he’s drunk or crazy (hell, I was reading along and I even did). So, he thinks it over, but decides to double-cross them and they find out about it, so they follow him in the car. A car chase ensues (there’s a few of them in here, plus guns, but sadly no strippers, in fact there’s a blatant lack of sexuality), and Parker outwits the other driver, who is a bowling ball man. The bowling man gets out of the car and goes crazy when he smells a skunk, like rolling all over the skunk as if it were a dog. So, Parker gets this idea because Joy had written a paper about this crazy old guy that kept skunks as pets. He goes over there and talks to the guy, crazy guy believes him and they make a plan. Yes, it’s skunks. The secret against the bowling balls is skunks. Bowling ball aliens love skunks. So, he gets in his car, but he realizes that it’s actually a bowling ball alien and it takes him where it wants at super high speeds before it vanishes quickly and he’s still flying through the air…right into a tree. He lives and walks into town to find that the mansion these bowling balls were living in is burning down because Joy went crazy after the bowling balls called her and told her Parker was dead. Meanwhile, the crazy old coot went downtown and released the skunks. Suddenly MILLIONS of bowling balls swarm downtown. That’s right, all it took were a dozen skunks to attract 6 building STORIES worth of bowling ball aliens. The last line of the book takes one final sexist jab as the Parker says he’s going to make a pass at Joy and she’s ecstatic. I can picture him shaking his head as he thinks: “You can live to be a million and still never figure women.” THE END.Along with the silliness, there’s obvious slang issues that I’m just child enough to laugh at and man enough to admit it:“I got myself in hand and made my voice calm” (pg 16)“Miss,” I told her, “someone at your office has pulled a boner.” (pg 53)“Some blankets on the floor, then. We’ll make out.” There were a few rough spots when it came to writing/editing:“I gagged just think of it.” Pg 12“He made his face go startled.” 157As a side note, I love this crazy quote: “Bruce Montgomery was bald- aggressively bald, as if he took pride in baldness, so completely bald that I found myself wondering if he’d ever grown hair.” (pg 35)Bottom line: Skunks save the day? Really? Are you sure? This was a great book if you’re looking to laugh, but not laugh along with, if you get my drift. It’s silly, from start to finish. I didn’t take it seriously and found it fun. It had a great premise, but the execution was…SKUNKS! Come on. Really? less

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