The Wanderer
★★★★★
This one was high on my TBR as it has appeared on several lists of the classics in the genre. Unfortunately, the novel didn’t follow through with the promise, and I was hard-pressed to make it through.
The structure of the story is written like a cheap disaster b-movie with a large ensemble cast spread around the globe. Their stories don’t converge - this is a mosaic narrative where their personal experiences compound together to paint a rich perspective on the unfolding catastrophe, which is the focus of the story rather than any one character.
I understand this structure was relatively groundbreaking at the time, and when Leiber focuses on the unfolding chaos he does a solid job. When it comes to characters and dialogue, it’s a different story. Everyone is incredibly annoying, stupid, stereotypical, and frankly borderline mentally ill. Dialogue is frequently jarring - people just wouldn’t talk that way - and Leiber often breaks the flow to show how clever he is or make an in-reference to science fiction. A lot of really irritating people die in the course of this novel and I found myself glad when they did - not quite the desired effect!
Leiber’s portrayal of women and relationships is awful by today’s standards. On the back of my copy there’s a quote from Sturgeon: “All his true loves are worked into the book: cats, astronomy, the theater, people, and well, girls.” Yes, Sturgeon, you’re right to feel slightly embarrassed.
I can’t recommend this - as a disaster novel it’s an interesting historical note, but there’s not enough here to be worth your time.
