Ship of Fools, Richard
Paul Russo
I’m pretty sure nobody saw this one coming, and in all
honesty, I tried more than once to scratch it off the list for something that
would make more sense. The problem is, I
can’t.
This book is not great science fiction. It’s not great horror. It’s not an epic adventure. And it’s not a great discourse on humanity
and religion either. But when I stack it
up against other books that are, this is the one I remember. This is the one that keeps popping its head back up,
daring me to ask questions and refusing to give the answers.
There is an “aloneness” to the story that’s hard to
describe. The characters are out in the
middle of deep space with centuries of travel behind them and centuries
presumably yet to come with no known destination to hope for. And then they come across a huge ship; blacker than night, drifting and
abandoned. At least that’s what they
think.
It’s interesting to read other people’s reviews of this
book. Most are receptive if not a little
cool, but others are adamantly negative.
I think the main reason why is that Ship
of Fools doesn’t tie things up in nice neat little bows. It’s a narrative, and it shows you what
happens during a specific period of time, but it doesn’t tell you what any of
it means. And it leaves you like
that; simply left to wonder, with more
questions than answers. A lot of people
don’t like that. I don’t mind.
(also: Pretty much
anything by Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and Arthur C. Clarke)
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