Old Twentieth [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Joe Haldeman is a wonder. He continues to produce a novel a year, each compact and intelligent and engaging and involving. At times he fumbles the ending (as with Guardian), but even in such a case the ride is very entertaining. And at other times, he finds a surprising yet internally logical ending that wholly satisfies -- so it was with The Coming, and now again with Old Twentieth. Haldeman also, as with some other veteran authors, has a certain facility with the toolbox of SF: with the classic ideas and again with the latest hot ideas; and he combines them effortlessly and effectively.

In Old Twentieth the ideas Haldeman juggles are immortality, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and a variant on the generation starship. He is also, as the title tells us, concerned with the 20th Century, the bloodiest century (though the 21st will turn out to be bloodier, says this novel), and the last century in which death was inevitable.

Central to this novel are scenes of war. We open at Gallipoli, one of the worst battles of World War I. But somehow the narrator escapes certain death, and we quickly gather that he is really using Virtual Reality to experience a simulation of an historical situation. He is Jacob Brewer, whose family was rich enough to purchase an immortality treatment before an horrific war between the lucky immortals and the poorer people who couldn't afford the treatment. He and his mother were among a very few survivors, but a couple of centuries later, the world has recovered, and a stable population of a billion or so lives quite pleasant lives. And they have decided to mount an expedition to Beta Hydrii.

Jake is the VR expert on the fleet of starships. His job is to maintain the VR simulation, which is mainly used for immersive experiences in any number of times in the 20th Century. The story concerns the starships beginning their journey. Jake gets married (a ten year contract -- immortals don't marry for life). And as the journey begins, unsettling things start to happen in VR. The most unsettling thing is that people start dying -- immortals. Another concern is some minor inconsistencies in the VR backgrounds. Jake's insistence on returning again and again to the VR tanks, dangerous as they seem to be becoming, puts great strains on his marriage. And he begins to realize that the VR system itself may be showing signs of independent action...

That's the main arc of the "present day" story: a mystery concerning problems in VR, and potential AI activity. And the resolution to this arc is quite surprising, and quite effective. But the story gains depth -- dare I say gravitas -- from the background supplied by the recurring trips to 20th Century milieus: World War I, the influenza epidemic, the Roaring Twenties, the Depression, World War II, Vietnam, the first Gulf War, etc. These, combined with Jake's memories of his youthful experiences in the terrible war that nearly ended human civilization, provide a dark but oddly hopeful backdrop to the story of an expedition of immortal humans to another star -- a likely one way trip for no reason but knowledge, and a trip that almost before it starts is ominously freighted with the reappearance of the specter of death.

I hope I don't damn with faint praise when I say that this isn't a great novel: just another very good novel, to add to a long list of very good novels from Joe Haldeman. He may be the writer I can most reliably turn to for a worthwhile SF novel every time out. Old Twentieth is a great pleasure to read, and it rewards your reading not just with page turning interest but with thoughtful speculation. What more do we want from SF?

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The backstory here is that, following the discovery of medical "immortality", a civil war resulted in the deaths of all 7 billion people who hadn't yet received the (very expensive) treatment, via a precisely-targeted [note 1] war-virus. After the death of 97% of humanity, civilization more-or-less collapses, of an acute shortage of repairmen -- and all the other non-rich folk who kept the machinery running.

The story itself takes place aboard humanity's first starship, launched almost a century after the War. The protagonist operates the ship's "time machine", an elaborate virtuality for exploring history. The machine turns out to have unexpected emergent qualities, which won't surprise the experienced reader.

I'm ambivalent about this one. It's beautifully-written, and far superior to Camouflage, his last. There's some really cool stuff here, especially the emergent AI's strange personality. The ending will forcefully remind you of a classic no-no for beginning writers -- though, in fairness, it is a logical outcome, given the setup. But unsatisfying, dammit. Second-rank Haldeman -- which means it's still pretty darned good: "B+"

Regular Haldeman readers will note his repeated use of historical recreations, Vietnam flashbacks, immortality, graphic violence, and steamy sex. The first four are prominent in _Old Twentieth_, which has some sexy bits as well.

Google for a (very good) full review, by Paul di Filippo, who gives it a "B" : "...this book feels like a slim placeholder between larger works for one of SF's best writers."

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[1] --which isn't terribly credible, but is fine for a background plot-device.

Happy reading!

Pete Tillman

Review copyright ©2005 by Peter D. Tillman

Joe Haldeman's latest novel is not "Alternative History", but if you're a fan of the genre, you will find "Old Twentieth" an interesting read. As usual, Haldeman sets himself a difficult talk by distilling an epic story into a single volume. Expansive in scope, but not in length, it exemplifies Haldeman's compact and efficient writing style. Haldeman takes us on a journey that explores the downsides of immortality as his characters deal with guilt and search for redemption. Humans who have cheated death and are haunted by a tragic past, seek resolution in virtual reality scenarios recreating 20th Century events where death was common.

One of the most interesting of theses scenarios takes us from the far future back to the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic. Haldeman gives the reader a sobering glimpse of the horrors of the 1918 pandemic which are only vaguely alluded to in current news stories discussing the possibility of a new pandemic looming on our horizon. Oddly, there are relatively FEW examples in literature that attempt to portray an event that killed over 500,000 Americans in a single year. Katherine Anne Porter's Pale Horse, Pale Rider is one of the only examples. This alone makes Haldeman's exposition an interesting read.

Immortality, multiple scenarios of tragic history both past and future, space travel, self-conscious computers.... Only Haldeman would try to combine these wide ranging topics into a single story. As usual, it makes for an enjoyable read. Does the novel have rough edges? Of course it does. It's actually one of the interesting aspects of reading a Haldeman novel. Although there is a distinctive flavor to Haldeman's writing, he is not formulaic. He tinkers and experiments with new ideas and writing styles. In Old Twentieth, he plays with multiple writing styles which make the novel even more complex and a bit convoluted. For instance, the style and flow of the opening chapter struck me as odd, until I remembered Haldeman's unabashed love for Hemingway. Then, everything became clear. Haldeman is a product of his own wartime experiences in Vietnam, and this novel plays with themes seen in his other novels. Old Twentieth is an enjoyable novel that requires some mental gymnastics from the reader; exactly my reason for recommending it!