Thu 19 Jan 2023
SF Diary Review: EDMUND COOPER – All Fools’ Day.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Science Fiction & Fantasy[2] Comments
EDMUND COOPER – All Fools’ Day. Berkley X1469, US, paperback, 1967. Cover art by Hoot von Zitzewitz. Previously published in the UK by Hodder & Stoughton, hardcover, 1966, and in the US by Walker, hardcover, 1966.
Beginning in 1971, solar radiation cause the world’s suicide rate to increase sharply. Ten years later, only the Transnormals are still alive – the creative, the fanatic, and the crazy [have] inherit[ed] the Earth. The book follows the life of Greville, a former advertising executive, in this new world as he searches for love, purpose, and direction.
Perhaps written for a wider audience than the usual SF one, the story loses impact simply because of the overuse of its theme, particularly by [British] writers. Frustrating in its deliberate irrationality, the civilization of this savage world seems doomed, but Greville forms the basis of a new world from a group of anarchists.
The sudden optimism of the ending comes as a relief from the previously established tone, but it is not altogether satisfying. One point of disagreement: mathematicians are among the first to die (page 17), symbolizing [the loss] of normality and supreme stability, but mathematicians can be as crazy as anyone.
Rating: ****½
January 20th, 2023 at 8:10 pm
In his day, roughly 1954-1978 or so, Edmund Cooper was both fairly prolific and popular. I don’t think people remember him today, even the most devout SF reader.
What surprised me while typing up this old review, is the number of stars I gave it, while before then having little to say about it that was even a hint of positive.
Obviously I liked it after all!
January 21st, 2023 at 8:44 pm
Cooper could certainly write, but his generation of British SF writers were often a decided downer with a jaded and doomed view that could be exciting, but could also slip into an almost nihilistic obsession that was at time heavy going, especially when literary ambition was thrown in the mix.