Hugo & Nebula Awards: Best Novels discussion

This is a buddy read for the subj

Hey, you there?

Kateblue wrote: "Hey, you there?"

Yes

I'm over 50% already, for it is short and I had кешьу today. It is fascinating that either my memories changed over time or the translation I've read somewhen in 1990-93 was not only abridged but also changed.

Oleksandr wrote: "I'm over 50% already, for it is short and I had кешьу today. It is fascinating that either my memories changed over time or the translation I've read somewhen in 1990-93 was not only abridged but a..."

I was stuck on airplanes yesterday, so I got about 50% read as well. I had read it 5-10 years ago, but like Acorn, my memories of the plot details were sketchy. It feels to me like part 50's horror, with some anti-communist hints thrown in, and part Walking Dead, and it's far more detailed than I recall. Love it!

I finished it and several interesting facts:

1. in the Russian translation from 1966, made by the famous Soviet SF writer Arkady Strugatsky, censors cut everything that can show the USSR in a negative light: (view spoiler)[Much of Chapter 2 that depicts the origin of Triffids and at the end, were alt-theory of blinding lights is suggestd (hide spoiler)]. I cannot check, but it seems all editions, even
after 1991 lack these parts.

2. I remembered vividly two scenes - from Chapter 1 (view spoiler)[a doctor throwing himself out of the window. A funny thing, I wanted to check the place (I listened to the audio), so initially took e-book by RosettaBooks, LLC and it abridged that part! The Penguin edition has it (hide spoiler)]. This scene shocked me profoundly, it was maybe the most remembered piece

and Chapter 8, when a young woman with chestnut-colored hair comes(view spoiler)[to propose herself - maybe it was the fact that I was 13-15 at the time of reading, it also fused in my memory (hide spoiler)]

I've got a 1983 Ballantine paperback version. It doesn't seem to have the incident you mention in Chapter 1, but there is a similar incident in Chapter 4. The USSR is plainly mentioned. In my edition, the chapters are not numbered but short titles - maybe they are split differently in some of the versions.

Allan wrote: "In my edition, the chapters are not numbered but short titles - maybe they are split differently in some of the versions.."

Maybe so. In Peguin version there are both numbers and titles

1 The End Begins
2 The Coming of the Triffids
3 The Groping City
4 Shadows Before
5 A Light in the Night
6 Rendezvous
7 Conference
8 Frustration
9 Evacuation
10 Tynsham
11 . . . And Further On
12 Dead End
13 Journey in Hope
14 Shirning
15 World Narrowing
16 Contact
17 Strategic Withdrawal

Also the text from Chapter 2, I include the first paragraph that is present in both editions for ease of finding it:
(view spoiler)[It was difficult in that reverberating building to tell where the sounds were coming from, but one way the passage finished at an obscured french window, with the shadow of a balcony rail upon it, so I went the other. Rounding a corner, I found myself out of the private-room wing and on a broader corridor.

When I first looked along it I thought it empty, then as I moved forward I saw a figure come out of a shadow. He was a man wearing a black jacket and striped trousers, with a white cotton coat over them. I judged him to be one of the staff doctors – but it was curious that he should be crouching against the wall and feeling his way along.

‘Hullo, there,’ I said.

He stopped suddenly. The face he turned towards me was grey and frightened.

‘Who are you?’ he asked, uncertainly.

‘My name’s Masen,’ I told him. ‘William Masen. I’m a patient – Room 48. And I’ve come to find out why – ’

‘You can see?’ he interrupted, swiftly.

‘Certainly I can. Just as well as ever,’ I assured him. ‘It’s a wonderful job. Nobody came to unbandage my eyes, so I did it myself. I don’t think there’s any harm done. I took – ’

But he interrupted again.

‘Please take me to my office. I must telephone at once.’

I was slow to catch on, but everything ever since I woke that morning had been bewildering.

‘Where’s that?’ I asked.

‘Fifth floor, west wing. The name’s on the door – Doctor Soames.’

‘All right,’ I agreed, in some surprise. ‘Where are we now?’

The man rocked his head from side to side, his face tense and exasperated.

‘How the hell should I know?’ he said, bitterly. ‘You’ve got eyes, damn it. Use them. Can’t you see I’m blind?’

There was nothing to show that he was blind. His eyes were wide open, and apparently looking straight at me.

‘Wait here a minute,’ I said. I looked round. I found a large ‘5’ painted on the wall opposite the lift gate. I went back and told him.

‘Good. Take my arm,’ he directed. ‘You turn right as you come out of the lift. Then take the first passage on the left, and it’s the third door.’

I followed instructions. We met no one at all on the way. Inside the room I led him up to the desk, and handed him the telephone. He listened for some moments. Then he groped about until he found the rest, and rattled the bar impatiently. Slowly his expression changed. The irritability and the harassed lines faded away. He looked simply tired – very tired. He put the receiver down on the desk. For some seconds he stood silently, looking as though he was staring at the wall opposite. Then he turned.

‘It’s useless – dead. You are still here?’ he added.

‘Yes,’ I told him.

His fingers felt along the edge of the desk.

‘Which way am I facing? Where’s the damned window?’ he demanded, with a return of irritability.

‘It’s right behind you,’ I said.

He turned, and stepped towards it, both hands extended. He felt the sill and the sides carefully, and stepped back a pace. Before I had realized what he was doing he had launched himself full at it, and crashed through… (hide spoiler)]

The chapter titles line up but are not numbered. I found the first paragraph you quoted, but the rest of that passage is not in my edition. It seems arbitrary that they removed that passage but not the following one in Chapter 5. Is this passage in yours?

(view spoiler)[ We completed our tour of the premises, finding the rest less sensational. Then she went out to deal with the matter of clothes. I made an inspection of the apartment's resources and limitations and then set out on an expedition of my own.

As I stepped outside, another door farther down the passage opened. I stopped, and stood still where I was. A young man came out, leading a fair-haired girl by the hand. As she stepped over the threshold he released his grasp.

"Wait just a minute, darling," he said.

He took three or four steps on the silencing carpet. His outstretched hands found the window which ended the passage. His fingers went straight to the catch and opened it. I had a glimpse of a low-railed, ornamental balcony outside.

"What are you doing, Jimmy?" she asked.

"Just making sure," he said, stepping quickly back to her and feeling for her hand again. "Come along, darling."

She hung back.

"Jimmy - I don't like leaving here. At least we know where we are in our own apartment. How are we going to feed? How are we going to live?"

"In the apartment, darling, we shan't feed at all - and therefore not live long. Come along, sweetheart. Don't be afraid."

"But I am, Jimmy - I am."

She clung to him, and he put one arm around her.

"We'll be alright, darling. Come along."

"But, Jimmy, that's the wrong way ---"

"You've got it twisted round, dear. It's the right way."

"Jimmy - I'm so frightened. Let's go back."

"It's too late, darling."

By the window he paused. With one hand he felt his position very carefully. Then he put both arms round her, holding her to him.

"Too wonderful to last, perhaps," he said softly. "I love you, my sweet. I love you so very, very much."

She tilted her lips up to be kissed.

As he lifted her he turned, and stepped out of the window. (hide spoiler)]

It seems a little odd to me that someone would take such action so quickly on very limited information. How would they know it wasn't temporary?

Allan wrote: "Chapter 5. Is this passage in yours?"

Yes

Allan wrote: "It seems a little odd to me that someone would take such action so quickly on very limited information. How would they know it wasn't temporary?"

I guess it was a bit of oversight by the author - he knew that it was permanent, so his characters 'felt' it too

There are more missing pieces in Rosetta version - like this one from Chapter 8:

Rosetta version:
(view spoiler)[After that I had simply my thoughts for company for a bit. I knew I ought to make my mind up once and for all on the right course, and stick to it. But I could not. I seesawed. Some hours later when I fell asleep I was still seesawing.

There was no means of knowing which way Josella had made up her mind. I’d had no personal message from her. But Alf had put his head in once during the evening. His communication had been brief.

“Westminster,” he said. “Cor! Don’t reckon that lot’s goin’ to find much grub in the ’Ouses o’ Parliament” (hide spoiler)]
Penguin version:
(view spoiler)[After that I had simply my thoughts for company for a bit.

The trouble was that I was not wholeheartedly set on any course. There was a damnable ability to see the points on both sides. I knew that common sense and the long-term view backed up Michael Beadley and his lot. If they had started, Josella and I would doubtless have gone with them and worked with them – and yet I knew I would have been uneasy. I’d never be quite convinced that nothing could have been done for the sinking ship, never quite sure that I had not rationalized my own preference. If, indeed, there was no possibility of organized rescue, then their proposal to salvage what we could was the intelligent course. But, unfortunately, intelligence is by no means the only thing that makes the human wheels go round. I was up against the very conditioning that the old Doctor had said was so hard to break. He was dead right about the difficulty of adopting new principles. If, for instance, some kind of relief should miraculously arrive, I knew just what kind of a louse I’d feel to have cleared out, whatever the motives – and just how much I’d despise myself and the rest for not having stayed here in London to help for as long as it was possible.

But if, on the other hand, help did not come, how would I have felt about having wasted my time and frittered my efforts away when stronger-minded people had started getting on with the salvage while the going was good?

I knew I ought to make my mind up once and for all on the right course, and stick to it. But I could not. I see-sawed. Some hours later when I fell asleep I was still see-sawing.

There was no means of knowing which way Josella had made up her mind. I’d had no personal message from her. But Alf had put his head in once during the evening. His communication had been brief.

‘Westminster,’ he said. ‘Cor! Don’t reckon that lot’s goin’ to find much grub in the ‘Ouses o’ Parliament.’ (hide spoiler)]

It maybe that US version was shortened to fit some kind of limit, for I checked archive.org, where there is a score of editions, and this US edition https://archive.org/details/dayoftrif... lacks these pieces, but this UK https://archive.org/details/dayoftrif... HAS THEM

Ok, it is not just US v. UK - this US version has the Ch.2 scene https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780...

My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Better late than never. Will start this soon

Kateblue wrote: "Better late than never. Will start this soon"

Great!

Oleksandr wrote: "Kateblue wrote: "Better late than never. Will start this soon"

Great!"

Actually, maybe not=I have started reading Vorkosigan again.