Harvest, The

by Robert Charles Wilson

Book Overview

As he watches his friends and family transform into immortal beings after expressing to the Traveller their wish to live forever, Oregon physician Matt Wheeler begins to suspect that the Traveller and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553292218
• ISBN13: 9780553292213
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: Spectra
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.0" x 1.0" x 4.3"

Customer Reviews

The Harvest

Why are all the best books out of print? And why didn't this man get some sort of award for this book? It was an old topic explored in an original way. I read this on a road trip from Ohio to Florida, and I will tell you, I hated when I had to take my turn driving. I could not get my mind off of this book from page one until the end. What an excellent storyteller this author is!

Secular Rapture?

I loved this book. A kind of "Childhood's End" and secularized Christian Rapture rolled into one. The author writes like Wyndham or Wells, in that the narrator is part of the action but also dispassionately observing the flow. The protagonist of course wishes to have none of it. While everyone has answered the Big Question of immortality in the affirmative, he is skeptical of apotheosis and throws in his lot on the side of his own mortality. In the end, immortality is at a price, assimilation. The book casts a spell of mystery over the reader in that the aliens and their purpose is never revealed. One wonders if our species is really gullable to the point that any confidence artist coming down the celestial highway pedaling immortality in the form of the savior would make us sell our souls for it. Is the novel a satire then of our moral turpitude or a call to existential redemption? I wish the author would give us more wonderful stories.

Human or Contactee. Which one would you be?

I like to think I'm widely read. This book is, without a doubt, my absolute favourite. The concept of humans changing into immortal/mortal creatures which are gentle but terrify those who refused the gift is enthralling. The characters are each unique, the plot strange and captivating, the writing gentle and curious. No offence to Dr. Wheeler, but without a doubt I would say "Yes". The chance to have eternal life which constantly alters and changes you would be too much to pass up. Wilson outlines this so well you find yourself wishing this book could be real.

Gripping, thought-provoking SF

This is one of those rare SF novels that manages to balance the far-out (aliens saving humankind from itself) with the tounchingly personal. It makes an intriguing premise more than that -- it becomes a fully dimensional novel that works on several levels. This is the first Wilson novel I read (I actually stumbled upon it in a thrift store) and I certainly plan to read more!

WOULD YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?

WOULD YOU WANT TO LIVE FOEVER? THAT IS THE QUESTION OF THIS POWERFUL AND HAUNTING SF CLASSIC.WILSON TELLS US THE STORY OF WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF ALIENS WERE ABLE TO GRANT ONE OF MANKIND'S OLDEST DREAMS:IMMORTALITY AND WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF SOME PEOPLE SAID YES TO IT AND OTHERS SAID NO.WE SEE THIS THROUGH THE EYES OF A SMALL TOWN DOCTOR WHO SAYS NO BUT HIS DAUGHTER SAYS YES.THE NOVEL RAISES THE QUESTION ABOUT WHAT IT TAKES TO BE HUMAN AND WHAT WOULD IT TAKE FOR YOU TO GIVE UP YOUR HUMANITY.