The History of Our World Beyond the Wave: A Fantasy

by R.E. Klein

A tidal wave came, as high as the stars and hissing, and it washed away bathers, buildings, all civilization. Paul Sant survived by clinging to a surf mat. Eventually he found land-but unlike land he... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151004110
• ISBN13: 9780151004119
• Release Date: October 1998
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Wow...

For lovers of both science fiction and fantasy, I highly recommend this book. I sat down to read it and couldn't put it down. It provokes a lot of thought, and made me consider a lot of "what if's." It's drama, humor and symbolism draw together a great narrative, with interesting characters (both human and otherwise). Get it, read it, enjoy!

Against the Squishiness of Reality

Most fantasies follow fairly strict conventions: They tend to either adopt or adapt one of the existing congeries of folklore such as Camelot, Middle Earth, the Brothers Grimm, Star Trek, and so on. There are very few free-form practitioners of the art who take you down entirely different paths "where no man has gone before." Off hand, I can think of only three: the late John Cowper Powys, Olaf Stapledon, and Edgar Allan Poe. Reading THE HISTORY, I felt I was in the world of Poe's NARRATIVE OF A. GORDON PYM: There was a sense that anything could happen. The giant wave that inundates the world not only destroys but seems to modify the nature of reality. Solid land could suddenly turn squishy. Strange monsters from the sea, called Gugs, prey on man. A lemur becomes a man and creates a disfunctional anti-human society. Ships without sails or oars sail against the current, because that is where "they" want to go. Then there is the matter of the horror in the yellow Volkswagen. Klein is obviously a bibliophile. The only things that stem the irreality are -- books! When the narrator, Paul Sant, stumbles upon a library, the tide begins to turn against the squishiness. In the first part of history, the one tower of sanity is Hiram Bell, who holds tight onto one book, Stoddard's STEAM ENGINES, and manages to create an island of reality. As I finished the last pages of this book, I can only express the hope that Klein continues writing. He is a real original, and he has something to say that needs saying in our present world of increasing squishiness.

A Rare Find

As I get older, it is a rare joy to find a book destined to become part of my life. Klein explores a world both wonderful and dreadful; though the novel was never gruesome, I had the feeling at any moment the writer might reveal an image too terrible for me to bear. If you loved C.S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce," "Phantastes" by George MacDonald, or Lindsay's "A Voyage to Arcturus," you will like this book.

A book to reread and to share with your friends

This book draws in the reader from the first page. It is literate, elegant, and exciting. The story keeps coming to mind after you've read it once, and you'll want to share it with friends because you'll want to have people to discuss it with! This book reminds me of C.S. Lewis' "Perelandra" with its good-and-evil tug-of-war with the ocean as a background.I happened upon this book at the public library, have lent it out once, read it twice, and it's not due back for another week yet. I hope to find it on tape for my husband so WE can discuss it!

This book touched me in unique and unexpected fashion.

There are four dramatic moments in my life that I will always remember. One of them is the day I finished reading this book. It was at an outdoor cafe. I had a cup of coffee that had long grown cold. The sky was greying. I sat back and closed my eyes and thought to myself, it doesn't get any better than this. I wondered how so much feeling and creativity and a way with words could be confined in one person. Every generation produces a thinker for it's times. R.E. Klein is probably a thinker for the ages. I found myself lost in this book and I don't think I will ever get out. And...I don't want to.