Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang

by Kate Wilhelm

Book Overview

Before becoming one of today's most intriguing and innovative mystery writers, Kate Wilhelm was a leading writer of science fiction, acclaimed for classics like The Infinity Box and The Clewiston Test.

Now one of her most famous novels returns to print, the spellbinding story of an isolated post-holocaust community determined to preserve itself, through a perilous experiment in cloning. Sweeping, dramatic, rich with humanity,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312866151
• ISBN13: 9780312866150
• Release Date: July 1998
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Is this the same book I read years ago? The theme and ending are different.

I bought this book to re-read as I thoroughly enjoyed it several years ago. Now I'm confused ... the major theme throughout the first book was nuclear war and the story of those who survived. This 'edition' is about nuclear war and the cloning of humans. I haven't mistaken the unusual title ... it's the same. One could not forget the surprise ending of the first book I read - it was a shocker. Despite all the survivors living in caves for protection the radiation got them anyway. Perhaps the ending was too depressing and the storyline was changed in newer editions? I still loved the book, the author was excellent in her descriptions of life after nuclear war.

Early eco-disaster novel

New to science fiction? Or maybe you are a sci-fi aficionado, but have let this author slip by. She is married to Damon Knight, but has written some of the best sci-fi on her own. This novel speaks to a world where we have already decimated most of the animals and a goodly portion of plant life. It is stark; it is nerve-shaking, and it is brilliant.

Disintegration of the species

Pollution, industrialization, over population, famine. These are just a few of the causes that converge to doom most of the animal life of Earth. A few 'visionaries' foresee this apocalypse, including mass sterility of both plant and animal life. Their research leads to great advances in cloning, which they see as the only means of continuing many species, including man. Eventually, they realize that the cloned humans are more Clone than Human. Clones develop different mentally and emotionally, eventually creating an entirely different, even alien, society. A collective mindset evolves, only to be challenged by the introduction of a true individualist, a rare child of sexual reproduction raised out of the group culture for the first five years of his life.The scenario brings to mind some of Ayn Rand's work regarding individualism verses collectivism. However, Ms Wilhelm's work is far less preachy and much more gripping.Highly recommended for aficionados of post-apocalyptic or cloning fiction.

Memorable

"Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" chronicles the post-holocaust attempts of humanity's remnants to combat sterility through cloning. The author, Kate Wilhelm, posits that multiple and simultaneous cloning of an individual prevents the development of separate egos in the clones, and results instead in the formation of a group identity. She argues this point and the consequent deterioration of the clone society quite convincingly. The successful execution of this idea would alone make a fine novel. When supported by Wilhelm's lush, vivid imagery and gripping drama it becomes a masterpiece.Damon Knight (Wilhelm's husband and himself a famous author) claimed that the best SF evokes in the reader a "sense of wonder", a reverence of mankind's potential- and engenders despair in the bosom of the aspiring writer who can never hope to duplicate this feat. The inspiration of this awe is the greatest virtue of "Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang", and entitles it to a position among the genre's highest achievements.

One of My Favorites!

Science fiction isn't really always about science. The best sci-fi is about humanity, and a futuristic or technological bent allows the author to explore particular aspects of humankind.Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang is that kind of great science fiction, focusing on humans in a sci-fi setting. The book is about cloning, more or less. But actually, the themes run far deeper than a mere op/ed piece on a technological possibility. Cloning is used as the vehicle to explore the meaning of individuality, the uniqueness of a person, and the consequences of complete homogeneity.If you like hard edge technological sci-fi, this book isn't for you. But if you're looking for excellent fiction that happens to be in the genre, I'd give this book a hearty recommendation.

Find a copy!

I searched high and low to find this book, and considering that it won the 1977 Hugo, I'm surprised it was so hard to find. I hope that word-of-mouth spreads for this book and that it is republished again soon. The book deals with many different themes and issues, and at times is reminicient of "1984" and "On the Beach" but at its heart it is a book about a society of clones. And as usual, in matters of new science frontiers, of what society fears and Congress outlaws, science-fiction bridges the gap and asks and answers the questions of ethics and morality that arise. Doomsday comes and mankind's only hope for survivial is to resort to cloning as its form of reproduction. But a society of clones becomes an almost entirely different species, who live as a collective. But among the clones emerges an individual who challenges the society that he lives in, and exerts his freedom to live and think as an individual. And the battle of collective minds against the individual quickly becomes the battle for the survival of mankind, once again. Considering the attention that cloning has been getting lately, I urge all fans of sci-fi to seek out old copies of this book, or to encourage the publishers to release a new printing. The book earned its Hugo Award, as twenty years ago it was raising the same questions that are being asked today. The first third of the book seems rushed, and is more of a long prologue than anything, but the last two-thirds of the book are as challenging a subject as any novel in the genre.

The best CLONE NOVEL ever written.

I am not a big Kate Wilhelm fan, but she poured her heart and soul into this book. Although the book deals with the subject of Cloning, it is really about the triumph of individualism in a clone society. The story revolves around a little boy that was raised in secret by his rebellious mother, and the efforts of the clone society to make him fit in. Once discovered he becomes a big problem for the clone society, but the clone society also needs his unique talents. And as he grows into a man, the situation becomes worse and worse, until it comes to a head in the end. As a book about individualism, this book is even better than Ayn Rands Anthem. Anthem will leave the reader sing praises of individualism. While this book leave the reader with a heartfelt appreciation of individualism and a deep understanding of the tension between of individualism and collectivism. It will touch your heart, your soul, and you mind. I've read a lot of books, very few of them I'd rate as good, but this book is far better than good. Find this book, and read it today.