Contact
by Carl Sagan
Our thematic book club chose books that were on the bestseller
list in 1985 as a theme. Somewhat of a narrow window but an interesting
challenge.
When looking at the lists, a couple that I haven’t read stood
out for me – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood and Contact
by Carl Sagan. I decided to go with Contact and continue my science
fiction reading, albeit between healthy doses of murder mystery. I’m also
listening to the Miss Marple novels and stories by Agatha Christie, in order.
Contact is a hard science novel about,
of course, first contact with an alien species from another world. However, it
doesn’t jump to that point of contact the way so many other stories do.
This novel is backstory heavy in a way I don’t think most
publishers would allow today. I’ve often heard it said that one could easily
cut the first three chapters of any book and not miss them. I think that was
exceptionally true here. Perhaps a few bits and pieces would go into the book
further on, but I really don’t think we needed the main character’s childhood
and teen years then her first job to really appreciate the rest.
The first chapter is in fact very short, just a few pages, and
features a few vignettes about Ellie, from her birth and into her childhood,
including the death of her father, and her mother remarrying to a man Ellie
actively dislikes. The second chapter continues Ellie’s childhood and then to
college and on to graduate school and her first jobs.
There’s a great deal of speculation about what first contact
might be like, how an alien species might perceive humans. Would we be like
ants to them?
Chapter 3 begins with a picture of Ellie in her late thirties
entering the Project Argus administration building, “Project Argus was the
largest facility in the world dedicated to the radio search for
extraterrestrial intelligence.” Later, the story shows us Ellie, driving fast
into the desert in her Thunderbird during the night to relieve her stress and
restlessness. Though we are often exhorted to show and not tell in writing,
this all seemed a bit excessive.
Chapter four finally brings the first message from beyond the
Earth and sets up for the political machinations that take up a huge part of
the rest of the book.
Slowly, ever so slowly, a message takes shape, and they
realize it is instructions to build a machine. For what? They don’t know. And
so there is widespread disagreement on whether the machine should be built, and
even who this message is from.
I actually liked this book – from the characters to some of
the political machinations, and the eventual first meeting with the aliens. I
just felt it could have been tightened up considerably. The back story in the
beginning could have been peppered into the story at appropriate points in a
way that would have been much more effective.
The scientists from different countries make an interesting, multicultural
cast. The Russian scientist Vaygay is particularly delightful, with his
philosophical considerations. The presidents are interesting characters as the
novel spans years. I even liked the evangelist Palmer Joss. And though I found
the slow movement and extensive backstory annoying at times, perhaps that was
part of the point – that first contact could take considerable time instead of
someone showing up on our doorstep unexpectedly. It’s certainly a different way
of considering the possibility.
The way Sagan went with the ending, and the presentation with
the aliens was . . . pleasant. Comfortable. Perhaps a bit too comfortable for
modern sensibilities? Nevertheless, I enjoyed it.
This book certainly captured the minds and imaginations of
people from 1985 onward for a good chunk of time. Just the fact that it is
still available in the public library is an accolade in itself.
If you tolerate slow, character driven, stories well, I would
definitely recommend this one.
