Project Pope by Clifford D. SimakMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
On this re-read of a book I first enjoyed 30+ years ago, I have to say that I liked it again, but maybe for different reasons.
Clifford Simak does a great job of bringing his science fiction down to the personal level, to ground level. Though this novel takes place on a planet far from earth, it still is set in a small town on the edge of the wilderness, like so many others. The characters chat around a fire or walk in the woods and they have a drink while they explore what's going on around them. It's a different feel and a different pace from most SF.
I think my initial reads of Simak's novels, this one included, were generally just following the plot and looking for the answers to the riddles and mysteries. That's still fun the second time through, but it's the atmosphere he creates that I enjoy most now. Genteel robots discussing faith and the possibility of Heaven with the main character in an unhurried, friendly way, just feels like a future that isn't terrifying. It's human.
Some reviewers feel different about the novel. I get it. The plot is pretty jagged, and despite their warmth, his characters are never fully realized. I like it, though. I think we find a kind of conversation here, one that he started with his readers a dozen books before this one, a conversation that continues through all of his books, and it's one that matters to me. He shows us a ghost and asks us if we can consider it a person; he does the same with a primitive man from the distant past; then with intelligent animals; then aliens; then with a disembodied mind; and frequently, here and elsewhere, robots and computers. Are they like us? If no, why not? If they can visit with us and ponder the universe, aren't they the same as us?
It's pretty clear what Simak thought about that. And it helped form my opinion as well.
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