Still Great After All These Years

Time Is the Simplest Thing by Clifford D. Simak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of my favorite Simak novels, one of the handful I first read back in the 70s.

In some ways, this novel, like so many of his books, is simple. There is no hard science here; the setting is not deeply explored; there are not many characters; the plot is not complicated. But in other ways, it is deep; the ideas are universal and meaningful, and the characters tend toward the philosophical, with long conversations about the future of humanity and the like. They discuss at length the situation with paranormal humans, how they are useful, even essential, to human history, but are at the same time despised and feared and even hunted.

The parallels between the "parries" and marginalized groups in our real world is no accident, nor is it simply an allegory. Instead, it is an application of the rules of intolerance, rooted in racism and witch-burning hysteria. This is how demagogues would use fear of telepaths to take power and control society. The question is--could they weather the attack?

Simak's approach doesn't sit well with everyone. He keeps his focus tight and intimate. We don't see the big cities or the news shows, and we don't know what's going on around the world. those things are barely hinted at. What we see is just the main character and the handful of people around him. You hardly know if there is still a New York City in this place (there is); you can't tell if there is TV (though there is something like it mentioned); you almost wonder if there is traffic on the highways (we can only guess). He doesn't care about that. Unlike modern fat books, he doesn't give us multiple POVs with layers of world-building.

Instead, it's a quiet book. A man on a canoe, trying to reach safety before it's too late. A single man, trying to escape a powerful corporation. Trying to survive, and maybe save some folks in the bargain.

It's still a favorite. Still 5 stars after all these years.

Not the thing if you want hard science in your SF. Just the thing, though, if you think road trips and grass and hills and woods and rivers belong in science fiction. And maybe witches.

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