The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson

For Lu.

1. On page eighty-one, this book shifts from being pulp-adventure to a character study of Scott, the protagonist. It doesn’t lose the adventure of the novel past this point, by any stretch of the imagination. But at this point, it became clear to me that Wilson had moved past backstory necessary to setting up his characters, into character study levels of backstory. This shift surprised me and I told Lu where I was in the novel, and she agreed that the background starting at page eighty-one is a fantastic addition or shift to the novel. So, it’s not just me that recognized this. However, Wilson places these background-expositions between action scenes, effectively allowing him to jump from scene to scene within a chapter without confusion.

2. As a character study, the main themes of the book are really two-fold.
—First, Scott is a reluctant hero. Not in any anti-hero sense, and not in a cheap lip-service sense either; rather, Scott wants so badly to settle down to a wife and kids that his heroic actions are done almost in spite of his wishes. This drives home the importance of his failure as a husband and father, as laid out in the first eighty pages, and contextualizes them in a way that serves to explain Scott and everything that he does after. The situations fall into his lap because all of his other options have been exhausted. He’s torn between the quiet life and his curiosity about the Chronoliths. This is an unusually sedate character in a genre so rife with action. He’s not ironically a quiet person like Arthur Dent is, Scott genuinely desires peace, steady-employment, and to pursue his interest in these Chronoliths—to the point that years pass between events in the novel. I think the novel covers something like twenty years in Scott’s life, with an epilogue much later. This serious look at a personality type so familiar from daily life is refreshing in speculative fiction. He shows that given time and need, normal people can become heroic while remaining mostly normal.
—Second, Scott is attached to a messiah, so it’s a discussion of being a disciple, in a sense. Scott and Sue are, as a pair, familiar from my own college and work experiences, so I really understand their relationship through Wilson’s descriptions. The reluctant disciple who is using the professor as a sounding board and to gain access to—and an outlet for—their own interests, while the professor understands they are being used and uses the disciple in turn for their own sounding board and self-fulfillment. They become linked more and more through the novel and the discussion of discipleship never really falters. This is an unusual take on the disciple narrative—much different than Stranger in a Strange Land or Lord of Light. And outside of Scott, the discipleship of others to Kuin or workplace bosses, and the effect that has on surrounding characters like Ashlee, Kait, and Janice, supports this theme and creates an even-handed, holistic view of it.
—The character study is fascinating in its own right, but placed within the exciting context of the plot, it’s engrossing.

3. Wilson doesn’t run away with the pseudo-science-babble. He uses the layman’s terms to help explain and drive the plot, but it’s never the point—Kuin is never revealed, Sue never builds her own Chronolith, the science or politics never become concrete. The novel is firmly and irrevocably attached to its themes, and the science fictiony parts are contextual. They are important contextually—especially the idea of tau turbulence—but they serve the themes, rather than the other way around.

4. It’s written as Scott’s memoir, and this works well for the story. The novel is centered on the themes, with Scott acting as the focal point from which the lens never strays. Therefore, the structure is appropriate to the story. It reminds me quite a bit of Robert Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress in this way. But I think, in some way, this works a little better. Mannie is more pragmatic than Scott, so the ruminations Scott engages in tend to work in a more typical and engaging way for the memoir form.

5. Wilson builds Scott through telling interior monologue, then uses his actions to reinforce who Scott is through showing. These two tactics are balanced beautifully within the novel and the plot. There is a lot of opportunity for Wilson to make this plot and this novel just drip with excitement and action, but he holds himself back from over-running the novel with action in order to communicate his theme. However, he doesn’t forsake the action and keeps both in there—seemingly in equal parts.

6. I loved this book and anticipate reading more by Wilson. Sure, the word choices are a little bland and there’s quite a bit of violence, but he strikes an interesting and engaging balance between the action and the explanation that allows the unique themes and characters to shine. I’m quite impressed.