Sunday, May 25, 2014

Rashmi bookmarks “A Fall of Moondust”


Well. This was new. This novel by Arthur C. Clarke is about one of the popular tourist attractions on the Moon: a cruise across Sea of Thirst, a lunar sea filled with an extremely fine dust, which almost flows like water. A Fall of Moondust follows the ill-fated Selene, which becomes victim to a moonquake and is trapped underneath the moon's surface.

I found this book very different from the normal Clarke fare in its concentration on the element of human drama as the 22 passengers aboard the cruise ship struggle to stay alive. As they engage in a variety of activities from poker sessions to book readings to mock court cases, the story progressively brings out such a rich display of characters. From Mr. Harding's innocent questions that strike a deep nerve of anger and regret in Myra Schuster, to Radley's final "confession"; from the rescue operations of the brilliant Chief Engineer Lawrence, to Father Vincent Ferraro, who believes in man and god, to astronomer Dr. Thomas Lawson who believes in neither, this was a very well crafted portrait of human nature.

Of course this angle also had its negative side. Every time the melodrama of Captain Pat Harris and his chief stewardess Sue Wilkins (are they together or are they not?) reared its boring head, I tended to skip a few lines.

What was also really interesting about this story was its detailed attention to actual facts; Wikipedia tells me it is called "hard science fiction" (as opposed to soft sci fi). While there was no limit to the imagination as far as the setting was concerned, the storytelling did not cross the limit of scientific possibility. That peculiar feature of the sand which results in Selene's sinking without a trace, in blocking all attempts at communication with the outside world, as well as in creating a blanket that generates life draining heat … a rescue mission plan that includes drilling a hole into the ship and has drastic results including dangerous cave-ins, fires and  CO2 poisoning … the situation was fantastic, the solutions were real.

This was a very interesting read; although to be very honest, I can get good drama from other sources, but the kind of untouched sci fi genius that Clarke has, I can't - and I missed that in this book.

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