The Sirens of Titan
This is a Science Fiction classic first released way back in 1959. It’s a totally different animal than the Heinlein book of a similar vintage I read recently. Certainly it’s sexual politics are a bit less dodgy however there is one discordant aside about homosexuality that did stand out.
It’s a darker, angrier piece with much more in common with the satirical masterpiece The Space Merchants and later works like Silverberg’s Dying Inside.
Although a satire, and occasionally funny, the book seethes with a palpable sense of disgust for the author’s contemporary culture and really offers no hope for the future.
I’ve read it before but it was well before I started keeping this blog.
It really is a great bit of work but it left me feeling really very down after reading it. I recommend it to any lover of literary Science Fiction but be warned it is not an uplifting tale.