Ok... so. I like the world itself, I like the story with the aliens, the setting with the you-dont-know-where-you-go-spaceships and so on. But the main character is a white cis-hetero asshole who only has sex on his mind. Later in the book, homosexual desire is justified by the fact that mum's thermometer in her son's anus was the only physical sign of love (so obv. that makes you want d*** in there aswell). There are also discussions about whether he, as a heterosexual man, can stand to be on a spaceship with 3 homosexual men. If a person is black this is always explicitly mentioned, not so with non-black people.
Yes the book was published in 1977 but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it if you are concerned with equality, LGBTQIA+ and anti-racism. It can be off-putting.
Pohl won a Hugo and a Nebula for Gateway, deservedly so.
Frederik Pohl was, of course, one of the Golden Age writers of SF. But Gateway showed that he was hardly stuck in the 1950s. It was very innovative for its time. The general tone is quite modern. Much of the book is about the therapy of Robinette Broadhead, an ex-astronaut with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. The PTSD is understandable, since his spaceflights were taken in several alien spacecraft that no one knew how to operate; operating out of an abandoned alien base in the solar system, the "prospectors" of Gateway faced an extremely high casualty rate.
Robinette Broadhead is a complex character; unpleasant in some ways, and often not admirable. But since the story is told from his point of view, in first person, it's clear that we're not getting an objective picture of himself or, probably, his …
Pohl won a Hugo and a Nebula for Gateway, deservedly so.
Frederik Pohl was, of course, one of the Golden Age writers of SF. But Gateway showed that he was hardly stuck in the 1950s. It was very innovative for its time. The general tone is quite modern. Much of the book is about the therapy of Robinette Broadhead, an ex-astronaut with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. The PTSD is understandable, since his spaceflights were taken in several alien spacecraft that no one knew how to operate; operating out of an abandoned alien base in the solar system, the "prospectors" of Gateway faced an extremely high casualty rate.
Robinette Broadhead is a complex character; unpleasant in some ways, and often not admirable. But since the story is told from his point of view, in first person, it's clear that we're not getting an objective picture of himself or, probably, his experiences.
Pohl also put whole-page inserts in the book, including conversational program read-outs from Robinette's therapist (a computer program), excerpts from science lectures, classified ads, and letters - all of them relevant to the story, of course, and many of them quite funny. The novel itself is not a comedy, I should note, but there are many very amusing moments.
I'll also quickly note that Pohl's representation of future society is dystopian and rather prescient. Desperate poverty is, apparently, the norm for most of the world's population. People sell organs and body parts to the rich in order to survive. Much of the environment is hideously despoiled, although there are domed enclaves where the elite live. Health care is more than ever a matter of life and death, priced beyond the ability of most to pay; but for the wealthy, life is comfortable and long. A look at current health care statistics makes the world of Gateway seem not very unlikely. Except that we're unlikely to find an alien base with FTL spacecraft in nearby space, of course.
The ending is rather touching. No spoilers, but one of the strongest and most likable characters in the book is Robinette's therapist; I've always found his final remark oddly moving. It's a pity that he (it) wasn't given more of a role in the sequels.
This was one of the first books that I really couldn't put down as a teenager. When I read it, there was a real thrill of what was on the other side of the trip. What was waiting to be discovered. It's one of the very few books that I've re-read more than 3 times.
