Rite of Passage
Product Details | Similar Products | Customer Reviews | Author: Alexei Panshin List Price: £0.30 Availability:  |
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 | Product Details: Paperback 224 pages Release Date: 08 October 1970 Publisher: Sphere ISBN: 0722166834 Rating:   Sales Rank: 743111 | | Look for similar books by subject: | | Customers who bought this item also bought:
| | Customer Reviews: A gem (01 July 2008)Other reviewers have told you about the story. This book is one of the unforgettables, with a permanent place in my library. I re-read it every few years, often finding something new in it. An outstanding piece of work. A second reading really surprised me (05 October 2005)I first read this book more than 20 years ago. I remembered some of the basics of the plot but not too much more. It's the story of Mia Havero, aged 12 when the story begins and 14 when it ends. She's one of a number of priviledged survivors of a catastrophe, caused by unlimited population growth, which destroyed Planet Earth. She lives on a spaceship created in an asteroid, with access to education and technology, while less fortunate descendants of Earth's survivors live on colonies on planets scattered throughout the galaxy. In order to control population growth, the citizens of the Ships are sent down to planets for 30 days after they turn 14, to survive as best they can with some pretty extensive training and a limited amount of supplies and tools. This is the Rite of Passage. The story is told in 1st person and at times I felt it went into a bit too much detail, but Mia's voice is very convincing and I was impressed that the author -- who I think was in his 20s at the time he wrote this -- could write from the point of view of an adolescent girl so well. The future society he's created is very interesting and the book is a fast, easy read. But it's not simple. It raises a lot of moral questions which, when I read the book for the first time in my teens, mostly passed me by. After rereading it recently, I was left feeling actually quite shocked by the ending. The book is very thought-provoking, and like the best science fiction, it raises more questions than it answers. Highly recommended -- I gave it 4 stars only because I think it could have been a bit more tightly written and/or edited. A second reading really surprised me (05 October 2005)I first read this book more than 20 years ago. I remembered some of the basics of the plot but not too much more. It's the story of Mia Havero, aged 12 when the story begins and 14 when it ends. She's one of a number of priviledged survivors of a catastrophe, caused by unlimited population growth, which destroyed Planet Earth. She lives on a spaceship created in an asteroid, with access to education and technology, while less fortunate descendants of Earth's survivors live on colonies on planets scattered throughout the galaxy. In order to control population growth, the citizens of the Ships are sent down to planets for 30 days after they turn 14, to survive as best they can with some pretty extensive training and a limited amount of supplies and tools. This is the Rite of Passage. The story is told in 1st person and at times I felt it went into a bit too much detail, but Mia's voice is very convincing and I was impressed that the author -- who I think was in his 20s at the time he wrote this -- could write from the point of view of an adolescent girl so well. The future society he's created is very interesting and the book is a fast, easy read. But it's not simple. It raises a lot of moral questions which, when I read the book for the first time in my teens, mostly passed me by. After rereading it recently, I was left feeling actually quite shocked by the ending. The book is very thought-provoking, and like the best science fiction, it raises more questions than it answers. Highly recommended -- I gave it 4 stars only because I think it could have been a bit more tightly written and/or edited. Rite of Passage is set in 2200, when Earth has been destroyed, and mankind survives in giant spaceships and the colony worlds hastily set up before the disaster. So far, so typical science fiction. But Rite of Passage is more than typical science fiction. This book is magnificently constructed, and written with technical brilliance and the warmest humanity. From the point of view of the heroine, a 13 year old girl named Mia Havero, Alexei Panshin carefully brings every detail of the world and the people he has created to life. You believe in them. You care. And then the book races towards a climax that leaves you breathless, and then is over. And then you realise that you haven't really been reading about spaceships in 2200. You've been reading about something much closer to home. You haven't really been reading about Mia Havero. You've been reading about yourself. And you're left in tears (well, I was anyway...) In 2200 or 2004, will we ever learn? Genius. Pure genius. I love it. I really enjoyed the attention to detail; of a world which doesn't (yet) exist, of the thought processes of the main characters. I felt that although the main character, Mia Havero, is going through a maturing process designed to bring her to adulthood, she still maintains the thoughts and feelings of a 'normal' teenager. She is no 'genius child of the future', just an ordinary kid with ordinary feelings who is thrust into a situation she has little or no control over. I thought that it reflected real-life to a degree, although metaphorically, as all young people go through an experience in life that defines the person they later become. On a lighter note, it is also a really good read, with excitement and new ideas, colourful characters and a complete story that leaves you mildly interested in what might happen next but not chomping at the bit for a sequel. | |
