- Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Avon Books; Reissue edition (April 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0380798271
- ISBN-13: 978-0380798278
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.7 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,260,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
A twenty-year-old musician living on a serene patch of Earth in the twenty-fifth century, when most of the planet's population has departed for other more technologically advanced worlds, Fullin must make the most important decision in life--what sex to be.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great book, bad ending,
By A Customer
This review is from: Commitment Hour (Mass Market Paperback)
I was quite enthralled by this book, couldn't put it down. It had a lot going for it until the last chapter. Then I felt let down by the lack of resolution of the main idea of the book. I guess if it was meant to lead to a sequel, it'd be OK, but as a stand alone book, the ending left me flat.
4.0 out of 5 stars
A most unusual story of gender roles in society,
By Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Commitment Hour (Mass Market Paperback)
James Alan Gardner's Commitment Hour certainly isn't your run-of-the-mill science fiction novel. The author provides an interesting and sometimes uncomfortable look at the role of gender in society, but I'm not sure he is entirely successful, nor am I sure if there was some highly perceptive point he was trying to make or if he found any real answers to his own questions in this regard. The first few chapters failed to spark my interest, but in time Gardner did manage to bring a sense of life to the story and create something interesting albeit ultimately somewhat unfulfilling.The setting is twenty-fifth century earth, a somewhat primitive and naturalistic era borne of the fact that some seventy percent of the population has left for other planets in the wake of alien visitation; the technology of man's past has largely been abandoned, its relics consigned to the stuff of legend. The aliens and the facts of the big migration are only mentioned and never really emphasized; rather, it is the unique society of Tober Cove that demands all of the author's attention. Like most new earth societies, Tober Cove is a land of farmers and fishermen; here, a priestess marks the changing of seasons in primitive rituals and the law is upheld by a representative of the legendary Patriarch. Tober Cove is unique in one regard, however; here, the children alternate their sex between male and female for the first twenty years of their lives, after which time, at the crucial Commitment Hour, each one chooses whether to live as a male, a female, or - on rare occasions - both. Neuts are rare indeed, for those who choose a hermaphroditic life are banished from the land and threatened with instant death should they return. Fullin stands on the brink of his Commitment Hour choice, as does his life's partner Cappie. Fullin is confused enough by his feelings toward Cappie, feelings which vary significantly from year to year as his sex changes, but life gets infinitely more confusing when a scientist comes to witness and study the Commitment Hour ceremonies, bringing alongside him a Neut banished from Tober Cove twenty years earlier. Murder and other disquieting horror visits the village, and by the time Fullin and Cappie are ready to be flown to the mysterious Birds Home to make their final commitments, dramatic change indeed is blowing in the wind. It is only in the final chapters that a real science fiction element enters the story, but this mainly serves as a means for wrapping up the gender study the novel basically consists of. The story can be confusing at times, and the mixing and confusion of sexual perspectives never truly delivers any revelations of insight. The fact that Fullin, ostensibly a male at this time, is troubled by homosexual feelings from both sides of the gender line, combined with the whole society's antipathy toward Neuts, strikes a discordant chord, and few of Gardner's sexual questions find answers in his strikingly unusual conclusion. Commitment Hour is a strange novel, a book of probing questions without ultimate answers, but such is the very state of society itself. Some readers will no doubt find this novel an uncomfortable read, but its novelty and sense of unusual purpose make of it a story worth pursuing and pondering over.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cute Small-Town Sci-Fi Whodunit Starring Questing Adolescent,
By A Customer
This review is from: Commitment Hour (Mass Market Paperback)
Very entertaining: spanning many genres, and exploring themes of gender, parenthood, and politics through the eyes of one mixed-up teenager. My favorite of Gardner's books.
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