- Paperback: 275 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc.; 1st Del Rey Ed edition (31 Dec 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345431626
- ISBN-13: 978-0345431622
- Product Dimensions: 13 x 1.5 x 20.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,864,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Mockingbird is a powerful novel of a future world where humans are dying. Those that survive spend their days in a narcotic bliss or choose a quick suicide rather than slow extinction. Humanity's salvation rests with an android who has no desire to live, and a man and a woman who must discover love, hope, and dreams of a world reborn.
About the Author
Walter Tevis (1928-84) was born in San Francisco but his family moved to Kentucky when he was ten. However, he was suffering from rheumatic fever and was left behind, alone in hospital. He rejoined his family in Kentucky after a year and attended school there. After service as a carpenter's mate in the Second World War, he went to the University of Kentucky where he earned a bachelor's and a master's degree in English. He then taught at various high schools in Kentucky before becoming a professor at the University of Ohio. He began publishing science fiction in 1957. He published The Hustler in 1959 and The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1963 but he was struggling with a serious drink problem and a long gap in his writing career followed. However, in the four years before his death from cancer, he published Mockingbird, which is now widely recognized as a science-fiction classic, The Steps of the Sun and The Queen's Gambit.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Yes, it is in the future, there are robots of great perfection and fundamental flaws, humanity is dying out due to a robotic decision that was never corrected; but - the actual story is about self discovery, about a man robbed of his individuality and how he reclaims his place and role in his own life and in the world... with a little help from a woman and a robot that can not die.
Highly recommended!
Highly recommended!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The story is set in a dysfunctional future where humans are usually drugged up and following a antisocial but docile code of behaviour. People cannot read or write. They spend their lives taking drugs and living by sayings like "Don't ask. Relax." The population has been declining for many years.
The story mainly focuses on a man who learns to read and write and starts questioning his whole way of life. An administrator robot arranges for him to come and work for him recording the words in silent films. The robot is the only series 9 remaining because all the others have killed themselves whereas he is hardwired to be unable to commit suicide. The man meets a woman who is unlike the rest and they become lovers. Their story is told through their journals.
Although the style of writing is simple, even prosaic, the characters analyze their emotions, especially their emotional responses to events and books they read. The dominant emotion of the man is sadness. He finds a line of poetry (that inspires the book's title) that makes him feel sad. This becomes a mantra for him whenever he feels sad. Also a way of agreeing what sadness means with his lover. Without spoiling the story, his path is not smooth and he has many experiences that gradually change him. So it is also a coming of age story.
A simple book to read without being a simple book. Very enjoyable.
The story mainly focuses on a man who learns to read and write and starts questioning his whole way of life. An administrator robot arranges for him to come and work for him recording the words in silent films. The robot is the only series 9 remaining because all the others have killed themselves whereas he is hardwired to be unable to commit suicide. The man meets a woman who is unlike the rest and they become lovers. Their story is told through their journals.
Although the style of writing is simple, even prosaic, the characters analyze their emotions, especially their emotional responses to events and books they read. The dominant emotion of the man is sadness. He finds a line of poetry (that inspires the book's title) that makes him feel sad. This becomes a mantra for him whenever he feels sad. Also a way of agreeing what sadness means with his lover. Without spoiling the story, his path is not smooth and he has many experiences that gradually change him. So it is also a coming of age story.
A simple book to read without being a simple book. Very enjoyable.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tevis will probably be familiar to most film watchers and or readers as the man who wrote "The Man Who Fell To earth." An over stylised adaptation of the far more interesting and lucid novel.
In "Mockingbird" Tevis narration is fluid, interesting and informative. The 3 main characters at the heart of the novel are well defined and their human condition and interactions unfold with ease within an easy to read prose style. There is a great deal of depth to the narrative of this novel so it would stand up to several readings.
Gollancz and the editor/compiler of the SF Masterworks series should be congratulated for the inclusion of this not so well known novel. It is a real gem and more than worthy of inclusion in this epic series. Highly recommended.
In "Mockingbird" Tevis narration is fluid, interesting and informative. The 3 main characters at the heart of the novel are well defined and their human condition and interactions unfold with ease within an easy to read prose style. There is a great deal of depth to the narrative of this novel so it would stand up to several readings.
Gollancz and the editor/compiler of the SF Masterworks series should be congratulated for the inclusion of this not so well known novel. It is a real gem and more than worthy of inclusion in this epic series. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Absolutely wonderful
A book that you can't put down, that you want to read constantly and re-read many times is certainly amazing. Read more
Published 4 months ago by asra
Starts great then tails off.
I had a strange experience with this book.
My first copy had approximately 70 pages missing. Read more
My first copy had approximately 70 pages missing. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Lixma
Profundity through simplicity
If you are looking for a book to inspire you to think about life, the universe and everything, you can do much worse than this oft-overlooked gem. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Dennis Michael Donohue
Unfortunately Ends Up Just Being Average
This is the first time that for the first 80 pages of a book I couldn't put it down and then for the rest of the book it ends up being below average. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Sean Gainford
"Only the mockingbird sings at the edge of the woods."
Like so many SF novels, one can pick out the common themes and ideas from other 'greats' as pointed out by another commentator. Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2010 by Jean Michel
To Kill a Make Nine
Tevis's novel, although originally published in 1980, has an innocent and naive tone reminiscent of SF from the 40s and early 50s. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 2010 by sft
Hardly a classic
Take the social ills (drugs and casual sex) from Huxley's 'Brave New World', the government-enforced anti-reading policies of Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451', throw in a variety of... Read more
Published on 27 Jan 2010 by Bill
Fantastic book!
This book was fanatstic and an ablsoute pleasure to read. I read the majoirty of it in a day and couldnt put it down. Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2010 by M. Shaw
buy this book!
I read this book in 4 days, not because of it's length, but because of the strength of the prose and the way in which you are pulled along in the stories in the book. Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2009 by johnny boy
One of the greats
This is one of the best books I have read for a long time - once I started, I couldn't put it down!!
Published on 14 Feb 2009 by P. Kelly
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