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The Fresco (Gollancz S.F.) (Paperback)

by Sheri S. Tepper (Author) "Along the Oregon coast an arm of the Pacific shushes softly against rocky shores ..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; New edition edition (14 Feb 2002)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0575072881
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575072886
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 565,032 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #30 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > T > Tepper, Sheri S.

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

The Fresco is a strong novel of alien first contact, driven by Tepper's trademark anger at the violence, oppression and stupidity she sees in our modern world. The Pistach are aliens belonging to a Confederation of intelligent peoples. They make first contact with an ordinary woman, Benita Alvarez, who becomes their intermediary with the US government. They explain that humanity must become neighbourly, otherwise we will be left to the mercy of predator species who like to hunt intelligent life for food. Some predators are already attempting to forge an alliance with military and political opposition leaders in the US. The Pistach believe it is their destiny to help other species achieve neighbourliness, as laid out in the sacred images of the revered Fresco on their homeworld, and so they begin to intervene in human affairs to reduce violence and misery. Tepper's imagination has run riot in finding interventionist ways to tackle drugs, violence, the oppression of women and religious intolerance. She has a robust and unfashionable take on the balance between personal freedom and social responsibility, and this is not a glib or easy read. The book is at times a little preachy, but the characters are strong, the Pistach are believable, and many of their interventions are very funny as well as appropriate. Nor are they as all-powerful as they seem at first. This is a thought-provoking, complex and satisfying read. --Elizabeth Sourbut --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Description

Benita Alvarez, a downtrodden Hispanic woman, is chosen by alien envoys to be the Intermediary in their bid to get humankind to join an interstellar federation of peaceable races who practise Neighbourliness and strive to live ethical and moral lives. But other alien races have their own plans for the verdant, over-populated planet and they have chosen their own contact: a down-and-dirty government Senator. They don't want mankind to join the Federation, though: they just want hunting rights of Earth - hunting rights on man . . .
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Tepper-lite?, 14 May 2003
By N. Clarke (Lancs, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
If you know Tepper, you know the drill: well-drawn aliens smugly shaking their heads at human foibles, put-upon heroines faced with a brick wall of male intransigence, the environment in peril...

And that, I think, is the point. This isn't merely formulaic Tepper; it's Tepper poking fun at her own formula. Yes, really.

There are still serious points being made here: about self-abuse and the harm it does to others, about humankind's obsessive pursuit of short-term gratification over long-term prudence, about the place of women in a world still dominated by male concerns. But it's all wrapped up in a delicious, and deliciously silly, tale of first contact.

The covering story is pure, paper-thin froth, and apparently intended so: benevolent aliens with a penchant for social engineering hook up with a virtuous working mother (fleeing, of course, an abusive alcoholic husband), and together they set about Making The World A Better Place. Ranged against them are the usual motley collection of pro-life senators, conservative religious figures, and nasty hunter aliens.

The aliens' approach to improving human society reads like the Hobb's Land gods of Tepper's earlier novel _Raising the Stones_ run through the Hollywood anti-subtlety machine: harmful anti-social behaviour is simply prevented at source with what is effectively a wave of a magic wand (well, nanobots. Allegedly). There's no libertarian messing about here: castration for rapists is high on the agenda. Possibly Tepper is growing impatient with the world's problems; either way, solutions are achieved in record time, once everyone starts being 'sensible'...

Haven chosen to go with this light-hearted exaggeration, though, Tepper has immense fun with her scenario, and in doing so she subverts all expectations. The kidnapping of Jerusalem is priceless ("When you can all get along, you can have it back"); the impregnation of the pro-lifers with alien spawn is genius, and laugh-out-loud funny. Even the swipes at organised religions are amusing rather than stridently critical.

And if I'm not mistaken, the final few pages are a hilarious send-up of _Grass_...

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars I so wish it would happen., 2 Oct 2007
By Rod Williams "hairybloke@aol.com" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This is rather less science fiction and more wish-fulfilment fantasy from Tepper, but is no less satisfying for that. Written prior to 9/11 it has a wistful Arthur C Clarke optimism in that the religious idiocy of fundamentalism can be dealt with, and dealt with in a humorous and compellingly satisfactory way.
Benita Alvarez, mother of two, is trapped in a loveless and abusive marriage to her violent and alcoholic husband, a man who planned to be an artist but never made it. One day, Benita is out picking wild mushrooms and is approached by two aliens, representatives of a galactic federation, who wish Earth to become part of a wider civilisation, and who offer Benita the chance to become the intermediary between humanity and galactic civilisation.
However, before Earth can become a member, humans will have to clean their act up, and the aliens are not prepared to wait for us to think about it.
Nanobots are scattered around the world, and various societies soon discover that they will have to change their ways. In Afghanistan, the men find that their women have become hideous which, the aliens reason, gives the males no more reason to lock their women away or force them to cover their faces when in public.
Jerusalem disappears overnight, and the aliens, in the manner of frustrated parents, tell the earth that it will be returned when we stop fighting over it and learn to play nicely.
Meanwhile, it is discovered that other, more predatory members of galactic society have also come to Earth, and have made secret deals with US politicians in order to use Earth as a hunting ground since Humanity has grossly overpopulated the planet and needs weeding out. Later, when another group of alien `peace-keepers' arrives to deal with the predators, it transpires that they are insectile forms who lay their eggs in living flesh, and having been called out at the wrong time, need hosts in which to place their larvae. Who better, the aliens reason, than those Pro-Life male politicians who pontificate endlessly about the evil of abortion. Thus, the politicians are given a lesson in what it is like to be pregnant and, more importantly, to experience the pain of childbirth, since when the larvae is removed at the time of hatching, no anaesthetic is allowed in case it interferes with the hatchling.

The third strand of the plot refers to The Fresco itself, an ancient series of paintings, sacred to Benita's aliens and central to their philanthropic values, whose patina is so stained with the candle smoke of centuries that no details can now be seen.
Many readers will no doubt sympathise with Tepper's clear and rational view of a world plagued with delusion and stupidity, and her common sense approach to the problems of the world. One has to ask, however, whether Tepper's view is that we can only be saved by abandoning control of our fates to others. If so, I am beginning to move toward her point of view.
Despite a somewhat Americocentric emphasis, this is a marvellous feel-good novel, and one finishes the novel wishing, on some level, that the aliens would come and sort us out. We could certainly do with it.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Undiluted vitriol, 11 April 2002
By A. J. Watson "Bones" (Newcastle-on-Tyne, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
One of my favourite authors, Ms Tepper usually seems well-balanced in her writing, using solid arguments combined with off-the-wall science fiction to illustrate her humanist (I don't consider them feminist) views ... This book shows her to be well-balanced by having chips on both shoulders.
This is essentially an environmental treatise, echoing James Lovelock's Gaia theory, and a blueprint for future co-existence with all living creatures.
No-one is immune from her vitriol:- FBI, DEA, NRA, Law, Forestry, smoking, religion, alcohol, prisons, fertility clinics - all get a slating, and deservedly so.
However, unusually, this diatribe verges on the extreme, and the Alien solution she employs, while being vastly effective, almost seems like another oppressive regime.
I found this less convincing and more trite than her previous books (like 'Raising the Stones') which support the same goals; I felt that things happened too easily, the results too assured and altogether too slick. It struck me as being 'McCaffrey-esque' in the way some of the scenarios are staged.
Still a worthwile read - especially for the Ugly Plague - don't you wish you could serve justice up in a similar way?!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Just loved it
I simply loved this book. It is straightforwardly written with some excellent takes on today's society. Read more
Published on 15 May 2007 by M. Andrew Christie

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not the best
I always expect a vividly written and gripping novel from Sheri Tepper with a fairly radical feminist viewpoint, and this book is no exception. Read more
Published on 30 April 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars The Fresco is a thoughtful read!
An ordinary woman with low self-esteem has an encounter in New Mexico with aliens who hire her to transmit their message of peace to the powers that be in Washington. Read more
Published on 22 April 2001 by Rebecca Brown

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