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From: jeb@eisx.UUCP (Jim Beckman)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: SPACE (Michener)
Message-ID: <694@eisx.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 27-Feb-84 15:32:20 EST
Article-I.D.: eisx.694
Posted: Mon Feb 27 15:32:20 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 28-Feb-84 08:28:13 EST
Organization: American Bell, South Plainfield NJ
Lines: 37

I recently finished reading James Michener's SPACE, which I
picked up in paperback.  This happens to be the first Michener
I have read.  His POLAND novel is showing up high on the best-
sellers lists recently.  I understand that Michener's approach
is to immerse himself in a subject, do lots of research, etc.,
before commencing a novel.  However, on the basis of SPACE, it
appears that even after all that study, the man still doesn't
know his ass from a hole in the ground.

Some of the things Michener says about airplanes and test pilots
in SPACE are just plain ridiculous (I guess it's always a problem
to read novels concerning subjects about which you have some
knowledge).  These mistakes then cast doubt on the veracity of
the rest of the story.  Are the characters (other than the
historically accurate ones such as Von Braun, Lyndon Johnson,
the Mercury astronauts, etc.) supposed to be representative
of actual people?  Or is the whole thing just fabricated?  If so,
why all the research beforehand?  

I am willing to believe that everything in THE RIGHT STUFF is
the truth (actually, I mean to agree that Tom Wolfe believes
that everything is the truth).  How much of Michener's book is
supposed to be accurate?

I also found it hard to believe some of his characters.  People
just aren't that consistently good, trustworthy, and so forth
all the time.  Too many of the characters seemed one-dimensional.
Also the dialog occasionally was too stilted for belief.

Summing up, SPACE is a good enough story as stories go,
but I'm glad I didn't pay hardback prices.  And I'm not
going to bother with POLAND.
 
Anyone out there care to defend James M.?

Jim Beckman   ATTIS, South Plainfield, NJ