Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site topaz.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!cbdkc1!desoto!packard!topaz!donn@utah-cs From: donn@utah-cs Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: TIK-TOK by John Sladek Message-ID: <2451@topaz.ARPA> Date: Sun, 30-Jun-85 18:48:53 EDT Article-I.D.: topaz.2451 Posted: Sun Jun 30 18:48:53 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 1-Jul-85 08:14:59 EDT Sender: daemon@topaz.ARPA Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 26 From: donn@utah-cs (Donn Seeley) John Sladek's TIK-TOK (DAW, c1983, DAW edition June 1985) is a robot whose 'asimov' circuits don't seem to function quite right. Everyone in Tik-Tok's cheesy future takes it for granted that robots can't misbehave, which is just as well because without these obedient slaves their tottering civilization would collapse instantly. Tik-Tok can lie, steal and kill without the least suspicion coming upon him, because who would expect that a mere robot could perform these quintessentially human acts? Tik-Tok's narrative is an out-and-out farce, with ample slapstick and an abundance of parodies. The story alternates between Tik-Tok's grim upbringing (he was raised on a Mississippi plantation and taught to sing excruciatingly bad imitation Stephen Foster songs) and his brutal present (as he discovers that society rewards his outrageously criminal behavior). Woven through the story is a dark and bitter cynicism, and many of the laughs will also make you cringe; when I finished the book I was left with a distinctly unpleasant aftertaste... Of course this is exactly the kind of tension which Sladek intended to produce, but that doesn't make it any easier to assimilate. In the end I'm not sure whether I enjoyed the book, and I'm not even sure whether I was supposed to... You takes your chances if you buy it. Donn Seeley University of Utah CS Dept donn@utah-cs.arpa 40 46' 6"N 111 50' 34"W (801) 581-5668 decvax!utah-cs!donn