(some spoilers in this post)
OMG I LOVE THAT BOOK.
*dances around remembering reading it*
I love using it as an example of a book with only 1 main character, too!
You know, this is so funny. I had actually forgotten who the author was, and I have a sort of deep-seated insecurity of not being well-read in SFF, even though I've been reading SFF my entire life, because I feel like I haven't read enough of the "classic" authors and old-school awards nominees and such. Like, I know who Gerrold is
now because of reading what he says online in SFF fandom, but if someone had asked me if I'd read him, I would have said no, even though I FREAKIN' LOVED THIS BOOK.
(Same thing happened with Heinlein, incidentally. I got the "What! You haven't read Heinlein?!" from someone in college, and was embarrassed, but it turned out I
had -- I just hadn't been in "fandom" enough to realize I should remember his name.
I read
The Man Who Folded Himself pretty randomly out of the science fiction library in college, and since the SF library was
huge D), I'm always surprised when a book I picked up off the shelf turns out to have been well-known. (I picked up Diana Wynne Jones and Harry Harrison randomly off the shelf there, too, which, WHAT.))
So this is a good reminder to me now that I
am more in fandom-at-large that I've probably hit more of the canon than I think I have.
Anyway, thanks for bringing up this book, infinitefrank! I'd highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it. It's one of the most creative uses of time travel I have ever seen. And it boggles me that this book isn't more talked about, especially considering it did well -- I recommend it a lot and have never run into someone else to squee about on it, and when people say who Gerrold is they always reference Star Trek instead of "THAT'S THE GUY WHO WROTE
THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF!! READ IT RIGHT NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T."
(Can you tell I love this book!)
Anyway, one of the things that I love thinking about is how the story could really have been told with equal "legitimacy" from any of the Dans' perspectives -- there's no way of saying which is the "real" him. It's funny to think about how different a book that would be while still being the
same book. It also could have been told from any of the Dianes' perspectives and been
The Woman Who Folded Herself -- I wonder how differently that would have read to people, despite the fact that the story itself makes such a telling equally legitimate!
Okay, I'll shut up now. I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. Now I want to reread it, dammit. My god, my city's library system only has one copy, and it's in the
Reference Section instead of circulation! WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE NOT STILL READING THIS BOOK. *cries*
