Author Topic: FlashForward  (Read 1629 times)

Peter Ahlstrom

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FlashForward
« on: July 28, 2009, 09:53:30 PM »
Has anyone here read the book FlashForward by Robert J. Sawyer? I'm curious about reading it, but I want to make sure it won't tick me off before I pick it up. Robert J. Sawyer is a proselyting atheist, and the other books I've read from him can't cease harping on the subject and creating straw men. If FlashForward is the same way, I don't want to read it.

I understand he doesn't like religion and that's one of his big themes, but I hope he has written at least some books where he just ignores religion rather than using the book to actively campaign against it.

(Please don't turn this into another religious thread. I just want to know whether the book will tick me off. Sawyer is a good writer and has some nifty ideas, but his unbalanced treatment of religion made his Neanderthal trilogy a very unsatisfying read.)
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manji

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Re: FlashForward
« Reply #1 on: July 28, 2009, 10:58:36 PM »
I don't remember getting ticked off while reading FlashForward. It's been a while since I read it, though. I don't remember religion being discussed all that much, but it did touch on all the themes you would expect to find from a story about glimpsing the future. Fate, free will, and all that stuff.

WriterDan

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Re: FlashForward
« Reply #2 on: August 04, 2009, 11:20:23 PM »
I noted with some bit of humor that Robert Sawyer talked a bit about this book of his in Tor's most recent email.  In it, Sawyer said that he didn't really enjoy writing it all that much, and that in the end it really wasn't one of his favorites.  Even though at the end of his comments, he said that re-reading the book 10 years later led him to be pleased, I can't help but be put off by his earlier statements.  I've only read Rollback by him, and wasn't very impressed with it.  I don't plan on reading this one, though I'll probably tune into the TV series a few times to see what it's like.  I just figure, as far as books go, I can probably find something that I'd enjoy more, elsewhere.
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Bookstore Guy

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Re: FlashForward
« Reply #3 on: August 05, 2009, 06:29:17 PM »
i agree with Writer Dan. I had the same initial thoughts about his interview, and thought the same thing about Rollback. It was a decent book, but not, in my opinion, worthy of its Hugo nomination. It was very bleh. I'll DVR the show and decide after a few weeks if i should keep watching it.
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