Time Travel discussion

The September book club is Way Station



Enoch Wallace is an ageless hermit, striding across his untended farm as he has done for over a century, still carrying the gun with which he had served in the Civil War. But what his neighbors must never know is that, inside his unchanging house, he meets with a host of unimaginable friends from the farthest stars.

More than a hundred years before, an alien named Ulysses had recruited Enoch as the keeper of Earth's only galactic transfer station. Now, as Enoch studies the progress of Earth and tends the tanks where the aliens appear, the charts he made indicate his world is doomed to destruction. His alien friends can only offer help that seems worse than the dreaded disaster. Then he discovers the horror that lies across the galaxy...


Post your comments here and lease add spoiler tags if needed.

Sorry I am late getting this up. We moved. We drove for three days and we have been trying to get everything out of storage and into the house. I just got internet a few days ago!

Happy reading!

I re-read this over the weekend and forgot so many little details. I enjoyed it just as much the second time. Looking forward to the discussion. I found it to be thought provoking.

It is interesting to think that although we think of Area 51 and 1947 as being our unofficial contact with aliens, this book sets the first encounter just after the Civil War. I felt shades of Tuck Everlasting in Enoch’s separateness from the rest of the human race in his abnormal aging.

Nearly finished. Read some Simak years ago, but apparantly missed this one.

I enjoyed this novel. I read it a few years ago.

I enjoyed this book. The descriptions of the station and the people who passed through it were nicely contrasted with the mundane activities of life on earth. The ending didn’t leave me with any revelations but I thought it concluded the story well.

I started last night.

Oops, I guess I'll join you, as somehow I missed the discussion in Sept.! Just downloaded a copy from overdrive/libby.

I finished last night. I was wondering why Enoch didn’t have a cover story in case anyone every wondered about his age and not aging etc?

I'm not done yet but that's a good point. He seems so innocent, so trusting....

I think he chose silence instead. By staying away from people and not inviting them to ask questions, they made their own assumptions about him and avoided what they didn't understand.

Samantha wrote: "I think he chose silence instead. By staying away from people and not inviting them to ask questions, they made their own assumptions about him and avoided what they didn't understand."

Except for his interactions with the mailman. It was their assumptions though that put the CIA guy onto him though.

I'm done. I do think that Enoch put too much trust and faith in fellow humans to mind their own business. He protected his state-of-mind by not admitting the possibility that things could go so wrong. He wasn't super-naive, of course: he read the papers, and computed the charts, and knew war was likely but wanted to find a way to achieve peace... but he was more optimistic and less cynical than many would be in his place.

I'm pretty sure it's one of Simak's themes, that we-all should let each other live our own lives, be our own people, decide for ourselves what kind of person we are and how we relate to others. He's not strident like Heinlein thank goodness, but ultimately both authors are exploring the human sense of individual ambition. (Granted, it's more pronounced in the West, but even in feudal and in communist China there have been, and are, entrepreneurs & rebels.)

I think Gene Roddenberry would like this book. ;)

I like that he used this opportunity to learn about the different aliens and their culture, language etc. He kept learning about things and didn’t just sit there.

He was also concerned about another war. I liked the end was more optimistic about humans ending wars and becoming a part of the rest cofraternity.

Agreed.

I don't know if I would have been so conflicted at the choice... I don't really have a very high opinion of humanity... I like the ending even if it is a bit deus ex machina.

Nancy wrote: "I like that he used this opportunity to learn about the different aliens and their culture, language etc. He kept learning about things and didn’t just sit there.

He was also concerned about anot..."

I liked that too Nancy. It was positive . I like Cliffor Simak. I have enjoyed everything I have read by him so far.

I also have enjoyed Clifford Simak's books and this one was really good.