SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Boo hoo! Boone is dead.

And now that things haven't gone as planned, Frank needs Boone to do what Boone did best. I didn't think egomaniac Frank would feel regret over his actions but his regret is chipping away at his mind.
What a mess. Poor Mars!

Moving a bit more quickly for me now. The long rambling speech John gave on the side of the old volcano really seemed like a sermon on the mount moment, where he gave clear voice to the idea he was going to die for.

Later on, as Frank was rovering around the desert, disconnected from the present events, it seemed like a walkabout moment where he almost reached his dreamtime.

And then the dialogue crashed me out of the flow. Robinson's writing style just doesn't keep me on Mars. His plotting is rather good, the threads started early on are weaving together well, but the written words are not what carry me forward at this point.

I really didn't like Frank's PoV. Is anyone a psychiatrist/psychologist here who can identify is mental illness? He creeps me out.

I felt great pity for Frank during this sequence. He so desperately wants to be a good man (I know he killed Boone, but bear with me) and a great man, and to that end he will do anything for what he perceives is the good of all. He really seems to believe that the ability to sacrifice pawns or even stronger pieces in his personal chess match (and his little chess match with John was a nice touch, I thought), is morally right so long as he wins the game. But then, at every turn, it fails him. He realizes years later that his treaty was farce. He realizes years later that his killing of Boone was a shortsighted mistake. he realizes too late that Maya's love is impossible for him. And he's unable to see anything positive or effective in any move anyone else makes. If any character is tragic in Red Mars, it's Frank. I think that's why I like him -- not as a man but as a character. Robinson really captures the passions of the man, and his realizations of failure.

Thanks, Pia.

Jon - I'm not a professional but you might try Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work or The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry for non-fiction looks at the kind of behavior Frank seems to me to exhibit. (I should probably note that I haven't read these, but my boyfriend is currently.)