The Book of Strange New Things

The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So much has been said about this book. Some call it a masterpiece, innovative, fresh, thought-provoking. For me, this is a book about faith, plain and simple. And certainly a new take on it.

Peter is a missionary, but not one in the traditional sense. His mission field is several light years away on a different planet. The indigenous people there have requested a pastor to come and teach them in exchange for goods they provide to the human population there. The interviews begin and Peter is selected, although his wife is not. The two resolve to trust God that this is His Will and Peter travels to the planet, courtesy of a major corporation with a vested interest there. So his posting is purely secular in nature, a nice contrast to the man of faith that Peter is.

Peter's actions in the book are pretty typical of a pastor. The idea that the church is more important than his wife is a recurring theme, as it is in the real lives of pastors today. There is true sacrifice in his separation from his wife Bea on both their parts; this is seen in the correspondence between them. And there is the standard problem of absence; their lives are completely different despite the connection they both have to the home where Bea has remained. The details of her everyday life become mundane to Peter, who is having a completely alien experience. He’s also so immersed in his alien experience that he can’t translate it well to Bea, who then feels left out. Faber was able to expertly translate life in the service of the church, and that’s a pretty good trick for someone who doesn’t do it for a living.

The characters here are well-developed. Faber doesn't concentrate overmuch on Peter’s past in order to make him relatable. Instead we got just a few glimpses which balanced him out nicely. Of particular interest were the aliens. We forget their shocking appearances right along with Peter as he develops relationships with a few. An interesting assumption here is the idea that these aliens need saving just like humans do. Add to that the fact that not all the aliens are excited about the church and Peter and you have essentially the human experience displayed in alien form. They don’t behave much differently than we do.

The workers on the colony were interesting and varied. Seeing one crew member’s reaction to a eulogy Peter gives for a worker who has died was so true to reality; she has a very emotional reaction and then later is embarrassed about it, determined not to allow it to change her despite Peter’s lack of judgement.

The plot does meander a bit into more philosophical territory as Peter struggles to make sense of his relationships and mission. Some of that seemed a bit farfetched, only serving to move the plot along. Things change dramatically from there and Peter seems to gain some clarity. By the end of the book, he has made a decision about which he is as certain as was his decision to make the trip.

Any book dealing with religion and the Christian experience is going to spark controversy. But as a person in ministry for most of my life, I have to say that Faber got it more right than wrong. My favourite scene was the funeral for the dead crew member and Peter’s eulogy. It was a brilliant piece of writing that captured Peter’s view of the secular world from a place of faith. It also expressed the best of what a Christian should be. If that eulogy is any indication of the person that Peter is, then I want to attend his church.

The book was narrated on audio by Josh Cohen. While his voicing of the narrative was excellent in its translation, I found his voices for the aliens to be contradictory to my own imagination. Because of this I switched to the ebook. This is not to say that Cohen did a bad job there, it’s just that for me, this book was better read in print.

I loved this book. I couldn’t put it down. It’s a philosophical examination of people and life and God and what it means to have a relationship with God. So many people get this religion thing wrong; Faber set a missionary in space and got it very, very right.


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