robin
As Virgil Ulam injects himself with his own — but now thinking — lymphocities he has no idea of the consequences. He becomes the mother and universe of billions of intelligent creatures within himself and they want him to become one of them. (Or should it be severla of them?)
Greg Bear, the author of the novel, has proven the horror of post-humanism, how defenseless man is against changes (and in a way ignorant) and the human fears of the unknown.
Somewhere in the middle, the novel changes it’s style and reminds me of a Stephen King novel The chapter where Suzy McKenzie wakes up to find her family transformed in the kitchen, is just as reading a horror novel. The fear of finding oeself the last person on earth and the why?, of which Suzy theorizes: ”Because I am so beautiful and the devil wants me for his wife.” (129) I can’t help thinking of Stephen King's Time of Plauge, as I read this.
Noocytes are living cells. Thinking, living cells. they spawned from the somewhat unorthodox scientist Virgil Ulam and are ready to take over the world. No one has ever experienced anyhting alike — a thinking disease, which transforms all living into itself, leaving only some special cases behind.
I’m always surprised how good people seem to take disasters, and this is another resemlence to King’s horror novels. People show to be a lot stronger in crises than one would think. The lonely girl striving to find out what is happening to the town, the twins in search of their dissapeared loved ones, and all the living corpses. Humans seem to ahve a lot of hidden strength.
An excellent novel bringing out the horror of posthumanity.