Subject: FOREVER PEACE by Joe Haldeman

From: "Evelyn C Leeper" <[email-masked]>
Date: 20 Oct 1997 14:38:16 -0400

FOREVER PEACE by Joe Haldeman
            Ace, ISBN 0-441-00406-7, 1997, 326pp, US$21.95
                   A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
		    Copyright 1997 Evelyn C. Leeper

     One, this is not a sequel to THE FOREVER WAR.  Two, the title of
this is FOREVER PEACE, not THE FOREVER PEACE.

     Haldeman has claimed that FOREVER PEACE is part of a triptych of
thematically connected novels containing THE FOREVER WAR and 1968.  This
is true, but only to the extent that they are all about war and what makes
us fight and kill each other.  While the idea of FOREVER PEACE is that
there may be a way to end the killing, most of it is devoted to
descriptions of battles and attacks and killing.

     One problem is that the pacing is off.  We spend half the novel
following Julian Class, the operator of a "soldierboy" -- basically a
remote-controlled robot soldier.  Then suddenly within a few pages, we
find out that there is something happening that can destroy the universe,
and that there is a way to convert humanity to a non-aggressive state.
Another problem is that while the first plot twist is moderately
believable, the second I found completely unconvincing.  All the problems
that are introduced are solved with a wave of the hand.  It's as if we
have a solution to world hunger that involves getting to Proxima Centauri
in an hour, and then on the next page someone says, "Oh, by the way, we
just discovered how to travel faster than light."  While we're at it,
Haldeman also postulates the miracle of nanotechnology, which can provide
for all material needs.  Another problem was the foreshadowing, where you
would read some first-person narrative from Julian, and then a third-
person omniscient would break in to say, "But Julian had no way of knowing
how wrong he was," or some such.

     But FOREVER PEACE is still worth reading.  Haldeman is at his best
when he is describing everyday life in the "permanent war footing" of the
future, with all its restrictions and "acceptable" dangers.  If THE
FOREVER WAR was the Vietnam War transposed to the future, then FOREVER
PEACE is Nicaragua, Kuwait, and Oklahoma City.  It's a world full of
security precautions that don't work, but which are followed because they
make people feel better.  (Exactly what purpose does showing a picture ID
serve when you fly somewhere now?)  It's a world of elaborate rules of
friendship based on who gets paid what, and when, and how.  Haven't you
heard of someone picking up a dinner check by explaining that they can
claim it as a business expense?  One of the aspects of science fiction I
like is the way it looks at the near-future and consequences of our
current politico-economic situation.  Had Haldeman just written about
nanotechnology and the war between the haves and the have-nots, it would
have been far more satisfying.  As it was, there was too much going on
here for any one thread to be given sufficient space.

     As I said, I think FOREVER PEACE is worth reading, though not for the
plot so much as for the setting. The obvious comparison will be to THE
FOREVER WAR, and it doesn't stand up to that--but then, that is very high
standard.

%T      Forever Peace
%A      Joe Haldeman
%C      New York
%D      October 1997
%I      Ace
%O      hardback, US$21.95
%G      ISBN 0-441-00406-7
%P      326pp

Evelyn C. Leeper    |  [email-masked]
+1 732 957 2070     |  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824
We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough
to make us love one another. -- Jonathan Swift