Subject: THE DIVIDE by Robert Charles Wilson

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C Leeper +1 908 957 2070)
Date: 5 Mar 92 20:25:23 GMT

THE DIVIDE by Robert Charles Wilson
                        A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
			 Copyright 1992 Evelyn C. Leeper

        Let's clear something up right away: this book is *not* by the co-author
   of the "Illuminati" books.  That is Robert *Anton* Wilson.  No, this is by
   the author of A HIDDEN PLACE. MEMORY WIRE, and GYPSIES, all of which I read,
   liked, and recommended previously.  So it should come as no surprise that I
   liked this book as well.  (My delay in reviewing it is due to the relatively
   poor distribution trade paperbacks get, coupled with an apparent change of
   publishers--Wilson's three previous novels were with Bantam Spectra and I
   expected his future novels to appear under that imprint as well.)

        John Shaw is the result of a government-sponsored experiment in
   enhancing intelligence. (The back blurb compares THE DIVIDE to FLOWERS FOR
   ALGERNON, but there is something of FIRESTARTER here as well.)  But John
   found that greater intelligence was a curse as well as a blessing, and so
   Benjamin was born.  Beginning as a role that John played, Benjamin became an
   independent personality, a normal person who lived a normal life.  And now,
   to complicate matters, John/Benjamin gets a message that he is dying.

        It is difficult to portray convincingly a genius so that the non-genius
   reader (or viewer) can comprehend it.  This was one of the major failings of
   the film LITTLE MAN TATE, for example.  Wilson knows this, and even has John
   comment on this in regard to Olaf Stapledon's ODD JOHN, a classic work on
   this theme.  Wilson succeeds in his portrayal by avoiding the specific--he
   doesn't show John solving polynomials in his head or doing esoteric
   scientific experiments.  Rather, he is shown as subtly different in outlook,
   successful at anything he sets his hand to, and alone.

        On the other hand, THE DIVIDE does have problems.  The "psychotic
   boyfriend" subplot seemed unnecessary (one might almost say gratuitous), and
   the resolution was singularly unsatisfying--it was just too fortuitous.
   (This is similar to the problem that Wilson had in his second and third
   novels, MEMORY WIRE and GYPSIES, whose endings I felt were too predictable.)
   Because of these flaws I can't recommend this book as strongly as Wilson's
   previous works, but if you are interested in the subject of enhanced
   intelligence and its effects, this book is of definite interest to you.

   %T      The Divide
   %A      Robert Charles Wilson
   %C      New York
   %D      January 1990
   %I      Doubleday Foundation
   %O      trade paperback, US$8.95
   %G      ISBN 0-385-26655-3
   %P      249pp

Evelyn C. Leeper   |   +1 908 957 2070   |   att!mtgzy!ecl or [email-masked]