The team ambles around Rama with the complacency of cows in a new pasture. I’d have expected the paradigm-shifting, history-making experience of exploring an artificial alien world to elicit a few emotional reactions or disagreements, but no. No arcs, no battle of inner strengths and flaws, not even any interpersonal conflict. Clarke holds his characters at arm’s length. Indeed, all the characters receive equal treatment in that all are flat and underdeveloped (unlike the good doctor’s bosom). Women take part in the Rama expeditions with no apparent disparity, and all crew members participate in laissez-faire shipboard liaisons. I read on with hackles raised, but found the rest of the story almost egalitarian. Then again, the polygamous captain made the observation, so maybe we’re meant to infer simply that he’s a bit of a lecher. On one hand, it offended me that the first female character we meet is immediately and shamelessly objectified. When a female crew member finally enters, the narration introduces her with commentary about the favorable effects of zero-g on her feminine assets.Īgain, I felt conflicted in my interpretation. I wasn’t sure whether Clarke intended this as a humorous byproduct of multi-planet colonization or a committment-phobe’s futuristic fantasy). (The captain has two, on separate planets. Not a woman in sight, save for the occasional reference to wives at home. Unfortunately, neither the adventure nor the allegory ever reach fruition.įor the crew’s first few forays into Rama, the book reads like an average 1970’s sci-fi bro-fest. Should be exciting, right? Parallels drawn between the Rama expedition and those of 18th century British explorer James Cook even hint at historical allusions.

He presents an intriguing premise: a giant cylindrical spacecraft dubbed Rama, seemingly abandoned, enters the inner solar system. Clarke slips soft humor into his writing that surprised and charmed me. The first few chapters subverted my expectations in a good way. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama and the book’s overwhelmingly positive reviews persuaded me to give it a try. But the recent Amazon bargain on Arthur C.

I’m always wary of mid-20th-century sci-fi because so many of the stories I’ve encountered contain levels of sexism I just can’t countenance. When I launcher a personal initiative about two years ago to read and study more classic science fiction, I braced myself for such moments. This irritating discovery wasn’t completely unexpected.

“We finally get a female character and the first thing they talk about is her breasts?” My own e-reader cast its moonbeam light on my pillow, emanating a serenity I didn’t share.

“Seriously?” I deadpanned, startling my Laddie from his bedtime Kindle doze.

Arthur clarke rendezvous with rama