Once again I find a topical science fiction
classic novel. Although the science part is very imaginative, because the book
was written in 1965, and gives an anything but realistic image of Mars, the
themes and the way in which the plot unfolds could pass it off as a very
recently written book.
The originality of the events narrated is
particularly surprising. It is about a future, which fortunately did not become
true (the story is set in 1986), in which a kind of seaweed has devastated the
Earth. The last hope seems the Red Planet that humans are trying to colonize.
When the protagonist, Benbow, is sent to Mars to participate in this project,
soon he realizes that those who are in charge are hiding something.
The story is of broad scope and complexity to be
a relatively short novel. You see the author’s ability to move the view a bit
further, imagining great scenarios. Although the book is characterised by a
remarkable melancholy, which still continues to the end, you can see the
optimism of the 60s on the ability of mankind to realize large enterprises, but
also in respect of Earth and nature, at the same time you notice the pessimism
about the human tendency to deceit, which turns against mankind itself in a
sort of paradox. However, this story that stars with dark tones ends on a note
of hope, although it is not at all a happy ending.
I loved it. I felt involved in the vicissitudes
of the protagonist and I suffered with him. Perhaps the excessive pessimism has
prevented me from giving the fifth star, but I appreciated very much the idea
that mankind cannot do anything against the nature, whether it is to destroy or
save it. Nature does by itself, you just have to adapt and wait.
The Last Hope of Earth
on Amazon.com.
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