Customer Reviews
One to read... - By: Jeep Tenk, 18 Dec 2008 
Spanning 1800 years this is a fascinating & scary 'tour de force'... that at its root has the purpose & spiritual necessity of the churchin the world.
About how it, for the secular world, becomes harder & harder to grasp the reality of God, as science & comfort become masters; about the death wish inherentin humanity, due to the consequences of 'original sin'.
I'm normally not a fan of sinister works of fiction, but this has so much more... check it out!
Sci-fi that isn't - By: reader 451, 11 Jul 2008 Do you know many science-fiction books that quote Latin? Where the heroes are monks & abbots? Where the protagonists argue over illuminated manuscripts? A Canticle for Leibowitz has an appeal well beyond science-fiction fans.
Too much of it shouldn't be given away, but the story takes place after a nuclear war & concerns the fight to preserve what is left of human literacy & knowledge. Of course, this is about the need for spirituality & wisdom to balance progressin scientific pyrotechnics. But A Canticle for Leibowitz is first & foremost an utterly convincing political fable, interwoven with a host of private adventures & tribulations. And while nuclear holocaust may sound less likely today thanin the 1950s, what is astonishing is that this book hasn't aged a bit, that it has none of the technological & contextual faux pas that makes so much of science fiction dated.
Walter Miller wrote with authority, conviction & humour. His dialogue between churchmen is jaw-droppingin its veracity; I couldn't believe afterwards that he was never a priest or a novice. The novel's politics are as credible as they are subtle. Miller creates a realityin which you will find yourself completely immersed without wanting to leave it, however harsh it may be. My only quibble,in fact a major disappointment is that, incredibly, Walter Miller never wrote anything else.
Intriguing on some levels, but not so good as a novel - By: John Hopper, 22 May 2008 
This is not an easy read. It contains some interesting theological viewpoints &in particular towards the end portrays both sides of the the euthanasia debatein a vivid & gripping way. But as a post-apocalyptic novel, it failed for me as the world described lacked any characters or reference points to which I could relate & which make the best post-apocalyptic novels so chilling & haunting. There was no real feel for the lives of ordinary people outside the monastic community that formed the centre of the novel.
First Rate Science Fiction - By: BleakWisdom, 25 Jun 2007 This post-apocalyptic tale is narrated by the survivors of a 20th century "Flame Deluge" (nuclear war). Modern civilisation is decimated & the world's population largely annihilated. The anger of the few survivors is channelled toward the remaining scientists & politicians, leading to a cull of the inteligencia which culminatesin book burning & the slaughter of anyone who can read. The novel is set mostly within the walls of an abbey constructed to preserve the remaining knowledge until the population is ready to understand it & rebuild. The author revisits the abbey three times over the next two thousand years, charting the technological & philosophical development of civilisation at each pointin history. The subsequent emergence & renaissance of this fictional civilisation parallels that of our own & the author uses this as a plot device to discuss the failings of humanity & the propensity of society to make the same mistakes throughout history. Is history destined to repeat itself?
So the cold war brought the world to the brink of the apocalypse, this may be so, but this period instilled a level of fear & paranoiain the mind that can germinate great creative ideas, & this book is full of them, I can't recommend it highly enough! The prose is beautifully written & incredibly readable, although at points intensely depressing I was surprised how richly comic I found this novel given the subject matter.
I'm a massive Sci-fi fan but must concede that although some of the great literary ideas are producedin this genera, the quality of the writing & characterisation frequently falls short of the mark. I would often tar even the `greats' such as Azimov & Clark with this brush, although don't get me wrong, I hugely enjoyed some of their books. This novel, alongside precious few others, including Frank Herbert's Dune & John Wyndham's, "The Day of the Triffids" isin my opinion an exception to this rule. The opening is reminiscent of John Wyndham's post-apocalyptic classic, "The Chrysalides" & the subtext & social commentary of these two novels is similar. "Ignorance & failure to communicate are potent sources of bigotry & prejudice which frequently lead to conflict & war." The multilayered ideas & deep philosophical content of Canticle is reminiscent Kurt Vonneget's "Slaughterhouse 5", despite the contrasting style of these authors. Contemporary works of post apocalyptic fiction such as the excellent "The Road" by Cormack Mccarthy owe a great debt to this highly original & thought provoking novel.
Although an atheist, I much enjoyed the religious symbolismin Canticle, indeed the "Wandering Jew" makes several appearances throughout a two millennia time span, & thus the reader witnesses the failure of humanity again & again through his eyes; make no mistake, this is a deeply pessimistic novel. The catholic doctrine is fervently espoused by various characters, particularlyin the context of euthanasia & suicide; however, a passionate secular counter argument is also put forward & this makes for compelling reading, it's as though the author is wrestling with his conscience & thrashing out these ideasin his mind. I found this aspect to be very interesting, indeed, the strength of the catholic arguments put forwardin this novel adds to the deep irony as well as the monumental tragedy of the author's suicide.
A great classic - By: Alan Urdaibay, 27 Dec 2006 I read this bookin the early 1960's & knew then I was reading an SF classic. It operates on many levels, as other reviewers state. In my case it was the first time I encountered a cyclical view of history which I now know to be the predominant viewpointin the ancient world. Some of the earlier chapters are still imprinted on my mind & I am delighted to see it is still being published.
