Courtship Rite

Courtship Rite is one of those books that I have long kept on my bookshelf to re read to remind me that genius is seldom what we think it should be. This thought applies not only to the splended telling of the story of the family maran-Kaiel, but also to the story itself. Once you throw away the cultural taboos of our society, (plural mariage, canabilism, ect)and dig into the ethics presented, it makes for incredible reading. Written in the early 1980's, the parable deals with bioethics, war, famine, individual choice, weapons of mass distruction, and the ethical question "do the needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few or the one?" Insightful, enthralling, entertaining, and worthy of thought beyond one casual read.It is timely, and I wish that it would be taken out of mothballs and re released as our world dallies with many of these same issues Like "Lord of the Rings" which could only become a movie with the digital animation available now, this is another book that could be synthesized into a compelling film. I wait for the day.

Not for the faint of heart, as you learn within the first 100 words of the book that Geta is a harsh world with no source of food during a famine other than it's only source of meat -- other human beings. Though this idea is initially repulsive to our way of thinking, you soon discover an incredible morality of the people in this book that far surpasses our own. They cannot imagine a war where they could not eat those they fought. Wars such as we fight today are beyond horrific to them, the most vile form of evil. Makes you really think about our values, and about how easily we tend to accept war. A great read, if you can stomach it. One of my favorite all-time books.

Published first as "Geta", later as "Courtship Rite"--I think neither title does justice to this fine novel. It ought to be called "The Marriage of Six". Almost two books in one, the first part is a masterful piece of world-building. It introduces characters that shine with complex humanity and weaves their lives together in an engrossing adventure that builds to a harrowing climax. Other novels would end there, but this one, like life itself, moves on. "Who says beginnings are more interesting than middles or endings?" asks one character--and the author shows us that they aren't. Just as an old friend occasionally reveals a new bit of their past, shifting your perception of their entire history, the author saves some of the strangest and most fundamental revelations about his characters for the story's end. The last chapters are a beautiful and reflective coda to the first part of the book; they're a meditation on the many faces of love, the limits of loyalty, and the meaning of marriage. The people of Geta practice a unique form of polygamy, but this novel's emotional center--the quest of the central characters to form a marriage of six, the finest and most balanced team in their society--will ring true to anyone who has ever fallen in love and tried to create a family.

This book is almost perfect, too nearly perfect to be out of print/out of stock. The fine portrayal of characters within a culture quite alien and yet quite human is a delight! The philosophic and social contructs of the Getan culture, the loving interactions of the Maran-kaiel, the cheerful and skeptic optimism of the author's creation here can only derive from a rare combination of intelligence and inspiration. The plot is adventure, the characters so charming that I frequently pick any chapter to re-read for a few minutes pleasure. Highly Recommended.

Also released through Panther as Geta (ISBN 0-586-05932-6) this novel is one of the few Science FIction novels which I've been drawn to re-read along with Banks 'Consider Phlebas' and Bears "Eon'. The world Kingsbury devises fulfills the true literary purposes of the genre; to present us with circumstances bizarre but people who are just like us. He challenges us to put ourselves in the place of these characters whose daily lives are different from our own but explicable. A hard to find book now, but worth searching out. It will occupy a priviledged place on your bookshelf, and become dog earned as you dip again and again into its' rich moral dillemas.