Book Review: Lauren Zimmerman's Called
by Martin L. Cahn
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Eevery month, Demensions reviews a different new, or classic, science fiction or fantasy novel. Agree or disagree with our review? Post a note by joining Demensions' MSN Community. Read other book reviews in our Archives.
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Also reviewed this issue:
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This is the last of three book reviews I'm doing for Pelican Pond Publishing, a small press house that appears to specialize in fictionalized accounts of alternative views to life, love, and spirituality.
I'm sorry to say that Called by Lauren Zimmerman is, perhaps, the weakest of the three books. While I will praise Zimmerman for her bravery in creating Other Worlds: The Series, of which Called is the first book of a proposed four, I can only make a half-hearted recommendation of the short novel.
Similarly to what Elfie Leddy, author of On Silver Wings which I reviewed last issue, did at the end of her text, Zimmerman claims that the events in Called were inspired by an actual ET contact she and two other women experienced in 1974. She has apparently used her two friends as inspiration for some of the characters. The lead character is a young man, Paul, who may or may not be Lauren in disguise -- or perhaps Lauren is yet another of the characters. I couldn't tell.
Paul is 29 when he finally realizes that his feelings of alienation from his family, friends, and others on planet Earth are because he is -- an alien. He has dreamed of being on space ships, living other lives, and living in other dimensions. Paul's alien spirit inhabited the body he wears when the child was only four years old. To allow him to experience Earth life fully, he is kept from fully remembering who he really is until now -- when some of his friends' space ship crashes to Earth in the American wilderness.
Most of the book, certainly the first half or so, is a race to reach the aliens before the military does -- a kind of X-Files meets Starman plot. Unfortunately, the military/government types are either easily fooled by the aliens, or easily persuaded to leave the main characters alone. Rather unrealistic. Along the way, Paul meets others who, like him, are part of a group of aliens who, for centuries, have inhabited human bodies in an effort to bring Earth into spiritual alignment with the rest of the universe in all its dimensions.
This is where I began to have problems with the book. Zimmerman explains in her author's notes after the story that she came up with the "truths" of the book through a near-death experience and subsequent meditations. That's all fine, and I have no problem with that, but it's hard to combine elements of hard SF (alien abductions, alternate realities, etc.) with spiritual elements that lean toward man's (and woman's) relationship to God.
It's not that I have any problem with the underlying concepts, although I think depicting Jesus as having actually been an alien might rile up a few people. I'm not an alien abduction fan, myself; on the other hand, there have been enough people claiming such fates that I can't dismiss it out of hand. Nor am I saying that aliens are godless. I'm merely pointing out that I think Zimmerman does a poor job of combining all these elements together.
In addition, the writing wavers between being stilted and silly. Some passages are beautifully ethereal in quality where others are overly emotional.
I think the the saddest thing about Called is its preachiness. So many times I felt I was being hit over the head with the "this is actually happening" message. And, once again, as with the other two Pelican Pond books, the concept of writing a book about the experience is actually used in the story. Paul meets Brenda, a writer; their mission is to write a novel that will open up people's minds to the possibilities of all of Earth living on a higher, more enlightened level of existence.
If I have one criticism of these novels, it has been that: Instead of writing a novel of exciting experiences, conflicts, resolutions, and climaxes, we are subjected to novels about writing novels about extraordinary lives.
Especially in the case of Called, that's really not the same thing as simply telling a story. A story that might have been fun and rewarding to read, but for which I was merely thankful I finished quickly.
I'm sorry to say that Called by Lauren Zimmerman is, perhaps, the weakest of the three books. While I will praise Zimmerman for her bravery in creating Other Worlds: The Series, of which Called is the first book of a proposed four, I can only make a half-hearted recommendation of the short novel.
Similarly to what Elfie Leddy, author of On Silver Wings which I reviewed last issue, did at the end of her text, Zimmerman claims that the events in Called were inspired by an actual ET contact she and two other women experienced in 1974. She has apparently used her two friends as inspiration for some of the characters. The lead character is a young man, Paul, who may or may not be Lauren in disguise -- or perhaps Lauren is yet another of the characters. I couldn't tell.
Paul is 29 when he finally realizes that his feelings of alienation from his family, friends, and others on planet Earth are because he is -- an alien. He has dreamed of being on space ships, living other lives, and living in other dimensions. Paul's alien spirit inhabited the body he wears when the child was only four years old. To allow him to experience Earth life fully, he is kept from fully remembering who he really is until now -- when some of his friends' space ship crashes to Earth in the American wilderness.
Most of the book, certainly the first half or so, is a race to reach the aliens before the military does -- a kind of X-Files meets Starman plot. Unfortunately, the military/government types are either easily fooled by the aliens, or easily persuaded to leave the main characters alone. Rather unrealistic. Along the way, Paul meets others who, like him, are part of a group of aliens who, for centuries, have inhabited human bodies in an effort to bring Earth into spiritual alignment with the rest of the universe in all its dimensions.
This is where I began to have problems with the book. Zimmerman explains in her author's notes after the story that she came up with the "truths" of the book through a near-death experience and subsequent meditations. That's all fine, and I have no problem with that, but it's hard to combine elements of hard SF (alien abductions, alternate realities, etc.) with spiritual elements that lean toward man's (and woman's) relationship to God.
It's not that I have any problem with the underlying concepts, although I think depicting Jesus as having actually been an alien might rile up a few people. I'm not an alien abduction fan, myself; on the other hand, there have been enough people claiming such fates that I can't dismiss it out of hand. Nor am I saying that aliens are godless. I'm merely pointing out that I think Zimmerman does a poor job of combining all these elements together.
In addition, the writing wavers between being stilted and silly. Some passages are beautifully ethereal in quality where others are overly emotional.
I think the the saddest thing about Called is its preachiness. So many times I felt I was being hit over the head with the "this is actually happening" message. And, once again, as with the other two Pelican Pond books, the concept of writing a book about the experience is actually used in the story. Paul meets Brenda, a writer; their mission is to write a novel that will open up people's minds to the possibilities of all of Earth living on a higher, more enlightened level of existence.
If I have one criticism of these novels, it has been that: Instead of writing a novel of exciting experiences, conflicts, resolutions, and climaxes, we are subjected to novels about writing novels about extraordinary lives.
Especially in the case of Called, that's really not the same thing as simply telling a story. A story that might have been fun and rewarding to read, but for which I was merely thankful I finished quickly.
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