レビュー要約

• 題材への切り込み方と落ち着いた語り口が読まれている。読後には、人物の選択や時代背景について考えさせる余韻が残る。

レビュー

• ＳＦの枠にとどまらない世界文学史上の財産

  １９８０年代、いっぱしのＳＦマニアのつもりで「ラファテイ、スミス、ディック」ファンを気取っていました。 スラデックも名前こそ知っていたものの、その実態に触れぬままＳＦを卒業、このたび、巡り合わせで本書を手にしました。一読驚倒、これほど夢中になって読書をするのも久しぶり、「ああ、もう終わってしまうのか」という気分まで味わうことになりました。 「ロボットを主人公とするピカレスクロマン」という梗概で、この作品で繰り広げられ驚くべきドラマの波状攻撃を予想できる人なぞこの世にはいません。 アメリカ南部での大プランテーション経営一家の栄光と没落、新興宗教教祖、サディスティクな裁判官による虐待、火星への伝導の旅・ハイジャック、魅力的な犯罪者達との交流と別れ、学生運動とロボット独立運動、実業家としての成功、そして大統領選挙・・・。 一概には理解しがたいこれらのエピソードが緊密に連関しながら、奴隷からスタートして副大統領にまでのぼりつめる悪徳ロボット(その加速していくドライな悪徳ぶりにはめまいを感じるほど)の、「自由を巡る過激な実験」が抱腹絶倒（ダサい表現ですが、笑いをこらえるのがつらく、英語の苦手な友人にまで訳して聞かせるしまつ）の話術とことばの手品で、一瞬の緩みもなくラストまで持っていかれてしまう感覚は読書の醍醐味そのもの。描写の具体性、叙情性、イメージ喚起、音律、その構成の巧みさは超一級の文学作品でありながらです。 一読あれ。あの銀行襲撃のシーン、戦車による救出劇のシークエンスをクリストファー・ノーランが映画化してくれればとおもったことも書き添えておきます。

• Sladek is one of the greatest science fiction writers since Asimov and Heinlein.

  I read Tic-Toc many years ago and thought it was one of the best pieces of satirical sci-fi I had ever read. Now I have my own copy.

• Modern classic

  Very well received gift

• Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy

  I enjoyed the story but the publisher has allowed far too many errors into the text, probably when scanning the printed version. These should have been picked up by the most basic proofreading, or even an automated spellcheck. "Wait till I" is rendered as "Waif111,""faces" as "laces", "order and" as "orderand", "office" as "ollice" (three times), etc etc ... The quality control is particularly poor towards the end of the book, distracting you from what should be a gripping conclusion.

• The more things change...

  Tik Tok is two ideas in one slim fast read: 1 - Asimov's laws don't work (and never could). 2 - People are idiots. Sladek launched his career in the SF New Wave of the sixties, and spent most of his time examining Robots and AI -- in fact in the mid-nineties he was a technical writer for a software firm. It could easily be argued that he wrote the same novel over and over -- and I should know, I've read all of them. So what. In a genre overflowing with techno-drivel and humourless prostulation, Sladek threw pies in the face of Science Fiction's sacred cows. And he threw them HARD. His parodies of other SF writers ("I Click As I Move" and "Carl Truhacker") were uncomfortably accurate pastiches of form and content. His masterpiece is "Roderick" (both books). But Tik Tok is still a great read, and he attacks fearlessly on all fronts: the nuclear family, conservatives, liberals, politics, scientists, intellectuals (in Sladek's universe they are not the same), and (most memorably) fast food. Sladek died in 2000, so he never lived the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfelt regime -- but he saw it coming. Tik Tok is masterful satire because it is so close to the truth, and far more prohetic than anything Asimov ever did. If you've never read Sladek, this is an excellent place to start.

• Reaaaly Creepy!

  I love this story because it's so twisted!!! It reminds me of an old novel about slavery but it's set in the future! Very creative and very devious! I loved it!

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