TheDoctorReads's Reviews > Contact

The problem with a book like 'Contact' is that no one writes stories like it any more. 'Contact' belongs to that numious intersection of science and fiction that only a scientist like Carl Sagan, who was at heart a poet, could successfully bridge. We may never behold anything like it again, which is why it is so important to read it and read it frequently.

Published in 1985, way before labels like YA, Spec Fic and Chick Lit had made their way into the nomenclature of an average reader, Contact was hailed as a remarkable fiction début that was at once engrossing and deeply moving.

For myself, the book was a revelation: it was filled with snippets of poetry and quotation from writers as varied as Walt Whitman to Thomas Aquinas, which helped to spark my own interest in poetry and writing. Even the way the book is structured makes it a cinematic experience for an avid reader.

Set in a not-too-distant future, the story begins with Ellie Arroway, child prodigy and agnostic astronomer, searching the universe for signs of alien life. It is a passion that ostracises her among her colleagues but when she finds a signal from the nearby star Vega, she is hailed with near-prophetic fervour as the discoverer of mankind's salvation. Embroiled amidst the political and religious machinations of the governments of the world and their short-sighted leaders, Ellie finds redemption when she manages to decode the message to reveal instructions from alien engineers, guiding humanity to build its first true vessel to travel the vast intergalactic oceans of stars.

'Contact' as a novel is perhaps the truest portrayal of what would unfold globally were we to discover a message from the stars. Given the authenticity of Dr Sagan's narrative voice, even the political turmoil caused by Ellie's discovery is a compelling part of the story, the manoeuvring done by various governments and religious leaders to usurp rationality in favour of chest-beating nationalism, with every character having a genuine motivation behind their actions.

The real hero then, is Dr Sagan's balanced and impartial narrative: where he shows us the religious murderer, he also shows us the compassionate man of God; where he narrates the scheming of one slime-ball bureaucratic scientist, he also shows us the grieving soul of an astronomer, lost in the echoes of a message that has caused more division in humanity than the unity it promised.

Given Carl Sagan's own beliefs, you would expect some of his personal biases to leak into the narrative but surprisingly, this is far from true. The book is Dr Sagan's sense of wonderment given free reign, his optimism and hope shining through in every page. There is a complete lack of any denouncement of any faith or faction but rather, an imperative call for communication, for us to settle our differences through rational discourse like Palmer Joss, a preacher, and Ellie, try to in the novel.

I love how Dr Sagan was able to enmesh a myriad cast of characters into this stellar narrative that is never once bogged down by the weighty ambition of its plot. The characters aren't empty mouthpieces for Dr Sagan, they are visceral beings, real enough in their motivations and agendas to amuse, annoy and even scare you. Yes, the dialogue is a bit stilted at times, but that is an easy sin to forgive Dr Sagan when the story itself is so immersive, even moving.

As I raced to finish the book, the ending both took me by surprise and shocked me to tears-- it formed such a perfect circle to the beginning of the book, the plot effortlessly cycling back to it's origin. As a writer, you cannot find fault with Dr Sagan, his work is transcendental in it's humanity, informed as it is by a sense of humilty and wonder, a hopeful look to the night-sky for answers to our most basic questions. Dr Sagan's novel doesn't presume to provide you with answers, instead it aims for something better-- that no matter what the answer, our time on Earth, observing the stars, asking our questions, must always be informed by one thing and one thing only-- kindness.

It is a lesson we would all do well to emulate in today's world, where kindness is so often mistaken for weakness.

Favourite Lines:

“She had spent her career attempting to make contact with the most remote and alien of strangers, while in her own life she had made contact with hardly anyone at all. She had been fierce in debunking the creation myths of others, an oblivious to the lie at the core of her own. She had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: for small creatures such as we the vastness is made bearable only through love.”