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Our whole book club meeting fell apart over a single character choice in 'Project Hail Mary'
We were supposed to meet last Thursday to finish the book, but the whole two hours turned into a screaming match about Rocky. Half the group thinks his introduction is the best part of the book and makes the whole story, while the other half says it's a cheap gimmick that ruins the hard sci-fi vibe. I'm in the 'it's genius' camp because the communication problem felt so real, but my friend Lisa literally threw her copy across the room. Has anyone else's group gotten that heated over a fictional alien?
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robins837mo ago
Watched a similar meltdown happen over the ending of "The Three Body Problem" last year. Someone called the sophon concept lazy writing and my buddy Mark just stood up and left the cafe. People get weirdly attached to how smart their sci-fi feels. Honestly, if a book makes you feel that strongly, the author did something right.
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murray.jana7mo ago
Oh man, @robins83, I heard the same thing about that book!
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hill.nathan7mo ago
Wait, he just got up and left the cafe? Over a sophon? I mean, I get being into a book, but that's a whole new level. I'd maybe argue about it for a bit, but a full walkout is wild. It's not like the author personally insulted his mom. People get so heated about the science being "smart enough" they forget to just enjoy the story.
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evan_green526mo ago
What if the walkout wasn't about the science being wrong, but about feeling tricked? You invest in a world's rules, then a sophon comes along and breaks them all. That feels cheap, like the author changed the game because they wrote themselves into a corner. It's not about smart science, it's about fair play with the reader. Getting mad enough to leave means the book broke a promise, not that it was dumb.
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