Great read. All at once, philosophical, sociological, psychological, political and with action and drugs. Very cleverly written, showing his range as a writer--very different style compared with Dune

"Существует аксиома: каждая система и каждая интерпретация становятся ложными, когда появляется другая система, более совершенная и, значит, верная". Интересно, может, поэтому вы и прибыли сюда - чтобы напомнить нам банальную истину: не существует утверждений, свободных от противоречий".

I walked into this book completely blind, which I really enjoy doing sometimes. I had no idea what it was about. It's still science fiction, but radically different from Herbert's other scifi; it's set in a valley in California in the late 60s. Usually the world-building is one of the best things about Herbert's scifi, so what's so great about a pseudo-scifi novel set in boring old California? Herbert does a phenomenal job of crafting a subtly creepy atmosphere without giving much at all away. I found myself deliciously enjoying the ambiance and thinking this would make a great movie. Even though the ending is fairly easy to see coming, the process of getting there was so enjoyable that I just sat back and savored the ride.

Tesla recommended

Another short standalone book from Frank Herbert, The Santaroga Barrier feels a lot like a longwinded Wicker Man. An outsider comes to investigate a strange little town where people keep to themselves, refuse to sell land to outsiders and show weird social statistics, like no mental illness, no drugs, no TVs and show a weird directness in everything they do or say. The book shares a lot of its DNA with the later Hellstrom's Hive, which I remember I liked a lot as a child and can't wait to get to read it, in the sense that it also examines a society which splintered from main culture in disgust and now is fighting with the entire world to maintain its identity. It also features a substance that frees consciousness and prolongs life, a concept that sounds familiar somehow...

Around the middle of the book I expected it to end, but instead it lasted for much longer, even after "the catch" was revealed, because Herbert was probably interested in examining such a weird society rather than be content with a pedestrian focus on a cardboard main character. The author likens the way we live our lives in the Western society with a constant battle against marketers, advertisers, government people and so on who wage war on our psyche in order to pacify and control us. He decries the people who never live a life, instead they watch TV, they turn it off then they go to sleep and turn themselves off.

I liked the book quite a lot. There are issues with it, though. I mentioned the slow pacing, but there is also a romantic connection to a woman which feels completely fake the entire book. Say whatever you wish about Herbert, but a good writer of female characters he was not. I can see this story as a Twilight Zone episode, it feels the same: a bit spooky, but not too much, with some really deep ideas in parts, but mostly people talking and moving through small towns.

I was delighted to come across this book. I had not heard of it and it sounded like it was definitely not run of the mill SFF.

This story starts with Gilbert Dasein who has accepted a commission to do a market research trip to Santaroga. The commission is offered through his university mentor under whom he did his Psychology degree and we slowly learn that the commission involves a hefty fee to the university as well as to Gilbert and that the purpose of it is to discover why Santaroga is resisting foreign investment, outsider goods and generally the delights of free market consumerism. The parties in question want to earn money in Santaroga and are frustrated by the local's lack of cooperation.

The story starts as Gilbert is driving his Ford camper van into the valley in which Santaroga lies, he writes down preliminary notes about how it looks like a normal, prosperous farming community. But, right from the start Herbert lets us know there is an edge to Gilbert's mission: two previous investigators met with 'accidents' while engaged in the same project and the author clearly lets us know Gilbert would never have accepted the project of his sweetheart from Uni was not from Santrog – Jenny who he has not seen or heard from since graduation.

Now this is not the kind of traditional SF story one might expect from the author of Dune, rather it is speculative fiction. The fiction/science is subtle and there are no space ships aliens ect. What this is far more is a very slow creeper of a mystery with lashings of horror. There is clearly an uncanny mystery to Santaroga and the reveal is very slow indeed. Great reading, to me, but definitely a creeper of a novel.

SO without spoilers, Gilbert arrives in town and is received with the surly distrust small towns used to have for outsides – some still do - but at the same time as soon as his name gets around most people instantly associate him with Jenny; 'oh, Jenny's young man” being the most common response and this is presented as eerie since Gilbert has not spoken to her and she does not know he is there and no one else should either. Coincidences and strange events keep mounting up. That very night, Gilbert is subject to a gas poisoning event; another 'accident' which he survives but which brings him into the sphere of Dr Piaget who is also Jenny's uncle, and then of course to Jenny.

It is NO secret that Herbert was eternally fascinated with speculations of the possibilities of mind altering substances, psychic ability and group dynamics and subconscious communication, all of those themes can be found in subtle ways through this book. Frank Herbert used science fiction to explore complicated ideas and theories about diverse topics including psychology, politics, ecology and evolution all of which have some elements in this book. He had interesting and complex political views including Environmental and conservative and these helped form this story.

Now, venturing into spoiler territory:
I mostly loved this story, Gilbert does do some odd things, like breaking into the caves where Santaroga matures it's cheeses knowing he can't get back out the same way he came in.Bbut overall I can see them as narrative requirements so I didn't mind them too much.

The major part of this book is Gilbert struggling with Santaroga's special element. There is a slow reveal for Gilbert and not quite as slow for the reader, that there is a physical element to the 'real Santaroga' food products, referred to as Jasper's and that this element is responsible for something that makes Santaroga and it's inhabitants different. This actual difference, incidentally, is never entirely spelled out and a lot is left to the imagination, even in the end

It is revealed that all the letters Gilbert wrote to Jenny were never received. And Jenny herself is warm, welcoming still loves him and is desperate for him to stay but I have to say that Gilbert and Jenny as a couple only work as a narrative tool, as a relationship they are wholly unbelievable. However this story is really not about a love affair. It is Gilbert struggling to retain his identity and detachment against an overwhelming social/drug/psychological element that keeps trying to absorb him into Santaroga, basically because Jenny wants him to.

Around the last third of the book the pace which had been very sedate suddenly speeds up: Everything is dangerous and fast paced, Gilbert becomes more assertive and less wishy washy and from then until the end it was a fully engrossing read. I thing the slow build-up made it even more fascinating when the pace picked up.

The ending was purely creepy and immensely satisfying.

Such a terrific read. By the time it’s over, you’re left wondering if the story is about a utopia or a dystopia. Quick read, but the story will stay in my mind for a long time. Definitely want to read more Herbert

Da demasiadas vueltas a la historia. Quizás hubiera funcionado mejor en formato de cuento.

the book started a little slow, but the style was very herbert and held your attention the whole time. still not sure if i would consider santaroga utopian or distopian? or what herbert intended in this area. about 1/2 through his message comes out - santaroga is the anti-america. very conservative and almost communistic. they are cut off from tv, politics, economy, modern society in general.

the idea of jaspers rang a bell for me as being very similar to melange in dune (especially the first dune book where paul is subjected to high quantities the same way gilbert is subjected to jaspers to the point of overdose). the substance has similar but different qualities. instead of being prescient, like melange, jaspers enables the citizens of santaroga to share feelings in a hive kind of mentality.

good stuff. made me want to re-read dune more than i already did before. too many books, too little time.

I have long thought - and do even more so after this, my third reading - that The Santaroga Barrier (TSB) is one of Frank Herbert's most underrated and important works. It does not, at least at first, have the "feel" of a work of science fiction; certainly not if comparison is made to the Dune Chronicles or other "hard" sci-fi in the Herbert canon. But there is a strong and pronounced sci-fi undercurrent which makes it appropriately applicable to the genre.

The themes of TSB are very typically Herbertian: consciousness/awareness, community (almost in the sense of Jung's "Collective Unconscious", a "substance" with consciousness-altering qualities, the process of becoming "awake". These, of course, were ideas that were common to the time of Herbert's writing. And yet Herbert has a way of taking the topic out of the Timothy Leary/LSD "acid trip" framing and putting it in a context that transcends his own time.

The fact that Herbert takes these themes, which were addressed at length throughout the Dune Chronicles, and explores them in the setting of a small town gives the reader a different angle from which to consider the topics. The "mysticism" of Dune's Bene Gesserit Sisterhood and Spacing Guild, and their experiences with melange, for instance, becomes more pragmatic in TSB. The themes that one finds in Dune, that is, are found in TSB, but they develop on a smaller scale as the main character, Gilbert Dasein, experiences the transformation of Jaspers. This smaller scale, and its more common frame of reference (small town USA), allows an interesting array of literary "flavors" to rise to the service.

For students of Frank Herbert, TSB is an important book. It's brevity belies a tremendous depth, which is characteristic of almost all of Herbert's work. Most interesting to me, however, were the questions that arose for me about living in authentic community, and about what makes that possible. TSB can seem, on the surface, to be a book about a community captivated by the affects of a foreign substance on their psyche. But in truth, TSB asks the reader what kind of community they live in, and why? And what is the "Jaspers" that would make that possible? The answer is left for us to ponder.

"Societies don't believe they can die... If it cannot die, it'll never face a final judgement." p. 210

This tale captured my interest. The insular community was both ideal and disturbing. What is reality anyway - it's as finite as a bit of cheese.