The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber: A Wandering Mess of a Novel

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    WARNING: SOME SPOILERS


     A wandering planet (planet comes from the Greek word meaning wanderer!) appears in the sky near the moon and causes destruction around the Earth. We jump around the world to see how this global disaster affects different people. It seems to affect most in a very sensuous way. 

   The wandering planet seems to make the people of the world seek to let their inhibitions go and become sexually free in a dated 1960's way. Older men seduce willing younger women in experimental ways. A man desires a cat alien from another species. Group relationships come out in the open. The scenes were probably fresh in 1964 but seem like they came out of an embarrassingly dated mod comedy today. 

    Free sex and rampant sexism aren't the only dated parts of the novel. There is also racism. One of the characters is a member of the KKK and three of the non-white characters are drug addicts treated as comedy relief.  While Leiber is attempting to expose this side of American culture, especially with Black characters dealing with racist groups blocking them from fleeing from disaster, the language might make modern readers uncomfortable. 

    There are big ideas in the book about advanced civilizations and references to science fiction books that fans would appreciate. The novel also experiments with a multi-thread global narrative that though is appreciated, doesn't pay off.   There is also the possibility that the book is an allegory for the changes society was going through in the 60's. Women choosing to be independent, a lesbian getting revenge on a male assaulting her, the youth in a war with their elders in Los Angeles, South Africans revolting against The Boer, and people being freer about sex and relationships. 


     It is difficult to take these ideas seriously as the tone is all over the place jumping from beautiful meditations on Earth's place in the cosmos to jokes about kinky sex on a roller coaster. 

     I only recommend this book if you are interested in seeing an early example of a global catastrophe told from multiple parts of view, are a Fritz Leiber fan, or a Hugo Award reading completionist. 

    I don't regret reading it as it inspired me to read Olaf Stapledon's books.

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