Subject: Review: ON MY WAY TO PARADISE by Dave Wolverton

From: [email-masked]
Date: 22 Aug 91 22:53:28 GMT

ON MY WAY TO PARADISE
		      by Dave Wolverton
		Review Copyright (c) 1991 Alan Wexelblat

%A Dave Wolverton
%T On My Way to Paradise
%I Bantam Spectra SF
%C New York
%O paperback,US$4.95
%G ISBN 0-553-27610
%D 1989

Who let this man publish a 514-page first novel?  Oy.  Somewhere in here,
there's a really good 325-page novel struggling to get out.  Reading this is
like watching Elizabeth Taylor during one of her overweight periods.  You
know beauty is possible, but who talked her -- or Dave Wolverton -- into
adding on all that extra baggage?

The basic plot is fairly simple: Angelo Osic is a sidewalk medic in a future
Latin America.  He sells drugs and occasional rejuvenation treatments while
the world goes slightly more to hell every day.  Angelo doesn't care; he
doesn't have to do more than enjoy each day as it comes.  Then the world's
problems land in his lap in the form of a woman named Tamara who -- badly
wounded -- comes to him fleeing powerful yet shadowy enemies.  To get
Tamara, and the knowledge she has, these people will kill Angelo.  He is
forced to run, taking her with him on a journey off-planet and into a
completely different culture.  Through the course of this journey, Angelo
will have to decide on which side of the fence he really belongs.

The metaphor of physical-journey as journey-of-self-discovery is at least as
old as "The Odyssey" but Wolverton handles it quite well nonetheless.  Angelo
is neither totally passive, nor totally commanding.  He takes actions and
makes decisions appropriate to the growth of his character.

Wolverton is also to be praised for his handling of the cultures, both Latin
American and Japanese which dominate the book.  The meld and clash of these
two incompatible styles of living provides much of the background conflict
of the book.  Unfortunately, it's a weak plot premise, as anyone with an
ounce of sense could have forseen most of the troubles in melding these two
groups and avoided them with a little care.

In addition, the story is set against a background of an Earth in the throes
of tremendous, important turmoil.  But all that interesting action takes
place offstage.  We learn about it, as do the characters, second- and
third-hand.

I think that people will either like this book right off, or hate it.  If
you find Angelo interesting and are willing to ride along on his odyssey,
then you will like this book.  If you take an instant dislike to him, the
book will probably not get any better for you.