DISCLAIMER: I haven’t seen the movie, though I was driven to read the book while grieving for David Bowie.

The Man Who Fell to Earth is, interestingly, dated and timeless at the same time. It’s populated with organization men that dominated the early 1960s, when this book was written, but winds up being a story about alienation and being alone. The three lead characters: alien entrepreneur Thomas J. Newton, his gin-soaked housekeeper, Betty Jo Mosher, and his chief scientist Nathan Bryce, are all lacking for companions in the world.

However, this is not a story about seeking companions, either. It’s a story about building a ferry boat to the stars. And making money. And doing science. There are no big battle scenes, or a climactic confrontation, but it offers much to think about. Some scenes will remind the modern reader of ET: The Extraterrestrial though.

One small complaint: Tevis tries very hard to predict new technological advances for his 1980s setting. Besides being pretty much all wrong, these predictions don’t advance the story much, either. But it’s very much science fiction of that period, after all, isn’t it?

The Man Who Fell to Earth is not a great novel, but worth reading when you’re feeling hopelessly different and alone.