More Than Human

Written in 1953, this sci-fi masterwork posits the idea of the next stage of human evolution. Sturgeon’s writing deftly takes into the action of the story while still managing to pause for intricate psychological ideas and a little social commentary. The novel is broken up into three distinct parts. Each part almost feels like a different story until you finally start to see the thread of connections woven throughout. I thought it was quite clever how he managed to integrate plot and ideas into a meaningful story. Like most science fiction written back then, character work is not a focus. The characters are used to propel the story forward, but you don’t really get to know them from an emotional angle. But that’s not the focus of this book. The focus is on commentary about how society felt the next step of human evolution was going to progress. Any fans of the X-Men are going to wonder if Stan Lee started writing his super hero group after reading this novel. There is more to contrast with the X-Men than compare, but the similarities in themes are poignant. There is concern over how society will react to people with evolved powers. There are questions floated about as to whether humanity should be replaced or revered. Sturgeon does mention race and mental handicap a bit clumsily, keeping with the times this was written, but nothing glaring or overtly hurtful unlike some pre-WW2 writings. He brought up some of these themes of “othering” gracefully, but rather quickly, in different points of the narrative. It would have been interesting if he could have delved further into these topics, but its only a 200 page book. Instead, he looked more at the implications of an evolving humanity in both the psychological and social sphere. Specifically, how these special people would be exploited to advance technology and get a leg up on the balance of power. These “big picture” problems are just the back drop though. The story of these characters, and how they find each other, are the important details of the book. Sturgeon keeps us entertained with a clever narrative structure, and a psychological delve into memory and found family. This was a very interesting read.