I have first time read this book in the early nineties, in the translation to Russian (I'm not a native speaker of English). Since than, the book has been read several times, needless to point out that every time it was a great pleasure to me.
What took me then? Believe or not, but Jaimec of the late fifties was very similar to Russia, Saint-Petersburg of the early nineties. Let's see, what I mean:
-personal computers were utterly uncommon due to their cost and the fact that ninetynine percent of the population was unaware of MS-DOS
-personal typewriters existed, but in opposite to Jaimecian users, there was the need to register any one bought
-mobile phones weren't available for citizens
-Russian kaitempi wasn't so severe, but rumors represented it so frightening as Jaimecian spec ops
-not many had a car, similarly to Jaimec, being free of heavy traffic
-the ruling caste was strong, admired and abhorrent, just as for now here
In other words, Jaimec matched exactly our life of those times.
Discussing the plot, it's one of the most dynamic and fun, the great combination, I ever read. The book is relatively short, so this factor along with aforementioned makes the impression of an explosion! The good fun explosion of actions performed by the protagonist James Mowry.
Recently I read this in English, of course slightly slower then in Russian, but the plot caught me again. I almost completely forgot the most of the book, since I last time read it in the late nineties, and it's been read as virtually new to me.
Indeed, no mobile phones even for military officers, no traffic jam and using of typewriters are not signs of the contemporary landscape, but the intencity of actions, somewhat formal style of narration combined with the humor, again overwhelmed me for a couple of weeks commuting with the Kindle.
Never regretting if you bought it. Also, this Kindle edition has a font slightly bigger than usual.
What took me then? Believe or not, but Jaimec of the late fifties was very similar to Russia, Saint-Petersburg of the early nineties. Let's see, what I mean:
-personal computers were utterly uncommon due to their cost and the fact that ninetynine percent of the population was unaware of MS-DOS
-personal typewriters existed, but in opposite to Jaimecian users, there was the need to register any one bought
-mobile phones weren't available for citizens
-Russian kaitempi wasn't so severe, but rumors represented it so frightening as Jaimecian spec ops
-not many had a car, similarly to Jaimec, being free of heavy traffic
-the ruling caste was strong, admired and abhorrent, just as for now here
In other words, Jaimec matched exactly our life of those times.
Discussing the plot, it's one of the most dynamic and fun, the great combination, I ever read. The book is relatively short, so this factor along with aforementioned makes the impression of an explosion! The good fun explosion of actions performed by the protagonist James Mowry.
Recently I read this in English, of course slightly slower then in Russian, but the plot caught me again. I almost completely forgot the most of the book, since I last time read it in the late nineties, and it's been read as virtually new to me.
Indeed, no mobile phones even for military officers, no traffic jam and using of typewriters are not signs of the contemporary landscape, but the intencity of actions, somewhat formal style of narration combined with the humor, again overwhelmed me for a couple of weeks commuting with the Kindle.
Never regretting if you bought it. Also, this Kindle edition has a font slightly bigger than usual.
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