Report on Probability A

Report on Probability A by Brian Aldiss 1968

Would it make sense if I said this book was boring and psychedelic, but in a good way? Perhaps not, but that best sums up how I feel about this. The word 'unique' is much overused, but applied here by the fact that this book simply has no plot or characterisation in the standard sense ( and not because it's badly written).

The 'plot' consists of three people living in outbuildings, all watching a Mrs. Mary. These sections are described in stark factual detail, as an autistic person might write. There is no description of anything except the thoroughly concrete, not implications of emotion or undertone or anything like that. As the book goes on we realise these events are a report being viewed by some humans in some alternate reality, who are in turn being watched by other beings....

One theme running throughout this is a picture 'The Hireling Shepherd' which reoccurs time and time again in the various scenarios, eventually coming into its own. One moment of relief in all this comes when we realise the alternate humans are as bamboozled by all this as we are:

"..Let's get this clear. Here's the House. There's a café opposite. where apparently nobody pays for food. In the grounds of the house, there's a wooden summerhouse on the one side. We know rhere's an ex-gardener camping out more or less permanently in the summerhouse, and an ex-secretary camping out in the old stable. Now we're given to understand there's an ex-chaffeur hiding out over in the garage! Quite unbelievable!"

So does it all work? Well I'd say yes. There are probably English literarture experts out there who can explain how this all works, but I would explain it like this: It's like one of those drone songs that last 20 minutes and have one tabla and a tibetan chiming bowl and have no 'proper' musical structure. The idea is it tests your attention span, which surely must break at some point, allowing you to 'go to another level' or something like that. I found myself skimming sections, and I believe that was what one was supposed to do. The point at which you start skimming is the point where you come to realise that you won't miss any 'plot'. Maybe I should have made a note of the page number and we could have had a competition.