If you pick up a copy of The Book of Strange New Things, don’t expect a laser-blasting space opera. Honestly, if you’re looking for Star Wars, you’re in the wrong galaxy. Michel Faber didn't write this to geek out over warp drives or alien biology. He wrote it while his wife, Eva Youren, was dying of cancer.
That fact changes everything.
It’s a book about a man named Peter Leigh, a former addict turned pastor, who gets recruited by a shadowy corporation called USIC. They send him to a planet named Oasis to preach to the locals. But while Peter is light-years away trying to explain the "Technicolor" parables of Jesus to aliens who literally cannot pronounce the letter "s," his wife Bea is back on Earth watching the world fall apart.
The Distance Nobody Talks About
Distance in this book isn't measured in miles. It’s measured in the slow, agonizing decay of an email thread.
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Peter is on Oasis, a place where the rain feels like warm milk and the air is "tame." He’s safe. He’s fascinated. Meanwhile, Bea is in England dealing with typhoons, food riots, and a pregnancy she didn't plan. Because of the "Jump" (the way they travel through space), Peter experiences time differently. He’s only been gone a few weeks in his head, but on Earth, months of chaos have passed.
It’s the ultimate long-distance relationship nightmare.
You’ve probably felt that "drift" before—when you’re on a vacation or a business trip and you’re having a great time, but your partner is at home dealing with a leaking roof and a sick cat. Now, multiply that by a billion. Peter becomes obsessed with his "Jesus Lovers" (the Oasans), while Bea’s emails become shorter, angrier, and more desperate. He’s found a new world; she’s losing the old one.
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Why the Oasans are So Weird
The Oasans don't look like little green men. Faber describes their faces as looking like two fused fetuses or a giant, pulsating walnut. It’s gross. But Peter grows to love them.
What most people get wrong about Michel Faber Strange New Things is why the aliens want the Bible in the first place. They aren't looking for "salvation" in the way humans are. They call the Bible the "Book of Strange New Things" because they are fascinated by the idea of a body that can break and then be fixed.
- The Big Secret: Oasans can't heal.
- The Tragedy: A papercut is a death sentence for them.
- The Misunderstanding: They think the stories of Jesus healing the sick are literal medical instructions.
They don't want the Holy Spirit; they want a bandage that actually works.
A Farewell to the Novel?
Faber famously said this would be his last novel. He felt he’d said everything he needed to say. Writing about a man whose wife is on a "different planet" (the "planet of cancer," as he once called it) while he remains in the world of the living was his way of processing the end of his marriage.
It’s a "valedictory" work. That means it’s a goodbye.
There’s a scene where Peter tries to describe "Amazing Grace" to the Oasans, and it’s one of the most heartbreaking things you’ll ever read. Not because of the religion, but because of the sheer, desperate attempt to bridge the gap between two beings who will never truly understand each other.
What You Should Do Next
If you’ve already read the book and it left you feeling a bit hollowed out, you aren’t alone. It’s designed to do that. Here is how to actually process the themes Faber left behind:
- Read "Undying": This is Faber’s collection of poems written after Eva died. It’s the "sequel" to the emotional state of the novel. It’s brutal, honest, and contains zero metaphors.
- Look into USIC: The book leaves the corporation's motives intentionally vague. Many readers miss the hint that USIC isn't exploring Oasis for science; they are building a lifeboat for the rich because Earth is "finished." Re-read the sections with Grainger (the pharmacist) with that in mind.
- Check out "Under the Skin": If you want to see Faber’s earlier, more aggressive take on "the alien," read his debut. It’s much darker, but it shows where his obsession with the human body started.
Basically, don't read this book if you want a happy ending where the hero saves the day. Read it if you want to understand what happens to love when the world—or the person you love—is disappearing.