A note to FB friends from mid-way through: "I'm in the midst of reading "The Giver"(Lois Lowry) for one of my book clubs. I'm not sure of the target aA note to FB friends from mid-way through: "I'm in the midst of reading "The Giver"(Lois Lowry) for one of my book clubs. I'm not sure of the target audience, but I know it's young people. So, it's a dystopian novel for young people. I have to take a break. It's ripping my heart out."
This did, indeed, rip my heart out. Lowry creates a strange world/place. There are rules, a LOT of rules. Life is structured, VERY structured. Life is predictable, ALMOST TOTALLY predictable. Life is dull, VERY dull--to me as a reader. To the people living in this world, not so much. Life is known. The rules, structure, and predictability are all taken-for-granted aspects of life, accepted because, why not? No one seems to question any of it.
The further you get into the book, the more Lowry shows you of life in this place--apparently it is experienced by those living this life as normal. To a reader, at least this reader, this world/place and the life lived in it, are BLEAK, so very, very, unbearably BLEAK. But safe. Very safe. For most, safe from bad things happening. For most, safe from any awareness of the possibility of bad things happening. To learn why, is to learn bleakness. And I won't tell you more about that; you have to experience this book.
Jonas, our 12 year-old main character, is given a window into options other than what he and his people live, options other than bleakness, astounding options. He also stumbles upon a bad thing, a very bad thing, hidden from most in his world. Sure enough, awareness of options comes with the possibility of pain. This leads to an escape attempt. If you want to know how this goes, you have to read Lowry. Be warned, though, that even from her, you'll get only a partial answer. I rather like that she doesn't tie it all up with a pretty bow, but leaves you wondering, rather the way life outside of Jonas' original place works. We really don't know endings, do we?
I actually haven't figured out why this book has been banned. I must ponder that....more
YA really is not my cup of tea, but this was assigned for my book club, so . . . The story certainly was engaging; I read the book in one day. I knew YA really is not my cup of tea, but this was assigned for my book club, so . . . The story certainly was engaging; I read the book in one day. I knew little about Romania, so learned some, though at least as much because the book drove me to do some research on the country and it's history, as from the book itself.
The book does give readers a visceral sense of living under extreme deprivation and fear/terror of the government. What bothered me, and drove me to do some, admittedly casual, research was that all of this was SO over the top as to be beyond belief. Everyone is a afraid to talk anywhere, about anything beyond the weather. Informants are everywhere and even the homes of ordinary families are bugged.
The deprivation was supported, by some of what I found elsewhere (in respectable sources, not Wikipedia), though the extent of deprivation in everyday life appears not to have been entirely as described or universal. Also, Similarly, the extent of the fear and the surveillance was challenged by at least two bits of writing by people who had lived in Romania during the period of interest; one connected the likelihood/extent of being watched to having been privileged before the political and economic changes, and, thus, having more material resources than others, which I found interesting. Also, one of the writers, a reviewer, concludes that while communism is bad and confirming the emphasis/insistence on reproduction and being unable to travel outside Romania, also compares choices limited by "the Party" in Romania to those limited by money in the U.S., tells readers that the extent of hunger and fear is wildly exaggerated and cautions against forgetting that the book is a work of fiction.
I expected this book to be virulently anti-communist and was not "disappointed" in that regard. I so wish authors, pundits, and politicians would distinguish between socialism and communism and between economic & political systems (and between both of these and the rule of true dictators). Oh, wait. I live in the US, a nation the Soviets used to refer to as "the belly of the beast" of capitalism, and here it is taken for granted that anything other than our system is, by definition, horrible and dangerous.
So, in summary, the book told a powerful story and drove me to dig into things more deeply, both of which I value. It confirmed that despots can arise within any political system, including our own, and the dangers they bring. Here, more and more, we worship billionaires, forgetting the sources of all that money and the power billionaires wield, and accept or even rationalize growing limits on our democracy (think forbidding the teaching of intersectionality or critical race theory; forbidding some forms of health care; banning books from schools & public libraries; etc., not to mention gerrymandering and the like.) So, the book reminded me to be afraid.
I got this book because I had never read dystopian anything about a health-care system, much less by an acclaimed Chinese author, so I had to try it. I got this book because I had never read dystopian anything about a health-care system, much less by an acclaimed Chinese author, so I had to try it. In truth, I got only about 60% through it, but that's as much as I'll read. I have trouble with dystopian and this really was dark, very very dark. It was hard going. Then, a while past the half-way-point it seemed to get repetitive, and, eventually I gave it up. I'm giving it three stars, largely because a) it was too dark for me, b) there definitely are things I liked about it, yet c) intrigued as I was, I just couldn't keep going....more
Wow! This amazing book is heartbreaking and enraging. I have to assume it is banned in Florida public schools, where it should be a "must read".
If youWow! This amazing book is heartbreaking and enraging. I have to assume it is banned in Florida public schools, where it should be a "must read".
If you don't know it, the book is a fictionalized account of how things went in a real so-called reform school for boys; both the read and fictional school are in Florida. Whitehead focusses on the experiences of Elwood Curtis, a black boy (author's language) caught up in someone else's crime when he hitches a ride to school and is thrown into this "school". His friend there, Turner, and a few more of the boys in their dorm are key characters, as are a few of the sadistic administrators and "educators" (NOT). The Nickel Academy "students" included both white and black boys, segregated, of course; we don't know to what extent the horrors described here cut across racial lines; I suspect they did, though not equally. The back cover refers to the Nickel Academy as "a grotesque chamber of horrors". That is putting it mildly. Boys are tortured; some are disappeared (into a secret graveyard). Some age out or "graduate"; surely none get out unscathed.
Whitehead brings us an ugly history in an accessible form. This is hard reading, not because it is hard to follow, but because it is so horrifying and painful. While Whitehead's focus is recent history, I couldn't read it without thinking of the "Indian Schools," that we know included both similar and different horrors. If you haven't read it, please do.
Dystopian YA fantasy--does it get much more weird than this? Let's add a bit more--culturally (and magically) significant musical instruments, EdinburDystopian YA fantasy--does it get much more weird than this? Let's add a bit more--culturally (and magically) significant musical instruments, Edinburgh, disastrously changed, a library of magic (but only for those deemed worthy & with adequate cash to join), and, my personal favorite, a discussion of deductive, inductive and abductive logic as applied to magic (not just for grounded theory!). There is a lot here!
Ropa, a poor girl who dropped out of school to earn what is needed to pay for the caravan she lives in with her grandmother and sister, is our heroine. Like her grandmother, she can see and talk with the dead, those who can't move one. Her work is carrying messages from the dead to those they need to reach, but only if those reached will pay. One of "her" dead desperately want to reach her son, but no one can pay. Eventually, Ropa cannot walk away and discovers that someone, somehow is snagging children leaving them old (think 7 year olds with the faces of 80 year olds) and all but devoid of life. Fortunately she has two solid friends--one from childhood, now working in the Library; one she met at the library, a girl roughly her age, much more knowledgeable about magic that our Ropa, and having a grand time running around the library (and elsewhere, when necessary) in her special wheelchair (yes, she can hang from the ceiling with it); and her fox.
I don't generally get into YA, but there is some fantasy in this genre that is kick ass. This book fits into that category....more
I'm not half-way through yet, but have to get down at least some of what I have to say about it before other thoughts overwhelm what I have now.
This iI'm not half-way through yet, but have to get down at least some of what I have to say about it before other thoughts overwhelm what I have now.
This is a seriously dystopian novel! Oh, it doesn't have the sense of fear and obvious suffering that we associate with dystopian work (though some of the suffering is starting to peek through). But the danger & suffering are there, trust me. This is some fantastic near-future sci-fi! The best way I can describe it is this--imagine that Amazon and FB have merged, grown like a cancer, and taken over, well, everything and pretty much everyone. Think about how these two now "help" us know what we want to buy or read or do next. Only take that to the 10th power. Add on that The Every is always watching. Always. If you work for them, you are constantly rated by those you work with and the algorithm, graded on how pleasant you are, how many words of different levels you use, how often you make people feel bad or good, etc. The catch is that pretty much everyone is just fine with this.
I am now in Ch. 18, where our heroine (I hope), a recent hire at The Every is "roaming", which means learning a number of jobs. She is at her second assignment, where she is learning how The Every "fixes" fiction. Some of the bits she is learning: a book can't be more than 500 pages, maybe 577 (so much for the Russian classics); the protagonist (and main characters) must be likeable (time to fix Jane Eyre, more romance, less unpleasantness); sci-fi can't be filled with outdated tech (there goes Jules Verne; and, well, you get the drift. Apparently it's hard to fix works whose authors are dead, so . . . Now The Every now works with publishers & authors, to give people what they "really" want. Apparently it did not work well when they tried having AI write entire novels, so now AI & authors work together.
And when you thought it wasn't possible, the surveillance increased. And then again and again. Whew! Could hardly put this down. If you want to be scared, read this. And, no, I won't answer my question regarding the potential heroine....more
Maybe at some point. The opening chapters had me about to abandon it, but who knows? Maybe one day I'll be in the mood. For now, I'm no longer readingMaybe at some point. The opening chapters had me about to abandon it, but who knows? Maybe one day I'll be in the mood. For now, I'm no longer reading it....more
This slim volume of dystopian short stories is, well, quite interesting. The stories are not explicitly post-apocalyptic, but they present realities tThis slim volume of dystopian short stories is, well, quite interesting. The stories are not explicitly post-apocalyptic, but they present realities that most of us probably would prefer not to experience. Some I liked (if that is the right word) better than others, of course, as is the way with short story collections. Just some quick takes here:
The Happy Man is a gut punch. Access Fantasy provides the traffic jam from hell. The Hardened Criminals is seriously twisted; you really must suspend disbelief for this one.
I would say "Enjoy!" but, again, I'm not sure that is the right word....more
addictive. I can't think of a better descriptor. Howey's work is amazing. Great, believable characters in an amazingly well drawn, bizarre setting thaaddictive. I can't think of a better descriptor. Howey's work is amazing. Great, believable characters in an amazingly well drawn, bizarre setting that he makes real. Of course, getting it a piece at a time enhances the experience of reading this series. Love it!...more
Howey is good, no question. He's created a fascinating, fairly horrible little world, filled with real people.Howey is good, no question. He's created a fascinating, fairly horrible little world, filled with real people....more
I can see the attraction of serial novels. Damn! You get so far. You're hanging on a cliff. (In the past, you had to wait a month for the next installI can see the attraction of serial novels. Damn! You get so far. You're hanging on a cliff. (In the past, you had to wait a month for the next installment! How did they do it?) This was a perfect read for a round-trip commute & putting dinner together. And if that weren't enough, it seems like a good story. What is really "out there"? Is it totally desolate? What happened to make it so? Does everyone who goes out actually die? Is Holston dead? His wife? What did she find in the old files she unearthed? Installment 2 does not promise to answer any of these questions, since it begins back inside, to deal with the problem of having lost the Sheriff (Holston) to the outside. Yes, I did just order up the second installment on my Kindle. Can't keep dangling, can I? The question is, will I toss aside my current novel for this or show some minimum level of discipline and save it for the next time I use public transportation for my commute? Obviously I'm hooked....more
The book is based on an absurd premise, not that this is unusual in sci-fi. The world as we know it, apparently what used to be North America, consistThe book is based on an absurd premise, not that this is unusual in sci-fi. The world as we know it, apparently what used to be North America, consists of the Capitol (filled with disgusting, rich, pampered elites) and the Districts (whose folks do the work that needs doing). The Capitol annually forces the Districts to send two young people, a boy/young-man and girl/young woman, to the Hunger Games, which are an extended fight to the death, with great rewards for the last one standing. This is for the entertainment of those in the Capitol (though even in the Districts everyone knows details about the games, in fact, is forced to watch segments). The contenders, selected by lottery, are pampered, groomed, and trained, presumably the better to entertain. It seems a sort of reality tv meets the Roman games. Gee, maybe the premise isn't all that absurd after all.
In any event, Katniss, our young heroine, is from District 12, the coal-mining district. To call life in District 12 harsh, or even to compare it to coal mining before the unions, would be gross understatement. There is the impression that life is intentionally as hard and cruel as it is, in ways that go beyond the usual requirements of the profit motive.
When Katniss' younger sister's lot is drawn for the Games, Katniss volunteers to take her place. The baker's son is the boy/young man from District 12. The games include vying for sponsors, whose gifts can keep you alive for another few hours, give you a chance. There are competitors from better-off districts whose lives are devoted to training for the games; what this says about the parents and neighbors of these young people is not addressed in the book. There is strategy.
The characters are more engaging than the premise and the author certainly knows her way around words. Her descriptions of the preparation of the contenders by their "stylists" for the opening ceremonies will remind you of why feminists hate beauty pageants (and never mind that both genders are involved as objects here). Katniss' response to all of this, and the pampering, really show how seductive glamor and acclaim can be.
Fortunately, although the plot is heavily invested in the games, the book is about so much more. From Katniss' immediate leap into the fray when her sister's number is drawn until the end, this book is about love and loyalty, exploitation and abuse, about intelligence applied in struggle against the odds, and about coming of age. This was a surprisingly captivating read....more
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