November 6th, 2007 |
If you can call this a genre, it is one of my favorites. I liked all the books I read for this challenge, but Never Let Me Go was the title I liked the least. I really enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale and We, and of course I always enjoy Lois Lowry. (I ended up reading We as an alternate to A Scanner Darkly.)
I had chosen:
A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
Messenger by Lois Lowry FINISHED
Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry FINISHED
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood FINISHED
Never Let Me Go by K. Ishiguro FINISHED
Bonus/Alternates:
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Children of Men by P.D. James
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin FINISHED
November 6th, 2007 |
I read this a few weeks months?! ago, and I’m not sure why I haven’t written the review yet. I want to talk about it intelligently because I really loved it. Unfortunately, intelligent writing has eluded me lately. Had to write the review today, though, as it was one of my Dystopian Challenge books.
This book preceded and heavily influenced both 1984 and Brave New World. People have no names, just letters and numbers. They plan on going on to other planets to compel others to adopt their mathematically-minded happiness. Emotions aren’t allowed. They live in glass apartments. Everything ‘human’ is discouraged. But. . . a rebel faction is present in and outside ‘the wall.’ Will those inside the wall learn to be truly human?
Side note: A few weeks ago I saw the movie Equilibrium starring Christian Bale, and it surely had to be influenced by this novel. If you’re interested in the dystopian genre, it’s a must-see. See my review here.
1924, 232 pp.
Rating: 4.5
November 6th, 2007 |
This review will contain spoilers, so don’t read on if you want to read this book in the future!
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This book started off very strong for me. I really enjoyed Ishiguro’s writing style, but then the story bogged down in the middle, and by the ending, I was really mad. I didn’t like how it ended AT ALL. So they do nothing? They just coolly accept their fate? That, to me, proves to me that the “students” were soulless. They never truly loved each other from my perspective, and they couldn’t see that they could at least TRY to get out of their situation? I’m wondering what Ishiguro’s point here was. Is he saying they had a soul or not? If you’ve read the book, please give me your take!
(Oh, and another thing. . . is disorientated a word? I always thought it was disoriented. Just another thing that irked me.)
2005, 288 pp.
Rating: 3.5
