Dystopian Challenge Completed!

If you’ve followed my blog over the summer you will have noticed a large number of dystopian book reviews. Some people have started to look at me for suggestions on dystopian books and I’ve been asked to do a guest post on dystopia. Seems like I’ve become an expert in just 3 months!

No, the fact is, I was doing a Dystopian Challenge! This challenge, hosted by Parajunkee, ran from January 1st through to August 24th (the release date of Mockingjay). However, I only found out about the challenge in May, by which time I happened to have read a few Dystopian books.

A dystopia is a society after some great disaster or change has taken place (post-apocalyptic), life is not as easy as it was. The main character in a dystopian book generally does not accept society as easily as most other people do and joins up with like-minded people to try and change their situation.

There were 3 levels to the challenge: 5, 10, or 20 books. I was planning to read just 10, but when I got to 12 (as you do), I thought it would be a pity to stop now, and I decided to go for the full 20. But in the end that meant I had to read at least 1, but often 2, dystopian novels per week.

I realized that there are many YA dystopian novels but there didn’t seem to be an awful lot of adult dystopian novels, so I decided to start a list of dystopian novels for adults. With help of my blog readers, that list now contains 38 novels and is of course far from complete but it was useful when choosing the next book to read. I didn’t have too much choice as lots of the books were not available in the library.

But in the end, I got there: 20 books! I can now proudly call myself a Dystopian Junkee.

Below is what I read. I am well aware that not all books would be labeled dystopian by a purist, but many of the books were in the dystopian novels list on Wikipedia, and that is good enough for me.

1. The Stand by Stephen King (Finished January, 30th, 2010)
2. Gone by Michael Grant (Finished March 13th, 2010)
3. Hunger by Michael Grant (Finished April 5th, 2010)
4. The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall (Finished April 6th, 2010)
5. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Finished April 22, 2010)
6. Sulphuric Acid by Amelie Nothomb (Finished May 2nd, 2010)
7. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Finished May 12th, 2010)
8. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Finished June 6th, 2010)
9. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Finished June 9th, 2010)
10. The Possibility of an Island by Michel Houellebecq (Finished June 13th, 2010)
11. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson (Finished June 24th, 2010)
12. The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist (Finished June 28th, 2010)
13. The Running Man by Stephen King (Finished July 5th, 2010)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood (Finished July 12th, 2010)
15. The Crysalids by John Wyndham (Finished July 19th, 2010)
16. The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (Finished July 21st, 2010)
17. Feed by M. T. Anderson (Finished July 24th, 2010)
18. Jennifer Government by Max Barry (Finished July 30th, 2010)
19. Blindness by Jose Saramago (Finished August 9th, 2010)
20. The Traveler by John Twelve Hakws (Finished August 18, 2010)

Finished this challenge on August, 18, 2010.

Blindness by José Saramago

This book (1995) is the one-but-last read for my Dystopian Challenge. A good thing too, because the deadline is in sight: August, 24th! I have one more book to read, which will be Traveller by John Twelve Hawks and then I will never read any dystopian book in my life again.

No, that’s a lie! I love dystopian stories! I know there are lots more books around (see e.g., my list of dystopia for adults — as opposed to the ubiquitous YA dystopian novels). Unfortunately, my library does not have many of them.

Blindness is a medical dystopian story (unlike for instance the political dystopias in which the government has changed for the worse), in which people turn blind one by one. The first known case is a man that has stopped at a red traffic light, but when the light turns green, he doesn’t move his car, because he has suddenly lost the sight in his eyes. The friendly passer-by that drops him off at home turns blind very soon too, as does his wife, and other people he is in contact with.

The eye doctor he visits also becomes affected, but the doctor’s wife not. When all blind people are rounded up to go to a detention center (to avoid spreading the disease), she pretends to be blind so she can come along. She is the only seeing person in a group of blind people.

As no person of authority wants to be in charge of the blind in the detention center, for fear of becoming blind themselves, the newly blind are left to their own devices, with disastrous consequences.

The book is not a happy one. Many very unpleasant things happen. It is a very likely sketch of what people will do when they are together in a small space in completely new circumstances. It is not a pleasant view of humanity. As usual with stories, this book is no exception in having some good, decent, main characters that will not accept the inhuman situation they are in.

The book is written in a dense way, although it is quite an easy read. It’s dense in the sense that dialogues are written all on the same lines, there is no new line for a new speaker.  Something like this (not a real example):

They all went outside. – What do we do now?, I don’t know, But you’re in charge, Still, I don’t know what to do.

None of the characters have a name. When you’re blind, names are no longer important, says one of the protagonists. People have lost their identity. One of the main protagonists is the eye doctor. He, more than anyone else, has become dispensable.

A wonderful book which has some interesting ideas and a dark view on humanity when the world as we know it changes. There is a sequel, Seeing, which I will definitely read!

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Extra: See my review of The Double by José Saramago.

Jennifer Government by Max Barry

Jennifer Government

This is another dystopian story (of a kind, maybe not pure dystopian) in which corporations rule the country. In this book (2003) the USA has a limited government, with no taxes and very little say. The corporations rule. In particular, people can subscribe to one of two customer loyalty cards. These two card companies both have a large number of corporations as their members. People that buy from shops allied to one of the card companies are lured away by staff from the other card company. Something close to a war ensues between the loyalty card companies.

That’s the companies. Then there are the people: Hack Nike, who works for, yes, Nike, is asked by two colleagues to come and work in their department. Because he doesn’t read the small print on his new contract, he doesn’t realize he’s just signed up to kill 10 people. The idea is that by killing people that had just bought a pair of limited edition Nikes, others will believe these Nikes are so special, that they will also want to buy them. The ultimate marketing stunt.

Hack decides to tell the police, who then offer to carry out the killings for him, at special reduced rate given that order is for ten people at the same time. Well, that tells you about the sort of book it is. It’s odd, but funny.

Jennifer Government is a woman working for the government. She’s hired to find out who is behind the killings. She’s after John Nike, the man that hired Hack Nike, who she also knows from a previous job. She prefers to do things her way and even when her boss puts her on leave, she does not give up.

A few too many people are involved in some way (I got a little lost), but in the end, all comes together in a series of direct attacks between the loyalty card companies.

I enjoyed reading the book as the story had some interesting, original ideas. It’s dystopian because some of the main characters start to think that life in Europe, where there are still taxes, might be better than that in USA (and allied countries). They don’t act upon it in any important way, though.

Rating: 4/5

Feed by M. T. Anderson

Feed

Feed (2002) is a dystopian novel for young adults. Titus is a rich kid who spends his Spring Break on the Moon with a few friends. He’s trying to enjoy himself, but it is not so easy. Then he meets Violet, a girl who is there on her own and they “click”.

They (and all other people Titus knows) have “Feeds” which are a sort-of computers inside the brain. Titus can look up any information he wants (like we do with Google) just by thinking about it. However, the Corporations have added commercials to the Feednet, which means that whenever Titus thinks of something he likes, he gets told how great the item is, where he can buy it, and the irresistable offers that are on at the moment.

People get the Feed information coming in at all times so they are totally influenced by it. Violet also has a Feed, but is not so brain-washed by it, and actually questions the world she lives in. Unfortunately, she doesn’t quite fit in with Titus’ friends which makes outings, such as parties, a little awkward. (Note that at parties, people may have their Feeds transmit the same music as everyone else, or totally different music if they feel like it).

When things get really difficult for Violet, Titus becomes more and more absent from her life. He doesn’t know quite how to deal with the situation.

I thought the author was very creative with the world he created, especially the Feed. In other ways, it was like some other dystopian novels. For instance, it has omni-potent Corporations, that more or less rule the world. There is no real government involvement with anything. State school has been abolished a long time ago. Instead, Titus goes to School™. Furthermore, the world is, like in many other dystopian worlds, disintegrating because of the way humans have treated it.

The story was fun and very believable. To me, Titus was a typical teenager, doing things teenagers enjoy and opting out when it didn’t suit him anymore. What I liked even better were the ideas that the author put in the book. The most memorable was: a local wood was taken down to make space for an air factory. Brilliant!

Because the story was maybe a little too simple for me in terms of writing style, I give it 4.5/5. Had I been of YA age, I would probably have awarded it a 5.5/5!

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

The Year of the Flood

The Year of the Flood (2009) is not a sequel to Oryx and Crake, but the story takes place in the same period with some of the same people (who are minor characters in the other book). I loved Oryx and Crake, especially the setting, and looked forward to The Year of the Flood.

It didn’t disappoint, but I didn’t find it as good as Oryx and Crake (I think a direct comparison between the books is warranted). Oryx and Crake was the story of Jimmy, who is (maybe) the only survivor of a virus epidemic. In that book, there is a bit about Jimmy in the current time, but a lot of the story is about Jimmy growing up and meeting Crake and Oryx, and about the events leading up to the epidemic.

The Year of the Flood refers (biblically) to the epidemic, as it is seen as a waterless flood by God’s Gardeners, a religious sect that is opposing the environmentally destructive consumerism of their era. They grow vegetables in roof gardens and are against killing (and eating) animals.

I am not keen on reading about religious groups, although the main character, Toby, wasn’t really a believer. She joined the sect to be safe from her boss at SecretBurgers (that sells cheap burgers with secret (i.e., dodgy) ingredients).

The other main character was Ren (Brenda), whom we follow from being part of the sect, to living in a Corporation area. People who work for the Corporations (such as Ren’s father) get protection, housing and are considered rich.

The book alternates between Toby and Ren and I found that a bit confusing. Their characters weren’t different enough so I sometimes had to check whom I was reading about. Also, the time period in which a chapter took place confused me – for instance, originally I thought Ren and Toby were of similar age, but that wasn’t the case. I don’t know, I got confused.

In both stories we read about the current time, when the Flood has happened not so long ago, and go back in time to get a background on both women, and to find out how they ended up where they were when the Flood happened.

Towards the end of the book, things get more familiar, when characters from Oryx and Crake are mentioned, and the book ends just a little bit (a day or so) after the ending of Oryx and Crake, with some clarity about what was happening there in the end.

It was a good book, but sometimes confusing, and I wasn’t interested to read about the sect much (especially the preaches from Adam One and the songs they were singing). And a few too many of the characters we read (and care) about stay alive after the Flood whilst not many others do. A little too convenient. Rating: 4/5

The Crysalids by John Wyndham

This book from 1955 is the original YA dystopian novel, at least in my eyes. It is just as good as the modern books and it reminded me a bit of The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.

After an apocalypse many hundreds of years ago, the world of David and his friends and family is very small. They live in Labrador, and only know that beyond the world they live in are the Fringes where the Deviations live, and further away are the Badlands, which are so bad, that no one could live there. The people from the Fringes sometimes come to raid for food.

David’s father is a very religious man. He is a farmer who is very careful to check that his crops and animals (and children!) are exactly as God wanted them to be. If any deviations are found, crops are burned and animals killed. Humans should be the exact image of God, with 10 toes, 10 fingers, 2 hands, etc.

One day David meets Sophie, a girl he doesn’t know. She’s got her foot stuck between some rocks and when David helps her by removing her shoe, he sees that she has 6 toes on each foot. Back in the cottage, her parents swear him to silence, as Sophie would be dropped into the Fringes if her deviation was made public.

Then David realizes the trouble of being different. He himself can talk with his cousin by thought images (like mind reading), which is not standard either. Some more kids turn out to be like that and when they grow up they find that they have a serious problem. They try and live with the norms but fear they will be found out. Then one day the decision of whether to stay or go is taken for them…

I found this a great book! It was only short and that was a pity, I would have loved to learn more about the world David and his friends live in. The story ended a little too well, maybe. Rating: 5/5

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Oryx and Crake

This book (2003) is a re-read for me. I want to read Atwood’s newest book The Year of the Flood but since it is related to (but not quite a sequel of) Oryx and Crake, I decided to read that one again first.

Last time I liked the book, but didn’t love it. This time I loved it! I think it’s brilliant, a clever story, interesting, full of good ideas.

In the story, Snowman, who was called Jimmy before he got into the current situation, tries to survive near the sea as the only human that is still alive. Every day, some creatures who seem to be mutated humans, come and talk to him about Oryx and Crake, whom they consider a sort of deities. They see Snowman as a mediator between them and Crake in particular.

The world is empty of people with only some remnants of the past, such as sunglasses, a knife, a rare tin of soy sausages and very little else to eat. Snowman is starving and he knows it.

He thinks back of the past, when he became friends with Crake and later also with Oryx. During the story he leaves the area he lives in to go looking for food. So, the story is a combination of what happened in the past and what’s happening in the current time, which come together towards the end of the book.

What is especially interesting about the book is that the current situation is the result not just of a recent disaster but also of climatological changes that have been taking place over a number of years. In fact, when Snowman was young, already the world looked different from ours. However, the actual apocalypse only took place more recently.

If you like dystopia, this book is a must. It’s quite an easy read (not like YA-dystopian books, but compared to other books for adults). I found it very interesting to read. 5/5 stars!