Posts Tagged ‘dystopian literature’

Fun on a Friday: Fahrenheit 451

With the popular success of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, dystopian literature is on the top of many TBR piles.  But dystopian literature is not new.  Writers have been imagining terrible futures for a long time.  I remember reading George Orwell’s 1984 in high school back in the dark ages of the 1980’s.  Even then I wondered whether the real 1984 would be as bleak as Orwell’s predictions even while I squirmed at the similarities my teenage brain could already pick out.  Doublespeak and revisionist history anyone?

I had the same sensation when I first read Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.  Even though firefighter’s don’t burn books (oh wait, some people do burn books they don’t like), have you noticed people distracting themselves from the world of ideas and nature with large screens filled with mindless entertainment?  John Green gives his take on Fahrenheit 451 in the video below.  If you’re intrigued, I dare you to read Fahrenheit 451 for yourself and join in the conversation.

Then for a real treat, head up to the new Indy Reads bookstore (911 Massachusetts Avenue) Friday evening to meet John at a book reading and signing from 5 – 7 pm.  Not only is Indy Reads a bookstore, but it also community service to promote literacy for all.  How cool!  I planning on heading up there and picking up the last two Green books I haven’t read yet–Looking for Alaska and Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  Maybe I’ll see you there!

Surrender by Elana Johnson

I love how Elana Johnson begins Surrender (Simon Pulse 2012*):  “Someone is always watching.  Always listening.  Freedom doesn’t exist in the city of Freedom, what with the glinting silver surfaces recording thoughts everywhere and the surrounding walls keeping everyone and everything in–or out.”

Gunner and Raine live in a city where everything is provided for you and everything is controlled by the government.  Students are tracked into classes that will prepare them for the career that best complements their talents.  Each person has a Match chosen for them.  Food dispensers provide nutritionally balanced meals from your recommended food plan with the push of a button.  Even your free time activities are monitored a guided.  No one has to think for themselves because Thinkers are there to do it for them.

Gunner has always played by the rules, but now he is running out of time.  Will he join the Insiders?  Will he use his considerable talents to brainwash and control the rest of the population?  Raine has always given the appearance of playing by the rules–especially to her father, Director Hightower–but she is a rebel with a secret power of her own.  Both Gunner and Raine have a role to play in the fight against the total control of the government, but first they have to sort out the attraction between them.  They must also discover the secrets locked within the brainwashed mind of Raine’s roommate, Vi, and decide if they can trust her boyfriend, Zenn, who is playing both sides in a deadly game.  Zenn is not the only one playing both sides.  Someone offers help with disrupting the constant technical surveillance and sending warnings just when they need it most.

Surrender is the companion to Possession, which I haven’t read yet.  I definitely want to read it to learn more about Vi and Zenn and the mysterious Resistance leader Jag.  I also want to revisit this world where the possibility of control has grown to such terrifying abilities.  How do you keep secrets in a world where your every word and action is recorded.  Even your thoughts are recorded as you send messages via an implant for communication?  In this world some people are born with extraordinary abilities to manipulate and control others.  Those people–like Gunner, Raine, Vi, and Zenn–are groomed to lead the rest of the population.  How do they resist the temptation of so much power to spread freedom?

I hope there is a third book coming soon because the ending was chilling.  Three of them got away, but the one left behind faces a fate worse than death.

*I read an ARC I won from a contest.

The Whisper by Emma Clayton

First they could hear the Roar.  Now they can hear the Whisper.  Emma Clayton finishes the story of telepathic twins Mika and Ellie in The Whisper (Scholastic 2012).  Now that Mika and Ellie are reunited, their mission turns ever more dangerous.  They have discovered that Mal Gorman and the Northern Government have raised an army of children to take back the the lands on the other side of the Wall.  Mika and Ellie must pretend to go along while planning to lead the other mutants and the sleeping army in a rebellion.

I was glad to learn that Clayton had written a sequel to The Roar.  The ending of it left me wanting more, and The Whisper delivers.  Just like the first novel, the action is nonstop.  Mika and Ellie may have found each other, but their troubles have just multiplied.  It will take all of their skill and mutant abilities to keep war from breaking out.  Not only do they have to defeat the Northern Government, but they also have to convince those in power outside the wall to share its riches and bounty.  Even more difficult, they have to keep their parents from demanding what is justly theirs and exacting vengeance for what they have been denied.  In the end, it all comes down to timing.  If they succeed, they can lead the way into a new future with hope for everyone.  If they fail, the resulting war may lead to utter destruction of the world.

 

The Death Cure by James Dashner

I’m still deciding what I think of The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner now that I have finally finished the third and final book, The Death Cure (Delacorte Press, 2011).  I was definitely bothered by the level of violence in these books because I wasn’t sure what was the point of it all.  The third book does give some answers and adds layers of complexity to the story that at least give more context for the violence in the earlier books.  I do appreciate that fact that the good guys aren’t totally good, and the bad guys aren’t always as bad as they appear.  For much of this final book, Thomas has to decide who he can trust, and who is truly the enemy.  Just as in Suzanne Collin’s Mockingjay, the “good guys” who rush in to take on the enemy aren’t as they first appear.  Both authors explore the questions:

  • Does the end justify the means?
  • Is it good to sacrifice the lives of a few in order to save the lives of many people?
  • Should you risk the lives of many to save the life of a friend?
There aren’t easy answers to these question, and this last book explores them without preaching the right answer.  You, the reader, have to decide what you would do along with Thomas and the others.
So, what can you expect from this last book?  In The Maze Runner, Thomas survived the Maze.  Then in The Scorch Trials,  Thomas and his friends must survive a dangerous journey across the Scorch, where they learn first hand of the devastation caused by the solar flares and the virus the Flare, that slowly eats away your sanity.  Now Thomas finds himself in the hands of WICKED, where the Rat Man promises answers and their memories.  But Thomas has regained enough of his memories on his own that he doesn’t trust WICKED at all.  He resists, but he never knows if he is truly acting from his own free will or just reacting to yet another test designed by WICKED.  He discovers lies upon lies and must decide who he can trust.  His life depends upon it, and the future of the human race.
What do you think of violence in books and movies?  Is there ever too much?  Does it matter to you why the story has violence?

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

It’s hard to know where to start with my reaction to The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness.  I had read review after review praising this first book in the Chaos Walking series, but none of them prepared me for the experience of reading it myself.  At first I had a hard time getting into it, more to do with me than the book.  This is not a book that can be picked up and read lightly.  It demands time and attention.  Once I could give it my time and attention, the story sucked me in with the power of  the best of books.  Words and images from it are still bouncing around in my head days later.

Imagine a world where your thoughts–all of them–are broadcast to the world.  Everyone can hear the NOISE.  You also can hear the thoughts and images constantly streaming from every other man and boy around you.  There is no way to shut it out or off.  All the women and girls in your village have died from the same disease that causes the NOISE.  Oh yes, you can also hear the thoughts of all the animals, even if their thoughts don’t say much.

This is the world in which Tod is counting down the days until his 13th birthday, the day  he becomes a man.  But before his birthday arrives, discovers a silence in the marsh.  Behind the silence is a girl–the first he’s ever seen.  Because he discovers Viola, Tod is thrust out of the village and on a journey that will change his life if it doesn’t destroy him first.  He flees with Viola (whose silence is deafening), and they discover that each secret hides yet another that is ever more terrifying.  Their journey continues with twists and turns that I never saw coming.  Along the way, Tod and Viola learn to trust each other, and their growing relationship remains central.

The only thing I didn’t like was the ending.  Just when I thought Tod and Viola would make it to safety, Ness pulls the rug out from under them, setting up the second book in the trilogy.  I will have to add it to my ever growing stack of books to read.

A Million Suns by Beth Revis

Can a sequel live up to or even surpass a fantastic first book?  In the case of Beth Revis, a million times yes! I enjoyed  A Millions Suns (Razor Bill 2012) even more than Across the Universe.  Just to give you an idea of how good this book is, my copy arrived in my mailbox Saturday afternoon, and it is already on its fourth reader (and we didn’t have school on Monday, and my students are involved in another book for class right now).

Amy and Elder are still on Godspeed, but chaos threatens to destroy the ship and its carefully controlled society.  Now that the crew is no longer taking Phydus, emotions rage and sometimes erupt.  Elder spends his time running from one crisis to another.  Food is not as plentiful.  People are choosing not to work.  The ship is not-so-slowly falling apart.  People are even being murdered.  Amy knows she can’t go back to her past life, but she is still desperate to learn the truth, no matter the cost.  When she discovers a series of clues left by Orion, she begins a quest for answers that could change the destiny of the entire ship.  Will she and Elder discover the truth before it is too late?  Will the truth explode what little hope is left on Godspeed?

This sequel has even more surprises and secrets than the first book.  The lies are more dangerous and deadly.  The relationships are messier and more complicated.  (Can you love someone if you don’t have any other choices? )   The motivations are murkier.  It’s no wonder it doesn’t take readers long to get to the bottom of the story–or at least the last page.  All I have to say is, I’m ready for Shades of Earth.

The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch

Stephen Quinn was born into a world that had collapsed after the war and a deadly influenza virus known as the eleventh plague.  He roamed the desolate landscape with his family as salvagers, looking for scraps of anything valuable enough to trade.  Above all, they keep to themselves to avoid the bands of slavers.  Then Stephen’s grandfather dies and his father is left in a coma.  Can Stephen trust the people who take him to Settler’s Landing?  When he and Jenny play a prank that goes horribly wrong, Stephen must choose who he will stand with and hope it is not too late.

Jeff Hirsch has created a chilling portrayal of the future that seems all too possible–just not likely, I hope.   The landscape is littered with the broken down remnants of our modern life.  Cars fill parking lots of empty malls.  The golden arches sag beneath the tendrils that threaten to pull them down.  In the midst of this death and destruction, Settler’s Landing promises the hope of rebuilding a new life–or does it?  Underneath the calm and order of farming and school and even a doctor’s care, a darkness lurks that could ruin it all.  By the end of the story, each character must make a choice about who they will be.  Will they give in to fear or take a stand for what is right?

I loved the character of Stephen Quinn.  He is haunted by the voice of his grandfather and afraid to accept the hope offered by Settler’s Landing. With his fathe unconcious, he has to make the decicions that will determine their survival, but the world contained in Settler’s Landing is unlike anything he as ever experienced.  He is desperate for the community and even school, but his emotions get the better of him, especially where Jenny is concerned.

I’m still thinking about this book and week later.  Can we choose who we will be even in the most dire circumstances?

The Roar by Emma Clayton

Mika and Ellie live in a future world very different–and far worse–than our own.  The Animal Plague caused humans to destroy almost all animal and plant life before retreating behind the Wall that isolated the Northern Hemisphere from the wasteland to the south.  There is not enough room for everyone.  If you have enough money, you can live in the Golden Towers of London.  The rest live in refugee cities or the Shadows, a flooded, moldy slum beneath the towers. 

Ellie disappeared a year ago, and Mika is the only one who believes she is still alive.  He will do anything to find her again.  When the Youth Development Foundation starts recruiting mutants to compete in violent virtual reality games, Mika signs up even though his gut tells him his whole society is based on lies.  Will he discover the truth and find Ellie before it is too late for them all?

The Roar (Scholastic 2010) by Emma Clayton had me turning pages to find out what would happen next.  There is nonstop action from pod fighter battles to harpoon guns.  The action in the arcades soon spills out into real life, often sooner than any one expected.  The secrets–concealed and revealed–kept me guessing until the last page.   Mika is determined to learn the truth, and to do so, he learns to hide what he knows. 

The ending leaves me wondering.  Is there another book to come?  (It looks like there is a sequel called The Whisper, but it’s not available.)  In some ways I found the ending satisfying, but it definitely leaves open the question of what will come next?  Mika and Ellie reach their full potential, but they haven’t yet discovered what they are capable of.  The children awaken, but what will they do?

The Maze Runner & The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

maze runnerAt the beginning of The Maze Runner (Delacorte Press, 2009)  Thomas wakes up in a dark lift with no memory of his former life except his name.  When the doors open, he enters the world of the Maze.  Fellow Gladers–all boys–welcome him to a strange and terrifying world where the walls surrounding their home move every night. 

After Thomas’s arrival, things in the Glade change.  The next day, a girl arrives in the lift with a threatening message.  Next their supplies are cut off and the walls no longer shut out the monstrous Grievers.  Thomas is convinced he should become a runner, exploring the ever-changing maze to find its solution.  If he could just recall his missing memories, he might find the way out–or reveal even more danger. 

scorch trialsThe Scorch Trials (Delacorte Press 2010) ups the ante for Thomas and the surviving Gladers.  Now they must fight their way across the Scorch, a barren wasteland populated by Cranks, infected humans who lose their humanity and sanity.  In addition to battling the extreme environment, Thomas no longer knows who to trust.  Which of his friends remain on his side, and which will turn to betray him?  Which new allies can he count on?  Which memories can be believed?

James Dashner has created two books that will keep you guessing as you turn pages.  The action is non-stop and surprising.  I enjoyed the slang created in these stories.  It was different enough that it added to Thomas’s confusion about where he was and what was happening, but not so far out that I couldn’t follow the story.  Once I started each book, I didn’t want to put it down until the end.  I am now waiting for the third, The Death Cure, coming in October.

Some things did bother me in this book.  No one besides Thomas seemed bothered by their lack of memory or the odd situation in which they lived.  Like Thomas, I wanted more answers as to who is behind WICKED.  (I’m not convinced that WICKED is good, either.)  I was disappointed to learn that their struggles were all a test.  I hope the third book will provide some more satisfying answers.

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