My thoughts at the end of this book were a pretty far cry from what they were at the beginning. I was really excited to start this short dystopian novel about censorship and a Book Censor who becomes a reader.
We dive into this journey with the very first line, which was a pleasant surprise: “As the Book Censor awoke one morning, filled with others’ words, he found himself transformed into a reader.” We get a little bit of a flashback to how Zorba the Greek was essentially the Book Censor’s gateway drug into reading banned books, but a good chunk of the book is about the Book Censor exploring books until reading nearly takes over his life and interferes with his marriage. In the process, he becomes connected to a resistance movement.
The thing is, he doesn’t actually seem invested in the resistance. Although he does at some point proudly proclaim himself to be part of it, for him it’s just about access to forbidden books. That could have been ok, but between the limited world-building, lack of information about the resistance, and a main character whose personality doesn’t extend much beyond being an avid reader who loves his daughter, I was left wanting. I’m also not sure what the author was trying to say.
Whatever her point was, it became further muddled by the ending. It took a metafictional turn, which I actually didn’t mind. It leaves readers with unanswered questions to sit with, which is a perfectly acceptable way to end a book, but I’m still left with the question of: what was the point? The message? The book hits on a lot of common dystopian themes but doesn’t do it in a new way, and if you’re not going to give me something new, at least give me something more interesting. I’m not sure if the book needed to be longer or if certain parts needed to be expanded or minimized, but it just didn’t live up to my hopes and expectations. 3.5 stars rounded down.
