Before reading this novel, I saw two very different reviews of it. One, in Salon, favorably compared Find Me to Station Eleven and The Handmaid’s Tale. The other, from NPR, found it to be lacking and unworthy of such comparison. My opinion is that while the first half of the story does make it seem as if the novel has the potential to rank up there with esteemed dystopian fiction, the second half disappoints. Laura van den Berg is a seasoned and well regarded writer of […]
Be the Change You Wish to See in the World
The Parable of the Sower, by the brilliant Octavia Butler (author of Kindred), is a piece of dystopian fiction set in California in the 2020s. It’s not clear precisely what happened, but rule of law and access to utilities, education, and basic necessities have been severely curtailed. Our narrator is Lauren Olamina, a teenager who lives inside one of the remaining walled communities on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Lauren is a “sharer” or “feeler,” i.e., a person who has a condition called hyper empathy […]
Coming off the rails
I knew heading in that the second book in the Divergent series was kind of a train wreck, but I am a completist. I am persistent and stubborn and I was on a strong female protagonist kick! I wanted something better, but it was as bad as I had been warned. This second novel seemingly takes place immediately after Divergent ends, although it is hard to know for certain, as Roth is not very good at giving the reader a sense of the time passing. […]
Because Survival Is Insufficient
Oh God, this book….this wonderful, wonderful book. The present-day world is crumbling as a deadly flu pandemic spreads like wild-fire and kills its victims in under 48 hours. Within weeks the entirety of modern civilization has been reduced to buildings full of corpses and eternal traffic jams of driverless cars. Air travel is history, satellites go down, the internet disappears, lights go out, and the world is plunged into the literal dark ages. So why is this wonderful? Mandel takes what could be just another […]
This did not live up to its promise.
I’ve been reading a lot of dystopian fiction these days. I think the sense of impending doom surrounding academia, plus my graduation with no immediate job prospects in sight has me retreating to dire fiction to be comforted. Or maybe that’s what I’m telling myself? Either way, I’ve got a lot of reading in my stack, and Edan Lepucki’s California has been on a lot of 2014 lists. I thought I would give it a shot. Cal and Frida are a married couple who have […]
The most beautiful post-apocalyptic novel I’ve ever read.
Oh, wow. I think I have found my 2014 favorite for CBR. If you have not read Station Eleven, make it a priority. Even if you don’t like post-apocalyptic writing, you need to read it. It transcends the conventions of the genre and is a beautiful, uplifting, sad book. Arthur Leander is a famous actor doing a theatrical rendition of King Lear when he drops dead of a heart attack. EMT Javeen Chaudhary rushes on stage to save him and meets child actress Kirsten Raymonde. […]
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