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Book List: Dark Futures

There are a lot of people out there right now who are pretty scared and angry about what’s going on in the world, with reason. Our imaginings about the future can be pretty terrifying. Luckily, fiction gives us futures that, while they may be bleak, also leave us with a ray of hope for humanity. And, since they are fiction, we are only visitors there (and thank goodness). In this world, we still have libraries to help us escape and offer refuge. More than ever, I encourage you to use yours to find whatever stories or resources you need to keep your hope alive.

 


Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Twenty years ago, the great actor Arthur Leander had a heart attack and died onstage, the same night that a flu pandemic that quickly decimated civilization began to spread. Now a small band of survivors, calling themselves The Traveling Symphony, move from one tiny community to another, playing classical music and performing Shakespeare in a effort to keep the arts alive, as survival alone is not enough to keep us human. Station Eleven shifts back and forth between the pre-apocalypse storyline about Arthur Leander and his odd artist wife, and the post-apocalypse story of The Traveling Symphony and its often grim and dangerous path. It might sound like this is “literary”, and the jumping-back-and-forth does slow things down and keep you flipping pages, but it is a fascinating story about the power of the arts even in apocalyptic times.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller

After a nuclear holocaust that led to desolation, death, and mutations, the scientists were executed, and technology and knowledge were destroyed. There is one tiny order of monks that has dedicated itself to preserving any possible scrap remaining: the Order of Leibowitz, named after a Jewish scientist. The book is actually a set of three novellas, all involving the Order of Leibowitz, at different times. The first novella tells the story of Brother Francis, who is convinced he has met Leibowitz in the desert, and discovers a cache of documents that belonged to him in a previously undiscovered fallout shelter. The second novella takes place as a secular scholar, Thom Taddeo comes to examine the collection of scientific knowledge assembled at the abbey, at the beginning of a new age of enlightenment. The third novella takes place another six hundred years in the future, when advanced technology is easily available and humanity is on the brink of nuclear war once again. It’s a brilliant, if dense, novel, well worth reading.


Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

I’m pretty sure we all have basic knowledge about Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury’s cautionary tale about the evils of trusting (and preferring) the trivialities we see on screens to the knowledge we can find within the pages of books. Guy Montag is a fireman, and his job is to burn books, but a neighbor’s distress on having her books burned causes him to have a crisis of faith. Spoiler: there are people out there trying to preserve literary culture in spite of society’s, and the government’s, dictates.

 


Article 5  by Kristen Simmons

Article 5 is the first book in a YA series that takes place after a terrible war has decimated most of the former United States. The government is now run by religious fundamentalists who have declared certain moral offenses punishable by death. Article 5 is the name of the provision condemning any woman who has sex outside of marriage. Teenage Ember is evidence of her unmarried mother’s transgression, and when the Moral Militia come for her, they take Ember to a “reform school” for girls in the same situation, to be educated into moral women, where they are punished if they violate any rules. Ember’s ex-boyfriend Chase, drafted into the Moral Militia years ago, breaks his training, and the rules, to get her out. While Ember is not particularly likable, and Chase’s character isn’t well developed (probably because Ember is the narrator, and she doesn’t seem to have any idea what’s going on), and the plot doesn’t make much sense, the bleak world that Simmons has drawn resonates eerily with what is going on in the world today.  She’s built a terrifying near-future, but not one completely without hope.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on November 12, 2016 by , Reply

Book List: 6 Great YA Dystopian Novels

Even though the media-generated excitement over teen dystopias like the ones in The Hunger Games and (to a lesser degree) Divergent, has died down a bit, anyone living through the past year can see that dystopian fiction is still terrifyingly relevant. Some days it really doesn’t feel like we’re all that far from living through The Handmaid’s Tale, and George R.R. Martin’s early story “And Death His Legacy” is so prescient that it made me shiver.

A lot of dystopian novels have a depressing world view: the main character’s attempt to change things is thwarted, and, even if that character survives intact, the world they live in doesn’t really alter (Winston, in 1984, is one of the most broken characters ever).

What is different about most YA dystopias is that there’s an individual there who starts to question the status quo, and acts to change it– not without some horrifying struggles, but usually, they’re successful at either overturning the system or escaping to establish one they hope will be better. In the recently released book on children’s and YA horror, Reading in the Dark, there is an essay suggesting that YA dystopian novels aren’t necessarily about individual self-discovery: they are more about teens figuring out their responsibilities to society. I think it’s both. Seeing that there is a possibility to change things, and that it could be one person, a teen not all that different from them, who instigates that change, makes YA dystopian fiction a literature of hope. It makes me optimistic for the future.

That being said, here are some excellent YA dystopias that start with a (usually) pretty ordinary kid chosen to perpetuate the system, who ends up creating a better world.

 

 

The Giver by Lois Lowry

You can’t go wrong with this Newbery Award winner that tells the story of Jonas, living in a future utopian society, who is chosen, in a ceremony with his peers where they are all assigned jobs for their adult lives, to be the Receiver of Memories, the one person allowed to know the memories of the past in human history. It’s not as action-oriented as Divergent, but packs a much more powerful and memorable emotional punch. The Giver is part of a four-book series, but the first is the best and definitely stands alone. There is a movie based on the book that was released a few years ago. Be aware that euthanasia and eugenics are important to the plot, and part of why the book is so heartbreaking.

 

Enclave by Ann Aguirre

This is the first book in the Razorland trilogy (which now also includes two novellas), and it’s quite a bit more graphic than the first two books, probably on par with Divergent. In yet another post-apocalyptic underground world (one decidedly more primitive than Ember) Deuce goes through her naming ceremony and becomes a Hunter in her enclave, a sort of tribal society. As a Hunter, Deuce is supposed to find and catch food and rid the tunnels around her enclave of Freaks, ravening, cannibalistic creatures. Although she’s a believer in the way things work in her enclave, her exposure to a wider world and a partner who’s not so convinced lead her to question the actions of her leaders.

 

 

 

 The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The city of Ember is an underground city built as a last refuge in a world about to be annihilated by nuclear weapons. Two hundred years later, everything, from food to electricity, is running out. After the ceremony where Lina and Doon, along with their peers, are assigned their future careers, the two of them trade places, and discover a puzzling mystery they must solve to save the residents of Ember from darkness. This has more action than The Giver, and more of a mystery at its center, and is a compelling read even for those of us well over the target age range. The City of Ember is also part of a series, and all of them are great reads. It has been made into a movie already, with Bill Murray as the corrupt mayor. and I really enjoyed it.

 

 

 

  Across The Universe by Beth Revis

The first book in a trilogy, this science fiction thriller is told from the point of view of  two teenagers– Amy, the only person not specifically chosen for a role in settlement of a new planet, and Elder, whose future leadership of the spaceship Godspeed was chosen early in his life. There’s mystery, cloning, genetic and hormonal manipulation, general lying and betrayal, and a surprising amount of action given that this all takes place in a closed environment. In some ways, it reminded me very much of The Giver. There’s suicide, near-rape, and euthanasia in this book, among other things, although I think Revis handles it all pretty well. The target audience for Divergent should enjoy this.

 

 

 

Legend by Marie Lu

June is the elite of the elite, being groomed for a position high up in the military in a dystopian society that’s more or less under military rule. Day is a rebel trying to undermine it.  What could possibly go wrong when their lives intersect?
 

 

 

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Here’s one that’s interesting because almost everyone is chosen, eventually. It’s not wanting to be chosen that makes Tally stick out. Or, to make it more complicated, it’s wanting to be chosen but having to pretend she doesn’t want to be chosen and standing out as special when she wants to blend in. And then changing her mind. And changing it again. While it could stand alone, I think, it’s a good thing it’s part of a series because I have no clue where it’s going to end up. Westerfeld pretty much turns the tropes on their heads.

 

 

 

Editor’s note: This post originally appeared with a different introduction at Musings of the Monster Librarian on March 3, 2015.

Posted on June 8, 2016 by , 1 comment

Book Review: Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta

Memory of Water by Emmi Itaranta

HarperVoyager, 2014

ISBN-13: 978-0062326157

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition

For a novel in which it seems that very little happens, Memory of Water packs an unexpected punch. The story takes place in a dystopian future that seems all too likely: one in which climate change has completely altered geography, shortages of oil and gas caused terrible wars, our fragile technology is broken, books have been destroyed, and the only uncontaminated water is controlled by the military and the government.

Noria, the first-person narrator, is the daughter and apprentice of the tea master in her village, and she has been entrusted with a secret– the tea master is the guardian of an illegal hidden spring of clear water, a crime punishable by execution. The new military leader, Commander Taro, is suspicious, but unable to find evidence. When Noria’s father dies, she becomes the guardian of the spring, but as the military closes in on her village and clean water becomes more and more severely rationed, she has to decide whether to share the secret.

Noria and her friend Sanja are both curious about past technology, and during a scavenging expedition they uncover evidence from an earlier time that there may be reserves of uncontaminated water, and, with their new knowledge, decide to leave on an expedition of exploration. Unfortunately, Noria’s movements have been observed, and she is separated from Sanja and isolated from the community in an effort to convince her to give up the location of the spring to the military.

Finnish author Itaranta communicates the history and present of her complex world without depending on long passages of exposition. The details of daily life, and the rituals of the tea ceremony, give structure and believability to the story without overwhelming it. This is a slow, deliberately told story, using lyrical and vivid language. Noria’s strong feelings about her relationships with her parents and Sanja, and about freedom and survival, bring it alive. The love and strong friendship between Noria and Sanja, while not the main focus of the story, is a powerful force within it. Because we only see through Noria’s eyes, and learn what she knows, the end of her story has an unusual impact. The end of Noria’s story is not the end of the story, though. Itaranta switches to third person narration that fills in many of the blanks, and ends on a bittersweet note of hope.

Memory of Water isn’t a horror novel, but it is powerful and imaginative. In a crushing world like the one Itaranta describes, one might not expect to find that there is still room for small acts make a difference, and a possibility of hope. It is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year.

The next time someone argues that dystopian fiction is bad for society,  hand them this book as evidence that sometimes it’s where we find hope for the future.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on December 30, 2015 by , Reply
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