So, I've been having a dystopia fest (this is not rare for me--I am fascinated by dystopian literature). I read Margaret Atwood's "Madadam," another book in the series that began with "Oryx & Crake." If you haven't read "Oryx & Crake," I can't recommend it highly enough. It just blew my mind when I read it several years ago. It is both dystopian--pre-apocolyptic, and post-apocalyptic.
And watched "Metropolis," and "Things to Come."
Then I consumed "The Hunger Games"--all three books--in three days.
I had never read "The Hunger Games" before, and I found the writing hard to slog through. I understand that it was supposed to capture the simple, plain speech of Katniss, along with the present tense, but 1st person, present tense is a hard sell for a long book, let alone three.
That said, the story was intriguing. I will be curious to see how they handle the horrifying violence of the last book. And yet, the writing, and even Katniss' tone kept me at a distance. I flinched in places, but I did not cry.
Thoughts? Any dystopian books or movies to recommend?
I was completely blown away by the movie of The Prestige , and I thought then about reading the novel, but it seemed too soon. So I carried the author's name around with me for over a year (Christopher Priest) and then, finally remembered to buy it through an odd sequence of events. We watched The Painted Veil based on the novel by Maugham starring Edward Norton, and while I decided I didn't want to read The Painted Veil because of it's differences from the film (which was more romantic and tragic) it reminded me that I had wanted to read Fight Club (the movie version of which starred Edward Norton) and that reminded me that I had wanted to read The Prestige (which did not star Edward Norton, but was up against The Illusionist which did). Whew...so it's all Edward Norton's fault. The Prestige is a very good novel, and yet, the movie differs from it considerably. And I am still trying to figure out what exactly that means. The central premise is the same, AND HE
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Also: "Little Brother," by Cory Doctorow, about a group of adolescent computer hackers falsely accused of terrorism, and how they fight back against the powers that be. Would that I had ever been, or ever will be, as cool as the characters in this book.
And, of course, "Ready Player One," about an "Elysium"-like world in which the one hope lies in a virtual reality network: its creator, a recently deceased eccentric who has created a multipart treasure hunt...and the key to figuring it out lies in knowing everything about the 80s. It's all here, and to outline the 80s references would ruin the fun. I'm talking about this one with a group of kids as part of a building-wide initiative to get people reading in the high school (and I will be following suit this year.)
Will post more as I think about them.