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Showing posts with label dystopian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dystopian. Show all posts
18 June 2014
Title
| The Stand |
Author
| Stephen King |
Publisher
| Bloomsbury |
Publication Date
|
1978
|
Pages
| 1168 |
Genre
| Apocalyptic / Post-Apocalyptic Fiction |
Blurb:
This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.
And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.
My review
The Stand divides the King community - well, apparently you either love it or hate it. Now, that's easy for me. In that case, I can wholeheartedly say I love it. This is a true Stephen King story. Epic, good against evil, an apocalyptic catastrophe, strongly drawn characters who journey through the country to eventually fight evil.
A virus escapes from a military testing facility and within a few days, almost all of earths population is dead. A few are unaffected and are seeing in their dreams the 108 year old Mother Abigail who is asking them to come to her and they set all off to see mother Abigail in a journey across the country to gather with her. Others are seeing a man called Randall Flagg who calls his followers to Las Vegas. It eventually becomes clear that Mother Abigail represents the good and Randall Flagg evil, both set against each other. (Fans of King will known Randall Flagg from the Dark Tower series). The fight against the virus is not paramount here, but rather what is symbolises - the decay of the world who now has to be re-arranged, and only one side can win.
My favourite part is the first part of the book, when all the characters come together and travel to either mother Abigail or Randall Flagg. It is almost road-movie style while we, the reader, still trying to figure out what is actually going on.
Initially, a shorter version of the book was published - it was believed that the original version with over 1000 pages would be difficult to sell. But it did, and eventually, in 1990, the uncut version was published to the delight of us King fans. Despite the length of the book, I was never bored. Yes, some of King's books can have the tendency to waffle on a bit at the beginning, but curiously so, in this, is longest book, this was never the case. King is often advertised as the King of horror, and even though this is post-apocalyptic, there are no zombies or strange creatures taking over the world but as so often with his work, it's the common people who have the main starring role.
This is my favourite King book (and yes, I am a fan) and I would regard it as a must read not just for fans but for any book lover.
12 February 2014
Today I'm continuing my regular feature of reviewing Stephen King's books with 'The Bachman Books'. The title of this book refers to the author Richard Bachman - this is a pen-name King used to write books. The reason? According to Wikipedia, King suggested to publish books under a different name to his publisher as he did not want to over-expose the 'brand King', as it is common belief in the publishing world that an author should only bring out 1 book a year (I guess King had more to give :) Of course, it is also said that he wanted to see whether he could still sell books if people would not know that they were written by him, or if they are just selling because they have his name on it. Well, I'm not sure but I think they didn't become bestsellers. Eventually, fans and people in the book business became suspicious that in fact, this Richard Bachman is Stephen King because of the similarity in writing style and also, because of hints dropped in the books (King is known for dropping hints and references to other books/characters in his books).
The Bachman Books contains the first 4 books he has written under the Bachman-alias:
- Rage (written 1977)
- The Long Walk (1979)
- Roadwork (1981)
- The Running Man (1982)
RAGE
Story of a High School Shooting (written long before they became -sadly- more commonplace). Charlie is a High School Student and when gets a gun from his locker, shoots two of his teachers and locks his classmates in the classroom. In the stand-off and negotiation which follows, just as the 'Stockholm Syndrome' , some of his classmates start to identify with him, and other students start to tell embarrassing secrets about themselves. Can there ever be a 'good ending' to a school shooting?
THE LONG WALK
Dystopian book at its best. Set in the near future. Fancy taking part in a marathon-style run /walk where the price is 'anything you could ever want for the rest of your life'? What if you have to keep walking until out of 100, there is only 1 left? What if you are never allowed to fall below 4 miles an hour and if you are, there are deadly consequences. Continue walking day and night, watched and cheered on. Physical and mental exhaustion and horror that is not bloods and guts, a the typical King-kind of horror. Parts of this must have influenced The Hunger Games me thinks.
ROADWORK
Barton Dawes, a middle aged man, is fighting against the local town authorities and construction company against a motorway project which will see him lose his house. Whilst all neighbours have moved on and accepted compensation, Dawes is emotionally attached to his house since his son's death from cancer and cannot imagine living anywhere else, in fact he is prepared to go to any length and starts to lose his mind over the issue. Bureaucracy and politics, and how important is a human life amongst this.
Noteworthy for me a as a King-fan was the fact that Dawes worked in an industrial laundry, and, of course, this is where young Stephen King worked as a young struggling author to support his young family.
Noteworthy for me a as a King-fan was the fact that Dawes worked in an industrial laundry, and, of course, this is where young Stephen King worked as a young struggling author to support his young family.
THE RUNNING MAN
Another dystopian book from Bachman, set in a near future and a wonderful parody on TV exposure and the need for entertainment at any cost, again, long before it was normal to discuss and acknowledge this. Richard is desperate for money and enlists into a TV show called The Running Man. For nothing other than entertainment, the contestants in this show are 'declared enemy of the state' and can be killed by hitman employed by the TV show, and their sole aim is to stay alive. He can earn $100 for every hour he avoids capture and/or stays alive and extra money if he kills. Dark stuff indeed.
The movie of the same name with Arnold Schwarzenegger changes some elements but keeps to the main idea.
If you are a King Fan it would be criminal not to have those on your shelf. If you have not yet read him, that I think those a re good ones to try, they are not too long and demonstrate excellently the King-kind of Horror.
5 January 2014
Dystopian novels and how titles can be misleading
Title
|
Never let me go
|
Author
|
Kazuo Ishiguro
|
Publisher
|
|
Publication Date
|
|
Pages
|
282
|
Genre
|
Dystopian
|
Over the holidays, I came across the movie Never let me go, starring Keira Knightly. It somehow rang a bell with me… yes, of
course, the book by Kazuo Ishiguro, published in 2005. I know that the book was
very successful and there was a buzz about it at the time. But because of the
title, I assumed it is a soppy romantic story, possibly incl a twist where the
main character gets an incurable disease i.e. Love Story. You know the type. Well, of course, I
was quite wrong. I have to say that I didn’t read any reviews of it at the time
and just assumed ‘not for me’.
What a fantastic story and plot! No soppy
romance here. Kathy, who is in her mid-twenties, tells her life story so far,
including growing up in a boarding school. The realisation of what the boarding
school and, in fact, what her whole life is about send shivers down my spine. I just wish I had read the book first.
Having seen film, of course now I know what the story is all about, which
otherwise would have been revealed to me slowly in the book. I would have loved
that.
The book comes under the
genre of ‘Dystopian’. What are dystopian novels? According to Wiki, they
‘describe the creation of an utterly horrible or degraded society' and are
linked to ‘Utopian novels’ or the Science Fiction genre. In the case of Never
let me go, it talks about our world /time , but one which developed in a
different way from the one we know. Other examples of dystopian books include 1984, Clockwork Orange and The Hunger Games. I'm not sure if I would always subscribe to the fact that all dystopian societies (as described in literature) are 'horrible'. They are just different and who can say what should be a right or wrong society?
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