Huh. Plus: Review: Never Let Me Go
Aug. 4th, 2005 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caitriYes I say "huh" just like Mal does. Today was one of those weird days. I went to work as usual, and lo for the cleaning staff did descend on my floor with buckets of ammonia that did make me woozy and icky, and I did leave early. And then did I come home to requests for interviews, 1 for a law library technician at LC (the pay sucks, but it's feckin' LC after all) and one for an archives position at the B'nai B'rith Museum.
Again with the huh.
Still working on apps. A nap was had also.
~~~
Literary talk:
Go check out the obscene list of literary talent that will be descending on DC shortly. Neil Gaiman, Diana Gabaldon, and Meg Cabot ALL TOGETHER? *manic laughter ensues* Tom Wolfe will be present also, but like the chimp in Madagascar I shall probably go throw a poo at him. I read I Am Charlotte Simmons and haven't felt that insulted since the tv networks decided they wanted to do a "real Beverly Hillbillies" reality program.
So: Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Think The Island without the special effects or even the personalities. Clones are groomed, educated, and grown. Rumors fly that if you fall in love they'll give you an extra couple years together. They are false. Everyone placidly excepts that they will become a "carer" who, um, cares for "donors" (self-explanatory) and then become a donor themselves. Then they'll "complete" and go to that great test tube in the sky or something. It was a very well-written, creepy sort of book, but I honestly don't get the whole "let's just take the fact that we're organ crops completely for granted" sort of thing.
Seriously? There's NO Underground Railroad gig going on? Even Margaret fucking Atwood the Queen of the Icy Bleak conceded that dystopian societies will likely have one of those. No one tries to escape? Ever?
Quite frankly they got Jedi'd and I kinda think they deserved it. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book, I just have no sympathy when there's a lack of badly-needed rage. There's no mention of genetically-bred Prozac chromosomes involved so there's no reason they should act that way. Hell, I'm one of the most placid people in the world and you know the shit I've gone through at times, and didn't I fight and run when I could? You betcha! That acceptance of fate thing may well be the biggest creep-factor of all.
Rage on, baby.
Again with the huh.
Still working on apps. A nap was had also.
~~~
Literary talk:
Go check out the obscene list of literary talent that will be descending on DC shortly. Neil Gaiman, Diana Gabaldon, and Meg Cabot ALL TOGETHER? *manic laughter ensues* Tom Wolfe will be present also, but like the chimp in Madagascar I shall probably go throw a poo at him. I read I Am Charlotte Simmons and haven't felt that insulted since the tv networks decided they wanted to do a "real Beverly Hillbillies" reality program.
So: Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. Think The Island without the special effects or even the personalities. Clones are groomed, educated, and grown. Rumors fly that if you fall in love they'll give you an extra couple years together. They are false. Everyone placidly excepts that they will become a "carer" who, um, cares for "donors" (self-explanatory) and then become a donor themselves. Then they'll "complete" and go to that great test tube in the sky or something. It was a very well-written, creepy sort of book, but I honestly don't get the whole "let's just take the fact that we're organ crops completely for granted" sort of thing.
Seriously? There's NO Underground Railroad gig going on? Even Margaret fucking Atwood the Queen of the Icy Bleak conceded that dystopian societies will likely have one of those. No one tries to escape? Ever?
Quite frankly they got Jedi'd and I kinda think they deserved it. Don't get me wrong, I liked the book, I just have no sympathy when there's a lack of badly-needed rage. There's no mention of genetically-bred Prozac chromosomes involved so there's no reason they should act that way. Hell, I'm one of the most placid people in the world and you know the shit I've gone through at times, and didn't I fight and run when I could? You betcha! That acceptance of fate thing may well be the biggest creep-factor of all.
Rage on, baby.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-08 01:58 am (UTC)Am now glad I didn't, since I agree so much with your "do not go gentle into that good night" POV.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-08 02:01 am (UTC)I've been rethinking the general acceptance issue of the novel. Do you think maybe the real problem is they are just very "stiff upper lip British"?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-08 02:17 am (UTC)He may be working off the idea that people don't question things that are accepted elements of their societies (a la "The Lottery" short story), but there's ample evidence to the contrary for that one (Lois Lowry's "The Giver," for example, and "Clockwork Orange" and the list goes on...).
Also, on a quais-similar bookgeek topic, I found BookSense via Malaprop's; it's an online store for a consortium of independent booksellers. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like a good and viable alternative to Amazon that'll keep the locals in business.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-08-08 12:14 pm (UTC)I'm afraid I am horrible and addicted to Amazon Marketplace. $3 books and cds are very much my preferred pricetag. Actually some of the deals are pretty astonishing!