(Book) The Running Man written by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman)

I still cringe when people talk of Stephen King as a novelist exclusively of the horror or paranormal genre. It would seem that all the information deluge (or maybe because of the deluge) on the net is insufficient to wipe out the image carved out by popular media. This book is one which will not at all fit the stereotype. Set in a dystopian future (in 2025), this book owes its debt to Orwell rather than to Bela Lugosi…

I was lucky to start off on King by reading the novella – four seasons. There, in those four very different stories, you realize that above all, King is a master storyteller. And that is something that is common in all the books he has written. In fact I have liked his non-horror books more…

Ben Richards, the protagonist, is the classic quiet brooding angry man forced to play the part of the unwilling rebel in a world gone bad. And a world gone to extreme reality television. The proles in 1984 were kept in a state of zombification by lottery and sex magazines. Here the citizens are kept in a state of permanent television frenzy, with reality television becoming a permanent fabric of existence. The Games federation (which organizes the TV shows) is an unelected  quasi-government.

Labels: america, Books, Dystopia, science-fiction, social, Stephen King, thriller

posted by Protik Basu @ 7:15 PM 0 Comments

(Book) Brave new World written by Aldous Huxley

This is one of the original books which looked at the future as a dystopia – a world which has become a nightmare (to the current reader).

This books raises the spectre of a future where everything is controlled by the way of conditioning from embryonic stage. There is no concept of a family (terms like mother and father have become smut impolite terms) and the world has been divided into a caste system where the top guys (Alphas) have been given the best of embryonic treatment and are thus the masters of the system whereas Epsilons are the lowest of the low. It is a world which would be a Nazi and other imperialists’ fantasy – people are conditioned by chemistry from birth to accept their place in society, which coupled with progress in science has led to a situation wherein problem of rebellion has also been eradicated. The people in various strata of society have been given the minimum level of brain-power (except Alphas) and have been taught that their position and situation is the best that there can be. It is a world where stability and non-individualism is the motto. It is also a world where all kinds of pleasures  are encouraged especially sexual which are aimed to numb the mind from doing any introspective thinking. History has been eradicated and you can only get books that conform to the dominant philosophy.

The book’s central point is the ‘Savage’, who is brought from a settlement (where people are living as they do today). His dilemma and his clash of ideology with the ‘civilized’ world is the central tenet of the book. It is as if through the savage, we are being put in that future world.

It is a good book but comparison to 1984 is inevitable and when you do that, the book suddenly does not seem as good. 1984 had a terrifying power in its vision and was complete in proclaiming the helplessness of any sort of rebellion – mass or individual. The characters in 1984 were complete in their wishes and their weaknesses. The world of 1984 was far far more nightmarish and terrifying than the world of this book. That said, it is clear that 1984 draws many of its themes from this book but improving upon them.

Overall, a good book to read but the talent of Huxley in this case was overshadowed by the genius of Orwell, in my opinion. But on its own, this book is complete in giving us a vision of a future where our own progress leads us to digging our own watertight grave…

Labels: Books, classics, Dystopia

posted by Protik Basu @ 9:00 PM 0 Comments