A leisurely satire of U.S. politics in the 22nd century that’s sometimes eerily plausible.
Citizens of a future America covertly formulate a rebellion against wealthy, totalitarian leaders in Bollington’s (Mechanic of Fortune, 2012, etc.) dystopian novel.
By 2116, the United States is a shadow of its former self. After a third world war left the country in ruins in 2023, the ruling class, the Oligarchy, re-established the nation as President Citizenfarm, or PCF. Later, in the 2040s, the Domenicon Region, consisting of rebels clutching onto the final remnants of the old America, opposed PCF and sparked a second Civil War. Some still live in Domenicon, a heavily forested area confined and constantly monitored by PCF’s security. But Security Director Jacob Stahzi suspects resistance to the Presidential Cabinet’s authority, namely Jackson Deepcliff. Deepcliff’s an Oligarch (and probable Presidential Cabinet member) but surrounded by “irregularities,” including occasional visits to Domenicon. Stahzi sends newly hired Sebastian Barnes and Vironika Ku to spy on Deepcliff as his employees. Meanwhile, someone’s circulating comic books—actually manifestos in disguise alluding to infamous rebel leader Carlos Shadrist. The comic books are cropping up in baseball stadiums, now-empty museums since the PCF’s attempt to change baseball rules and optimize profitability led to fan outcry and the sport being outlawed. Security Forces eventually arrest and interrogate Deepcliff, whose link to Shadrist could very well get him a “dose of EE” (Early Extermination). The story certainly has its somber moments. EE, for one, is only sometimes a punishment; it’s more often decided by lottery and considered a heroic sacrifice. But a favorite pastime signifying the citizens’ would-be uprising lightens the tone: people even live—and plan to stage the rebellion—at stadiums. There are unmistakable shades of Nineteen Eighty-Four, particularly Sebastian’s writing gig revising history text with “the Olgar airbrush.” The tale shines with characters and playfully ironic subplots; poor sardonically named Gen. Hector LeMayhem’s likely afflicted with Empathy Obsession Disorder. A gradual buildup to a potential rebellion begets an ending that, while satisfying, leaves a few things vague. When Narsilan, for example, a drug rendering the user susceptible to commands, moves from concept to application, the result is unsettling but not fully realized. But maybe that lingering feeling of unease is Bollington’s intention.
A leisurely satire of U.S. politics in the 22nd century that’s sometimes eerily plausible.Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5151-6310-7
Page Count: 474
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
