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Jem: The Making of a Utopia by Frederick Pohl


Hayley

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I just finished this book and I really can't decide whether I actually liked it or not.

My only real thought when I put it down was 'wow, that was depressing'.

 

And in a way it should be depressing. The book is basically about the flaws of human nature. But I think it takes this too far. Even where there is goodness, the book seems to suggest it makes no difference. At one point Pohl literally states that no matter what you do, in the end you just die. (I should probably point out this isn't a spoiler, it's not about characters dying, it's meant in a general way).

The other thing I disliked about the book was the amount of attention given to sex. It was becoming ridiculous. It really seemed like it was just there for the sake of it most of the time, it had no real plot value and often didn't even seem like realistic behaviour.

 

But then it did have it's good points. And when they were good they were very good. There were certain moments that really tugged at your heart, you almost feel personally guilty for the way humans behave at times. There's part of you that thinks 'yeah that was stupid, but we really would do that, I can see it happening'. The non-human creatures are believable and the way future politics is represented is quite clever too (although there were certain aspects I thought didn't necessarily make sense). It certainly makes you think. Mostly about the way people behave towards each other, how we react to morally questionable situations, and generally how we can be incredibly stupid.

 

I really don't know on this one.

I can at least say that, having read this, I would definitely be willing to try another of Pohl's books. I just hope some of them are a bit less pessimistic!

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True that everybody does die eventually, but not true (in my opinion anyway) that what we do during our lives is irrelevant, and making good (or bad) choices makes no difference to the world. I thought the social criticism generally  was very good in a lot of the book, even at times when it made you feel almost uncomfortable. But I just think this was a really bad message to end on.

 

I'll have a look at Gateway though. I got the impression Pohl really is a good writer, so I would like to try something else by him. Thanks for the suggestion  :smile:

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