THE FUTURE WE'LL NEVER HAVE
OUR FAVORITE BOOKS ON WHAT THE FUTURE WOULD BE LIKE IF 2012 WASN’T ON THE WAY
THIS PERFECT DAY
By Chelsea Stevens, Opinions Editor
The only bit of fame attached to this novel is that its author (Ira Levin) is also that of Rosemary’s Baby; otherwise, it’s been out of print for over twenty years. In fact, it’s been put back in print as of very recently because publishing companies believe so many people think Obama’s bringing us to a socialist tyranny that they’ll want to pick up this book and read it. Seriously.
Whatever, anyway, This Perfect Day is Ira Levin’s personal flavor of future. It’s main ideas aren’t exactly unique; the whole society is drugged up, the main guy realizes he’s special and figures out a way to get around the drugs to be normal again, he finds a little group of people who’ve become normal like him, etc. What makes the book is the little details Levin puts in to make his future feel concrete.
The society is based off the musings of Jesus Christ, Karl Marx, Bob Wood, and Li Wei, which lead the children to chant as a nursery rhyme, “Christ, Marx, Wood, and Wei led us to this perfect day.” Levin sets up a believable prospect of brainwashed citizens, whose entire lives and choices are decided by an omnipotent computer system called UniComp. “Uni” administers the right amount of drugs to each individual, and gives them permission to do everything from play with a toy to have a child.
While the depth of this book may be more like an inflatable kiddy pool than the Atlantic Ocean, it certainly delivers in the entertaining department. There’s a lot of nourishment for your imagination, it’s a quick read, and most importantly, it ends in an action-filled life-or-death battle. And hey, it’s in print again, so go pick it up!
CAROLINA DAYS
By Corey Leis, Union Staffer
Stories of totalitarian dystopias and too-human-like androids and real horrorshow-like lads engaging in criminal debauchery are ubiquitous in novels about the future. We’ve all read ‘em: Fahrenheit 451, The Wanting Seed, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (they do, by the way), 1984. But what about futuristic novels that don’t seem to take place in the future at all, with next to no elements of science-fiction? Y’all read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest?
This book is unlike any other I’ve encountered. First of all, it’s the only book I’ve read that required three bookmarks. If you can get past the sheer bulk of it (it is, admittedly, a goddamned huge book), and you don’t mind flipping back and forth to read more footnotes (technically endnotes, I guess) than you can throw an IBM typewriter at, read it.
It takes place in a North America that is very different than the one with which we’re familiar. Time has since been subsidized—years are no longer numbers; they’re purchased by corporations and given a name to reflect that corporation’s product (e.g., Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment); television is watched on cartridges that are rented from places like video shops; the U.S. is run by a lounge singer. There are a few different protagonists that have interweaving stories and they’re all drug addicts.
In Infinite Jest, the reader can expect the unmatched quirky humor as well as the detailed behind-the-scenes-like descriptions of people and theories characteristic of DFW. Read a different kind of book about the future. This is one hell of a novel!
HUNGER GAMES
By Katy Parker, Literature Editor
Here we have The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Before this book, my only experience with any type of hunger-related entertainment was to see how many Trader Joe’s deep fried macaroni balls I could eat before getting dizzy. With free time and a lot of delicious crumbs on my hands, who was I to declare to be above a bit of chintzy teen-lit? Nobody, that’s who. So I started to read.
The story takes place at least a couple of centuries into the future, after North American society has collapsed and reassembled into an oppressed, hungry blob of sadness controlled by a wealthy totalitarian government. To demonstrate their all-powerful power, the government hosts “The Hunger Games”, a nation-wide sporting event in which twenty four randomly-selected adolescents are placed into a giant dome and televised as they fight to the death. It’s a lot like Jersey Shore.
The plot follows a very un-Bella teenage girl who exhibits actual depth of character and favorable feminine qualities, such as intelligence, independence, and the ability to kill small animals with her bare hands. Also, it’s got nudity and violence and dogs that walk on two feet.
There’s a teenager-friendly love triangle dynamic to the plot that evoked a cringe or two, and the first publication of the book somehow made it into the world with truly lamentable copyediting. However, much like the moist, hot, cheesy balls of Trader Joe, the story was hearty, fulfilling, and satisfying. So give it a go, why don’tcha?
STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND
By Leo Portugal, Culture Editor
Stranger in a Strange Land, published in 1961 and written by classic Sci Fi juggernaut Robert A. Heinlein (Starship Troopers, Time Enough for Love), is about a human named Valentine Michael Smith who was orphaned on Mars after the astronauts on the first expedition to Mars die. Smith is raised by native Martians, and later returned to Earth as a young adult. The first human from Mars, Smith becomes an important figure, token and commodity used by scientists and government alike.
Smith has to learn to become accustomed to the atmosphere and gravity of Earth, and is confined to a hospital, separated from the world. Smith then has to become accustomed to Earth love and Earth boners when he encounters his first human female, a nurse named Gillian Boardman who breaks rules to see this Martian man and eventually breaks him out of the hospital.
What ensues is a high stakes kidnapping case, but this time the human abducts the Martian. She doesn’t try to do any probing of his butt, or anything, though. She mostly tries to protect him from being captured and possibly probed by others. All kinds of bad begin to come at Smith and Nurse Boardman’s way.
In Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein looks at religion and commercialism, but really, it’s mostly just a fun and exciting book that has aged well and is definitely worth reading.