Dear Jenny,
Wow. Fell into a time warp for the last couple of months and have just been completed checked out. I cannot believe October is almost upon us!
After finishing July's book (The Master and Margarita) halfway into August, I chose Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom for my next book because it was short and I was hoping to complete it before the month was over.
Aaaand... I ended up finishing it before that weekend was over! Needless to say, it was a quick read.
I should have posted about it right away because now it's been over a month and since I burned through it, it didn't really stick with me. I have also read and listened to several books since then, so it's all a bit murky. I do remember generally liking it.
I've never been terribly good at writing these book reviews but, "I can't remember the book!" has got to take the cake here for Most Boring Review.
Let's flip through it again and jog my memory...
Ah, yes. The future and the "Bitchun" Society. That may have been one of my biggest hangups with the book. I guess that's a play on words (when folks say, "That's very Bitchun" to one another, it must sound like, "That's very bitchin'," right?) but it was a snag for me when I was reading this. "Bitchin', duuuude!" rang through my head on more than one occasion. I'm sure that was the intent, but I didn't really like it.
Other than that, I thought the book was pretty tight. I liked the vision of the future where we, as humans, are basically ruining everything (because, well, we are) but at least we are doing one thing right: the world's currency is one's reputation (or "Whuffie," which is another word I did not love, but did not hate like "Bitchun").
Bill has a phrase that he frequently uses: "Most of the world's problems could be solved by a little common courtesy," (or "common fucking courtesy," depending on the situation...) and I have to agree. The future painted in this book also supports that theory and I enjoyed seeing how that played out in this imagined future.
After reading this book, I found I had Harry Potter Syndrome: where I wish (and maybe even expect, depending on how immersed I have been) that what I have been reading about is real. In HP's case, it's magic. In the case of this book, it was Internet and phone access inside of my head. I want it.
Did you end up reading it that weekend too? If so, what did you think? Maybe we could get a discussion going!
love,
kelly
K,
ReplyDeleteI only read maybe a third of it---it was just a little too much right around Grandma's funeral, you know? However, I do remember thinking it was clever and I would probably enjoy it.
Meanwhile, the whole idea of "your reputation is what matters" is the entire premise of a Tournament book that I didn't particularly like: Super Sad True Love Story.
I'll get back to it...one day!
J