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Post by thoughtsdropin on Dec 30, 2011 3:02:29 GMT -5
Another title I would add to this list is "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. I would qualify it as YAL, but as someone said before, I find that a lot of great dystopian literature seems to fall into the YAL genre.
"Divergent" is the first book in what will eventually be a trilogy. A lot of parallels are being drawn between it and "The Hunger Games," but I actually think that I enjoyed "Divergent" more, as much as I love THG. It's about a dystopian Chicago that is split into 5 factions each valuing a different trait -- peace, selflessness, bravery, intelligence and honesty. When each society member turns 16, they have to choose which faction they will become a part of, and at the beginning of the book the protagonist is forced to choose.
It's really interesting, and I definitely recommend it, along with many books (especially "The Giver") that have already been mentioned.
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Post by afontofnothing on Jan 1, 2012 2:12:56 GMT -5
For books, A Clockwork Orange is definitely one of my favorites. But be warned- it's not for the faint-hearted. Although, if you're already into dystopian literature you probably don't fall into that category anyway. And a great short story is The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury. I haven't met many people who have read it, but you should check it out.
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Post by sammybluejay on Jan 1, 2012 19:02:35 GMT -5
Another title I would add to this list is "Divergent" by Veronica Roth. I've heard a LOT about this novel and am really starting to want to get my hands on a copy. Maybe once I'm done my course reading for the semester I'll find it somewhere... I actually really enthusiastically second (or third? I think someone else may have mentioned it) Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. It took me a little bit to get into it but once I was in, I was HOOKED. I actually wrote an essay comparing it to the Handmaid's Tale - another absolutely fantastic dystopian that I know has been mentioned here already. So if you enjoyed that, you really should give We a try. |
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Post by rizzolina on Feb 13, 2012 5:42:33 GMT -5
I just had a seminar last semester on apocalypses and the (post)modern. Here's what we had to read:
Crash by J.G. Ballard
White Noise by Don DeLillo
GB84 by David Peace
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Waiting by Will Self
The Children of Men by P.D. James
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Post by sammybluejay on Feb 13, 2012 10:12:34 GMT -5
I just had a seminar last semester on apocalypses and the (post)modern. Here's what we had to read: Crash by J.G. Ballard White Noise by Don DeLillo GB84 by David Peace Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood Waiting by Will Self The Children of Men by P.D. James I read White Noise for my postmodernism class last semester as well and I really liked it! It was weird, but definitely enjoyable. Was Crash good? I had to read Empire of the Sun, which was also J.G. Ballard, and I really didn't like it very much. I felt like other than the horrific descriptions of war (which there were many) it was a very forgettable book. |
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Post by jsoppenheimer on Feb 16, 2012 23:34:27 GMT -5
As I'm sure someone has already noted, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro is fantastic.
A book that I just read (that actually just came out) called Blueprints of the Afterlife is AMAZING. It's by a fairly new author, Ryan Boudinot, and I'm okay with saying that I've become a tiny bit obsessed with him. I absolutely adored it, and I hope that everyone will read it and adore it as well.
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Post by rizzolina on Mar 2, 2012 10:43:37 GMT -5
I just had a seminar last semester on apocalypses and the (post)modern. Here's what we had to read: Crash by J.G. Ballard White Noise by Don DeLillo GB84 by David Peace Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood Waiting by Will Self The Children of Men by P.D. James I read White Noise for my postmodernism class last semester as well and I really liked it! It was weird, but definitely enjoyable. Was Crash good? I had to read Empire of the Sun, which was also J.G. Ballard, and I really didn't like it very much. I felt like other than the horrific descriptions of war (which there were many) it was a very forgettable book. Oh god, I'm so sorry, I didn't see your post. Crash was...meh. I haven't read anything else by Ballard, so I can't say how it compares to his other books... Crash has lots of very detailed descriptions of sex and (surprise, surprise) car crashes. I was kind of grossed out in the beginning, but I got used to it very quickly. Although I didn't really enjoy the story, I still kind of liked the writing style and got through it very quickly. (It also doesn't have that many pages, so...) I hope this helps a bit  |
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