Dystopian Fiction | Book Chatter

The Wikkeling
By Steven Arntson
(Running Press Kids, Hardcover, 9780762439034, May 2011, 224pp.)

The Short of It:

The world that Arnston creates is both scary and magical but most of all…fun.

The Rest of It:

Many of you following me on Facebook or Twitter have probably heard me say (more than once) that The Wikkeling was “strange.” When I first started to read it, I could not shake the creep factor. The cover is freaky and the book itself is not a traditional size. It’s wider, includes lots of handwrtitten script and has creepy illustrations of people without faces. BUT, once I got past the slightly, unsettling feel of the book itself, I found myself liking the story quite a bit.

The story is set in the future. Henrietta lives in a world where every move is tracked. She sleeps in a room with a BedCam and her mother is able to find her via the GPS locator on her phone. When taking a test in school, the results are immediately tabulated and sent straight to her parents for review. Even her bus ride home is monitored. Her world is a world of gadgets, yet she lives in an “old” house. Her house is one of the few old houses left. Nearly every other one is pre-fab and made of plastic. This old house gives her “house sickness” which causes tremendous headaches. The headaches she has in common with two new friends, Gary and Rose. They too, suffer or have suffered with house sickness so they quickly form a bond.

However, when Henrietta discovers that her attic is a secret passageway into the past and is home to a giant house cat by the name of Mister Lady, she and her friends begin to explore the past by visiting it regularly. With the help of a Bestiary (a compendium of beasts), they discover the true nature of their headaches and set out to find the truth.

The Wikkeling is marketed as a children’s book but adult readers who enjoy magical worlds and creatures will also enjoy this book. The secrecy surrounding the attic is fun and the fascination and preservation of real books held my attention. As ads are screamed at them at every opportunity, their escape to the attic is comforting. It’s warm and inviting and full of books.

My copy of The Wikkeling includes entries for these magical creatures and they are written in script on gray colored pages. The book I received was an ARC, so perhaps the issue was addressed with the final copy, but I had a hard time reading that script on such a dark, gray background. The fact that I wanted to, is a testament to how much I enjoyed this aspect of the book. Including it made me feel as if I were flipping through my very own Bestiary, which I’m sure was the point.

What fascinates me about this book is that the technology discussed within it, is technology that we are currently using today. GPS trackers and cell phones are everywhere and although advertisements are not streamed to us via our automobiles, I’m sure it’s just around the corner. As we become more high tech, we lose something in the process and that’s really what this book is about.

I think older kids, 10-12 will enjoy this book, but anyone younger might not be able to get over the creep factor of those faceless drawings and long-fingered creatures. Overall, a fun read!

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.

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Anthem
By Ayn Rand
(Plume Books, Paperback, 9780452281257, 1999, 256pp.)
Original Publication: 1937

The Short of It:

There is no “I” in TEAM. Got that?

The Rest of It:

Anthem should be required reading for anyone who enjoys dipping into dystopian fiction. First published in 1937, this novella is so ahead of its time…even now! Individuality has been eliminated and technological advances are few and far between. Everything is done for the whole of the community…not for individual gain and much of what is done can be argued either way. The word “I” has been eliminated and citizens must refer to themselves as “We.”

Equality 7-2521 is a six-foot male, 21 years-old and the main character of the story. He is extremely bright and dreams of being sent to the School of the Scholars, but instead, the Council of Vocations sends him to The Home of the Street Sweepers, where he bides his time, happy to be cleaning the streets as it is a good and noble thing to do. While working, he comes across a hidden tunnel which gives him an idea of how it used to be, and then he meets The Golden One. She is like no other woman he has ever seen and she is clearly not one of them. When an invention of his is not well received, he and The Golden One decide to run away.

This novella was entertaining in so many ways. For instance, anyone who hits the age of 40 is sent to the Home for the Useless, where they do nothing but rest and relax all day. Can you imagine? I’m so there. The other thing that struck me, is how similar my workplace environment is to the world depicted in Anthem. I work in technology, yet moving forward is not as easy at it should be and takes all sorts of blessings from the “top” to get through the approval process. There are days when I feel just like Equality 7-2521. Yes, I can certainly relate.

Rand, who was also a philosopher, believed that reason was the only form of acquiring knowledge and rejected anything to do with religion. She firmly believed in capitalism and to this day, her rather large following continues to share her views with the public.

I read The Fountainhead while in college. I read it on my own, for fun, and remember it having a significant impact on me. I’m happy to say that Anthem, although much smaller in scale, had the same effect on me. It makes me want to bust out in song, leap off of tall buildings and tell certain people to stick it where the sun don’t shine.

That says it all, doesn’t it?

Source: Borrowed from the library.