Lenore's Dystopian Side

I was really excited when I found out Lenore was devoting a WHOLE MONTH to reading dystopian fiction.

The month is almost over, but you still have a week of great reviews and contests. Be sure to check out all the things she has posted in the last few weeks.

I have been a fan of the dystopian genre/subgenre for a really long time. Oddly, I never realized that a lot of dystopian fiction can be classified as science fiction. Over the years I have always struggled to find more titles to satisfy my desires. But dystopian is trendy right now and there are also some great lists of dystopian fiction out there. It has been great finding other people around the blogosphere with the same interests as me. I think Lenore agrees with that because when I asked to interview her about dystopian fiction she didn’t hesitate to agree! And now, may I present Lenore!

What was the first piece of dystopian fiction that really impacted you and why?

Well, some of the dystopian fiction I’ve read, such as THE HANDMAID’S TALE or 1984, I read long before I was conscious that I was reading “dystopian fiction”. I just thought of them as really great novels.

I guess the book that made me actively seek out other dystopian fiction was NEVER LET ME GO. A friend put it in my hands shortly after it came out and told me it was a must read. I was enthralled. After that, I had to have more!

Why were you originally drawn to dystopian fiction?

Before I even knew dystopian fiction as a category, I was reading a lot of sci-fi recommended by my father. I noticed I liked stories that pictured a future Earth the most…and, well, a happy future Earth doesn’t make the most exciting story does it?

Why did you decide to devote a whole month to this kind of fiction on your blog?

My TBR pile is huge and I thought it might be less overwhelming to add some structure via themed reading. I realized I had a huge pile of dystopian fiction I was excited about (about 20 books) and thought February would be the perfect month to do it. It’s always so dark and dreary in Frankfurt in February.

Is there a type of dystopian story you enjoy most?

Anything really high concept with an original premise grabs me. But most satisfying to me as a reader are the novels that really dig deep into their themes and are thought provoking.

Why do you think dystopic themes are relevant in modern society?

You know, a lot of people aren’t political. Look at how many people don’t even bother to exercise their right to vote. Maybe those people who instinctively shy away from having deep real life political discussions are able to discuss those themes in a fictional context. And that’s certainly better than not at all.

What book are you looking forward to reading the most this month?

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Justin Cronin’s THE PASSAGE will make it to me by the end of the month. *squeal* I also can’t wait to dig into INCARCERON. I’ve heard such great things about it, that I bought the sequel SAPPHIQUE just in case.

What book have you enjoyed the most so far?

That’s a toss up between Jasper Fforde’s SHADES OF GREY and the 2^nd book of Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking Trilogy THE ASK AND THE ANSWER. Both authors deftly explore weighty themes with fully formed characters and engaging plot.

Why do you think that dystopia will be an enduring element of fiction?

I can imagine a scenario where someone makes a time capsule of a good canon of dystopian novels and buries it underground. In a couple of hundred years, after some earth-whipping catastrophe, a new society of survivors forms. After a couple of generations, some plucky teen heroine uncovers the dystopian novels (now the only literature on the planet) and tries to piece together what society used to be like. Probably figures she doesn’t have it too bad after all!

Thanks to Lenore for participating in this interview and highlighting dystopian fiction on her blog.

Off the Road by Nina Bawden

Tom sees a door ajar and steps through it.

Off the Road was published in 1998, but deals with some of the same issues that are popular in fiction right now. When a person becomes of certain age, they are locked away to be cared for apart from others.

Tom pushed out of his known world and into one that he has been told his whole life is scary and dangerous. In the outside world, Tom sees his grandfather sliding away, trying to escape, going mad. Tom's grandfather is trying to go off the road into a world filled with barbarians and dangerous trees that will eat children in a single bite. In desperation, Tom follows after his grandfather in hopes of saving him from the mistake of venturing into the wild.

Tom is convinced that his grandfather's brain has gone soft, for that is what happens to people when they age, he has been told. It is clear to Tom that his grandfather has wandered off in a fit of senility and gotten lost.

But as Tom and his grandfather stray further and further from the road, the reader begins to understand more and more about the world Tom left. Where words like brother and sister are rude and unspeakable. In Tom's world, children are the most important and most respected people. In the same way that we understand where Tom comes from, Tom is also faced with the lies his world had taught him. Tom understands why his grandfather has chosen to escape.

The thing I love about this book is that it continues to build the world through the story. It doesn't just set the world up in the beginning and abandon it for pure adventure. Every step of Tom's journey helps you understood where he had come from, because the story doesn't start in Tom's world, it starts with Tom leaving his world.

When I read a dystopia or science fiction, I want it to be more than an adventure story nestled in a futuristic or government controlled world. I want the story and adventure to live and breathe inside the world, and Off the Road does just that. The book continues to deepen an understanding of Tom's world throughout the whole story. The reader stays connected to the inside world by the emerging details. The story unfolds in an interesting way, even if the dystopian elements fall together in a rather standard pattern. Tom is faced with a type of survival I have not seen in previous worlds. There were moments when the story was slow, but overall it was a compelling and rewarding read.