Reviews

This Perfect Day by Ira Levin

dustin_o's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

hoatzin's review

Started sat night, finished Sunday @ 12:20. Sigh. What is sleep, anyways? Writing style is rather hard to put down, even in the bad parts. Seriously, did he have to rape her? And then after she didn't like him for the entire book, she suddenly loved him and wanted a kid w/ him? that sounds fake but ok
On the other hand, when Chip casually walked away from the programmers and went and exploded Uni, I whooped out loud and glee. So. I'm glad he didn't give up all his convictions as I thought was happening.

apatter7's review

5.0

Really love the concept of almost a utopian nightmare kind of world.

eimearnolan's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

hannahlukomski's review

2.0

While this book is skillfully written with quality rhetoric and had a captivating moral, "This Perfect Day" was largely unoriginal and had pacifistic characters who were too uniform in personality. Levin's novel was essentially "A Brave New World" meets "The Giver", with minute differences. The protagonist was the only character that was given any development, whereas all the other characters were submissive and undetailed. One of the dominant themes that prevailed was sexism. Not only failing the Bechdel test, women are portrayed as compliant and unassertive. The only prominent female character, Lilac, had minimal participation in any major events, and was given an all too convenient case of Stockholm Syndrome to explain her passive demeanor towards her abductor and later rapist. The demoralizing treatment of women and the overdone dystopian archetype were lost on me in this novel.

thesidecar's review

4.0

SPOILERS:

In defense of ~That Scene~:

My first reaction was much like the reaction of everyone else who's posted so far: disgust, frustration, and disappointment with Levin on making a rape scene such a non-issue in the story. However, the more I thought about it, the more okay with it I was. In no way am I defending rape, or do I feel that Chip did the right thing in raping Lilac. But I DO think this scene was necessary.

It proves that 1) Chip is a heavily flawed character and 2) being untreated isn't always a good thing. Lilac doesn't fall in love with him because he raped her. She falls "in love" because Chip is an untreated member and has another life to offer her.

Because the Family is constantly drugged, they do not learn to control free will emotions or urges. We learn that just because we want something doesn't mean we take it and we learn to deal with that in healthy, productive ways (well...most of us, at least). Chip never learned how to manage sexual desires or urges and therefore, forces himself on Lilac not just once but twice. He has no control over his sexual free will and it begs the reader to wonder, is maybe Uni doing the right thing?

aut's review

reflective medium-paced

3.75

irv_in_the_books's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The world is ran by Unicomp, a central computer, with the main being uniformity amongst its members or “The Family” as they’re referred to. Men don’t grow facial hair, women don’t grow breasts and it only rains at night. Unicomp controls everything, from what you eat, where you live, what you do for a living and who you marry, as far as if you’re able to reproduce. Chip is influenced by his grandfather to think outside the box and imagine the possibilities, getting Chip in trouble when he starts to wonder what career he would choose given the chance. Years later, Chip meets other members like him. As he slowly becomes more “awake” his desire to leave Unicomp and find a safe heaven for other incurables like him grows stronger 

My personal thoughts: This was a very interesting, thought provoking book. It did have some parts where it felt like it dragged on, but still enjoyed it overall. Chip is a great main character with a lot of depth and flaws

emiliouch's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

lit_lady's review

5.0

One of the best dystopias ever written. Clearly draws inspiration from all the other greats and the result was a masterful tale.