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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
Would recommend: Yes
I read this book because it was mentioned in a New Yorker article about dystopian YA fiction as an early predecessor to the books we know so well now. The copy I got from the library was very thin and featured a ridiculously 80s-era illustration, which garnered a lot of interest/ridicule from my family while we were on vacation. The idea is that a group of teenagers is trapped in a BF Skinner-type behavioral conditioning environment with positive and negative reinforcement. The conceit isn’t very elegant or smooth, and it will probably feel clunky to those of us who are more used to a complex plot device, but it is so sinister. It’s easy to see how current YA authors could have been influenced by this book, and I really think that YA fans should read it.
I read this book because it was mentioned in a New Yorker article about dystopian YA fiction as an early predecessor to the books we know so well now. The copy I got from the library was very thin and featured a ridiculously 80s-era illustration, which garnered a lot of interest/ridicule from my family while we were on vacation. The idea is that a group of teenagers is trapped in a BF Skinner-type behavioral conditioning environment with positive and negative reinforcement. The conceit isn’t very elegant or smooth, and it will probably feel clunky to those of us who are more used to a complex plot device, but it is so sinister. It’s easy to see how current YA authors could have been influenced by this book, and I really think that YA fans should read it.
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Booktalk notes - with influence from Joni Richards Bodart's booktalk.
Imagine waking up in a place made entirely of stairs. There are no floors, no ceilings, no walls. Everywhere you look, all you can see are stairs. They're connected by small landings and narrow bridges and if you try to go too far in any direction, the stairs begin turning back on themselves. There is no end in sight, just empty space, filled with stairs that stretch on and on. And you start to realize that you are trapped.
This is the situation five teenagers find themselves in. They discover that they're all 16, all orphans, and all wards of the state. They have no idea where they are, how they got there, or why they are there. And they are getting very hungry. They explore the stairs, searching for a way out, but all they find is a strange, flashing panel. It's an accident when one of the teens sticks her tongue out at the machine - she's frustrated and scared - but there's a sudden whir and a click and food rolls out of the panel. They keep sticking out their tongues and more food comes and then... it stops.
The panel will feed them just enough to keep them alive, but only when they do what it wants. It teaches them, bit by bit, the movements of a dance, and when the teens get it right, they get fed. Never enough to keep them full, but enough to keep them dancing. And then the day comes where dancing isn't enough.
They try again and again, dancing until they become furious with each other - someone must be doing something wrong - until they start to fight. And that's the moment when the panel rewards them. They realize that they'll have to do more than dance; they'll have to fight, betray, and hurt each other. And who knows who long that will satisfy the panel? How much further will they have to go if they want to survive?
Imagine being trapped in a house of stairs, with no way out. And the only way to get food - to go on living - is to do what the panel wants. How far would you go to survive?
Imagine waking up in a place made entirely of stairs. There are no floors, no ceilings, no walls. Everywhere you look, all you can see are stairs. They're connected by small landings and narrow bridges and if you try to go too far in any direction, the stairs begin turning back on themselves. There is no end in sight, just empty space, filled with stairs that stretch on and on. And you start to realize that you are trapped.
This is the situation five teenagers find themselves in. They discover that they're all 16, all orphans, and all wards of the state. They have no idea where they are, how they got there, or why they are there. And they are getting very hungry. They explore the stairs, searching for a way out, but all they find is a strange, flashing panel. It's an accident when one of the teens sticks her tongue out at the machine - she's frustrated and scared - but there's a sudden whir and a click and food rolls out of the panel. They keep sticking out their tongues and more food comes and then... it stops.
The panel will feed them just enough to keep them alive, but only when they do what it wants. It teaches them, bit by bit, the movements of a dance, and when the teens get it right, they get fed. Never enough to keep them full, but enough to keep them dancing. And then the day comes where dancing isn't enough.
They try again and again, dancing until they become furious with each other - someone must be doing something wrong - until they start to fight. And that's the moment when the panel rewards them. They realize that they'll have to do more than dance; they'll have to fight, betray, and hurt each other. And who knows who long that will satisfy the panel? How much further will they have to go if they want to survive?
Imagine being trapped in a house of stairs, with no way out. And the only way to get food - to go on living - is to do what the panel wants. How far would you go to survive?
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
به به. داستان به نظرم کمی تکراری بود ولی وقتی سال انتشارش رو دیدم فهمیدم احتمالا برای اونموقع خیلی جدید و نو بوده.
من بسیار ازش لذت بردم.
من بسیار ازش لذت بردم.
I read this in 6th grade (1986) and it's stayed with me ever since. I just ordered it from Amazon so I can read it again.
Well, this is an absolute mess of a book. It asks some interesting questions but answers almost none of them, including the ones that you would really expect it to answer (for example, WHY IS THERE A HOUSE OF STAIRS? The answer given at the end is so tossed-off it seems impossible that the book could have been centered around the concept) and leaves some bizarre red herrings in its wake. It has five main characters and uses four of them as POV characters at one time or another. It’s also weirdly focused on weight loss as wholistic good, which is weird for a book about a bunch of sixteen-year-olds who are starving to death.
Still, read the whole thing in about an hour or so. I don’t regret it.
Still, read the whole thing in about an hour or so. I don’t regret it.
An interesting dystopian psychology thriller written for middle grade in 1974. Easy to read at 166 pages and the target reading level. It gave me a Lord of the Flies/Stranger Things vibe. I found the ending (pre-epilogue) thoughtful and it allowed for a glimmer of hope and resolution to shine through what may otherwise have been too bleak. The epilogue itself served heavy as exposition, I suppose successfully, but the I also may have been ok without it?