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rachelhelps's review against another edition
2.0
This is a book about an isolated community that had a limited literary contact-- the works of Dickens, Encyclopedia Britannica 9th edition, the Bible and a dictionary. Since the "author" is a resident of the community, the book has a neo-Dickensian prose style. I enjoyed learning a lot of archaic words!
I liked the premise and the literary style. The world-building started out in an interesting way. However, I think the pacing of the reveals about the true nature of the community was off. After the reveals, I wasn't as interested in the plot, so the ending dragged for me. A number of plot twists seemed unprobably convenient as well. I wish the conspiracy had been more human.
I liked the premise and the literary style. The world-building started out in an interesting way. However, I think the pacing of the reveals about the true nature of the community was off. After the reveals, I wasn't as interested in the plot, so the ending dragged for me. A number of plot twists seemed unprobably convenient as well. I wish the conspiracy had been more human.
ect0's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Genocide
fadeintodawn's review
3.0
This is one of the most original concepts I've encountered in some time. Imagine a society of 11,000 people in rural Pennsylvania, which believes it is fenced in to protect from a worldwide plague, that bases it's culture on an old encyclopedia britannica and the collected works of Charles Dickens. Some curious individuals have left the settlement, but any who return are automatically thrown into Bedlam for treatment and kept isolated. When a few citizens begin to unravel the true history of Dingley Dell, and realize its days might be numbered, the story turns into a modern conspiracy thriller told in the language of Dickens. It took awhile to get going, but eventually I was hooked.
chgoange's review
3.0
Whew! Only took me 8 months to read. A fun book written in Dickensian, very Dickensian style. One of those read a couple chapters, put it down for a few weeks, read a little more. In the end it became my read whilst in the bath tub book. Maybe I'll eventually get through Bleak House in the same way.
abookishtype's review
4.0
I had a conversation earlier this week with a fellow reader about how young adult dystopias, for the most part, fall flat and fail to convince. The “governments” are often bizarre social experiments that couldn’t last. The economics don’t work. The politics don’t work. Occasionally, books like Mark Dunn’s Under the Harrow come along to show other authors how it’s done. There is a social experiment at the heart of this book. In valley somewhere along the 41st parallel, there are 11,000 people living in a curious Victorian flavored society. Somehow, they have been passed over by 121 years of history. As the novel develops, we learn that there was a conspiracy inside and outside of the valley working to keep the experiment going. Under the Harrow opens just a few weeks before the wheels come off the whole enterprise...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type.
boobooks's review
4.0
After reading and absolutely adoring [b:Ella Minnow Pea|16200|Ella Minnow Pea A Progressively Lipogrammatic Epistolary Fable|Mark Dunn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479697890s/16200.jpg|2454636] I was very interested to read another book by Mark Dunn. Although Under the Harrow is a much more hefty volume and took a bit longer to get into, in the end I wasn't disappointed. Truly unlike anything else I've read before, it somehow seemed to be a mix of classic English fiction, science fiction and George Orwell... Strange, but somehow it works out to be a very compelling story. And, like Ella Minnow Pea, what starts out cute and quirky soon turns deadly serious.
mercourier's review
3.0
I really liked the beginning then the glamour wore off and I couldn't make a connection to any of the characters.
spygrl1's review
2.0
A Dickensian 'Truman Show.' Enjoyable in spite of the fact (as with 'The Truman Show') that I don't entirely buy it. I don't doubt the depravity, rather I doubt that enough people would be interested enough in Dingley Dell to keep the quixotic project going for more than 100 years, and I really doubt that the wealthy residents who were bought off with Outland trinkets could successfully keep the stuff from being discovered for more than 100 years.
Still, it's an absorbing read with engaging characters. The first several chapters can be slow going, but once the conspiracy begins to unravel, events accelerate toward a dramatic and mostly satisfying conclusion. I wish Newman's fate were revealed -- I'd like to think that he adapts to the Outland and perhaps becomes a pilot.
"...corporate playfellows, crapular with an overdose of power and privilege..."
Still, it's an absorbing read with engaging characters. The first several chapters can be slow going, but once the conspiracy begins to unravel, events accelerate toward a dramatic and mostly satisfying conclusion. I wish Newman's fate were revealed -- I'd like to think that he adapts to the Outland and perhaps becomes a pilot.
"...corporate playfellows, crapular with an overdose of power and privilege..."
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