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psoglav's review against another edition
5.0
OCENA (My rating) ★★★★✫ 4.5/5
* Radnja (Storyline) 4/5
* Okruženje (World setting) 5/5
* Stil (Writing style) 4/5
* Likovi (Characters) 4.5/5
* Radnja (Storyline) 4/5
* Okruženje (World setting) 5/5
* Stil (Writing style) 4/5
* Likovi (Characters) 4.5/5
bedwinnjamin's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
This book is weird. I don't quite understand what the exact story the author was trying to tell, but it went through some weird events. I get the idea, robot/ai stops humans from reproducing. But it was difficult to read, maybe I don't enjoy dystopia about losing control of one's self, akin to the use of drugs, etc. Maybe it was also the lack of enjoyment from any of the characters, they all seemed to really have little motivation.
lindaluzarizasarmiento's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Un recomendado indiscutible, los tres protagonistas me enamoraron su evolución y su personalidad, no sabía hacia donde iba la historia, pero al final entendí que lo ocurrido debía suceder para la evolución de todos los personajes.
crispixupi's review against another edition
4.0
Con ecos de “Fahrenheit 451”, “Un mundo feliz” o “Blade Runner”, “Mockingbird (Sinsonte)” es una de las más míticas novelas de ciencia ficción modernas. Se lee como una elegía a los miserables de la humanidad, así como una celebración del amor y un viaje de autodescubrimiento.
christina72's review against another edition
5.0
A robot that can't commit suicide. Humans do not read nor can they write. ( Its against the law. AndThey are full of Pills and heavily rely smoking pot. There are no more children left in the world either. Looks bad and Sounds bad but wow it was a damn good book. I doubt I'll read anything like it again.
randybaggins's review against another edition
4.0
It's interesting how Tevis constructs the basis of human nature from a dying future where humans themselves have forgotten it. His world is desolate, thought-provoking and warrants a bigger scope than the novel's humble length. But Mockingbird fiercely focuses on the characters' testament that drive the human story within, instead of pursuing to establish a detailed backdrop I would have liked to explore. A great read.
philosykos's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
ms_greenjeans's review against another edition
3.0
One summer in college—‘85? ‘86?—I had a very random job that required me to go into the basement of the building where the computer lab was and back up the day’s data on these giant tapes. All I had to do was put the reels on the machines, start them rolling, and just sit there. Someone had left a cart of old science fiction paperbacks from the 60’s in the room, so I read them while I waited. Most of the stories were unremarkable, fun to read, but left me with an uncomfortable feeling because they had mostly wildly missed the mark about what the near future would hold. Like, none of them mentioned that someone would have to be paid $4 an hour to sit in a basement watching magnetic tape reels to support these technological advances.
I haven’t had the courage to read any random sci-if since then. While I love the genre, I have made sure that all the novels I read are well-reviewed and kind of transcend that tendency to get the future so wrong. Until now—I read The Queen’s Gambit, saw that Walter Tevis had also written this book and omg, it was in the free library at the deli of the resort we stayed at on a barrier island in South Carolina. That was the universe saying “Read this!”
People, this is the best terrible book I have read in years. It’s like discovering a really bad B movie that just thrills you because it’s so wrong but so earnest. In Mockingbird, our robot overlords are mostly morons who maintain a system of supplying Valium laced with birth control to a dying population of humans who have been taught that Privacy and individualism are most important. Humans have lost the ability to think for themselves and mostly go about in a drugged up stupor, occasionally immolating themselves in groups of three in spectacular suicidal events. There’s one super smart robot in charge of everything who has been programmed to survive until all humans are extinct. One guy—Paul—learns to read (that skill is illegal) and discovers all kinds of stuff when he stops taking his “sopors” after he meets Mary Lou, who is living in the python house at the New York Zoo. ( spoiler alert: the python IS A ROBOT.) Mary Lou and Paul realize that drug-free sex is awesome but then the head robot (Spofforth—these names!) sends Paul to prison for reading.
Paul learns valuable lessons from the other prisoners (friendship! How to make a fire! Cats are pets!) makes his escape and ends up finding a community that is living near a shelter that had been created for an apocalypse in the 22nd century. This is where the book fails so amazingly. The shelter includes a MALL with a preserved SEARS STORE. Hahahahahaha! And it’s a “sacred church” to the community.
I could go on about how Paul learns hot to make an omelette with real eggs and then loads up his PHONOGRAPH on the thought bus and finds Mary Lou and his baby in New York City and they push Spofforth off the Empire State Building so they can be free, but that would be giving this all away. Oh, and Paul of course reads “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Elliott and ruminates on those famous lines because, of course he would.
Lots of Tevis’s books have become movies and I’m just sad no one made this one into a film because it would have made a great episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
I haven’t had the courage to read any random sci-if since then. While I love the genre, I have made sure that all the novels I read are well-reviewed and kind of transcend that tendency to get the future so wrong. Until now—I read The Queen’s Gambit, saw that Walter Tevis had also written this book and omg, it was in the free library at the deli of the resort we stayed at on a barrier island in South Carolina. That was the universe saying “Read this!”
People, this is the best terrible book I have read in years. It’s like discovering a really bad B movie that just thrills you because it’s so wrong but so earnest. In Mockingbird, our robot overlords are mostly morons who maintain a system of supplying Valium laced with birth control to a dying population of humans who have been taught that Privacy and individualism are most important. Humans have lost the ability to think for themselves and mostly go about in a drugged up stupor, occasionally immolating themselves in groups of three in spectacular suicidal events. There’s one super smart robot in charge of everything who has been programmed to survive until all humans are extinct. One guy—Paul—learns to read (that skill is illegal) and discovers all kinds of stuff when he stops taking his “sopors” after he meets Mary Lou, who is living in the python house at the New York Zoo. ( spoiler alert: the python IS A ROBOT.) Mary Lou and Paul realize that drug-free sex is awesome but then the head robot (Spofforth—these names!) sends Paul to prison for reading.
Paul learns valuable lessons from the other prisoners (friendship! How to make a fire! Cats are pets!) makes his escape and ends up finding a community that is living near a shelter that had been created for an apocalypse in the 22nd century. This is where the book fails so amazingly. The shelter includes a MALL with a preserved SEARS STORE. Hahahahahaha! And it’s a “sacred church” to the community.
I could go on about how Paul learns hot to make an omelette with real eggs and then loads up his PHONOGRAPH on the thought bus and finds Mary Lou and his baby in New York City and they push Spofforth off the Empire State Building so they can be free, but that would be giving this all away. Oh, and Paul of course reads “The Hollow Men” by T.S. Elliott and ruminates on those famous lines because, of course he would.
Lots of Tevis’s books have become movies and I’m just sad no one made this one into a film because it would have made a great episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
nunzco's review against another edition
4.0
Much deeper book than appears on first reading. Some very deep ideas are behind it.