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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
if youre a fan of brave new world or nineteen eighty four, you need to read this
I love The Giver. One of my favorite books. I read this a few years after reading The Giver for the first time, and haven't touched The Giver once since, aside from moving it into my new bookself.
I see This Perfect Day as a grown-up version of The Giver. The sameness, the control, the fear of the outside--they all translate. Even the main character with a single genetic 'flaw' connects the two. But, as he tended to do, Ira Levin made you worry. Reading the book a little too late at night can easily make you nervous, jumpy, and generally on edge. Which is what Levin was known for, in all of his dystopian works.
What does bother me? A single scene. A rape scene between the main romantic players. As with other fiction in the era, men couldn't be men if they had a romantic sexual encounter. Don't let it turn you off of reading an otherwise fantastic book, one of my all-time favorites.
I see This Perfect Day as a grown-up version of The Giver. The sameness, the control, the fear of the outside--they all translate. Even the main character with a single genetic 'flaw' connects the two. But, as he tended to do, Ira Levin made you worry. Reading the book a little too late at night can easily make you nervous, jumpy, and generally on edge. Which is what Levin was known for, in all of his dystopian works.
What does bother me? A single scene. A rape scene between the main romantic players. As with other fiction in the era, men couldn't be men if they had a romantic sexual encounter. Don't let it turn you off of reading an otherwise fantastic book, one of my all-time favorites.
I wanted to love this book. Dystopian futures are always appealing to me, and this had a very promising start. Excellent world building and a protagonist questioning everything about his world and trying to find a way to change it.
Ultimately though, Chip is a very boring character. The writing is very dry. There is no subtlety in the writing, it's like being hit over the head with a sledgehammer - "Russia (communism) bad, USA (freedom and capitalism) good."
But what really got me (and here is a spoiler in case you want to stop reading......now).....
WTF is with the rape scene! I know this was written in the 70's, but seriously?! Because raping a woman you've essentially kidnapped generally leads to her falling in love with you and saying 'hey, don't worry about it, it's natural'. And after the rape, it's never mentioned again, she marries him, has his kid, and becomes a nagging housewife. Again, WTF.
This had so much potential. Nowhere near the caliber of 1984 or Brave New World though.
Ultimately though, Chip is a very boring character. The writing is very dry. There is no subtlety in the writing, it's like being hit over the head with a sledgehammer - "Russia (communism) bad, USA (freedom and capitalism) good."
But what really got me (and here is a spoiler in case you want to stop reading......now).....
WTF is with the rape scene! I know this was written in the 70's, but seriously?! Because raping a woman you've essentially kidnapped generally leads to her falling in love with you and saying 'hey, don't worry about it, it's natural'. And after the rape, it's never mentioned again, she marries him, has his kid, and becomes a nagging housewife. Again, WTF.
This had so much potential. Nowhere near the caliber of 1984 or Brave New World though.
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
Really love the concept of almost a utopian nightmare kind of world.
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:
Complicated
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.
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?
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?
reflective
medium-paced
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
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
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