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kateofmind's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
mgreer56's review against another edition
challenging
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
blackaliss's review
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25
Extremely relevant to today's climate change discourse. I still can't recommend it to anyone as it's not just a depressing read, it's also a boring depressing read. More series of newsclips with dry voiceover than a proper novel.
11corvus11's review
4.0
Interesting to listen to this after reading it so long ago. It def still has a very bleak predictive look on our current ecological collapse. It's missing the advanced tech (which is something i didn't notice much when I read it long ago,) and is dated in gender and race dynamics (but for the time period Brunner have it a good shot to call attention to racism and misogyny.) It has some trauma porn that seems unnecessary though. Also I like bleak dystopias- they validate my despair with the current weight of the world- but our present is so laughably absurd at times that it could have used a bit more levity. Overall an important work of sci-fi especially in the era where stuff in this vein got less attention at times.
gggggggg_g's review
1.0
I haven't hated a book more nor have I had to experience choking a novel down since I read 1Q84. An impressive feat.
rymdkejsaren's review
5.0
What an awestriking, nightmarish journey. The Sheep Look Up was written by John Brunner in 1972 with staggering prescience. By placing it in the near future (sometime in the 80ies), Brunner avoids the common pitfall of failing to predict household technologies that date the book terribly, but at the same time manages to describe a world that is in many other ways eerily similar to the world of 2020.
Others have painstakingly listed the similarities with the modern world (nearly 50 years after), so there's no need for me to take on that task. But I want to say that I believe part of what makes this so powerful is its raw, unapologetic portrayal of humanity, and how as a species we're our own worst enemy. For all our good qualities: our curiosity, inventiveness, resilience, and capacity for love – the biggest fight humanity faces is always against its own darker side: the egoism, tribalism, short-sightedness, and deeply rooted cognitive biases. By making this the root of the problem, Brunner cuts past the individual issues and creates a world that rings true with modern times because regardless of the factual accuracy and the changing technological and informational landscape, the core of the problem remains the same.
I admit, when I began reading this book I thought I there was no way I would get through it; its structure at first appeared to me fundamentally fractured and flawed. Individual tales from a variety of POV characters are interspersed with fragments of newspaper clippings, transcripts from TV and radio, and brief, omniscient scenes. But what first appears like a stuttering mess slowly melds into a powerful narrative which engulfs you whole, infects and infests you with its horrid vision of the future and its impact on individual people's lives, leaving you feverish and scared. Its phantasmagoric vision is presented in a nearly psychedelic format, where the parts that at first seem to be wholly dislocated soon add up in a way that creates inevitable and painful clarity.
I think the best way to summarise the power of this book is that I've given it the top 5 stars, but I'm not putting it on my recommended shelf.
Others have painstakingly listed the similarities with the modern world (nearly 50 years after), so there's no need for me to take on that task. But I want to say that I believe part of what makes this so powerful is its raw, unapologetic portrayal of humanity, and how as a species we're our own worst enemy. For all our good qualities: our curiosity, inventiveness, resilience, and capacity for love – the biggest fight humanity faces is always against its own darker side: the egoism, tribalism, short-sightedness, and deeply rooted cognitive biases. By making this the root of the problem, Brunner cuts past the individual issues and creates a world that rings true with modern times because regardless of the factual accuracy and the changing technological and informational landscape, the core of the problem remains the same.
I admit, when I began reading this book I thought I there was no way I would get through it; its structure at first appeared to me fundamentally fractured and flawed. Individual tales from a variety of POV characters are interspersed with fragments of newspaper clippings, transcripts from TV and radio, and brief, omniscient scenes. But what first appears like a stuttering mess slowly melds into a powerful narrative which engulfs you whole, infects and infests you with its horrid vision of the future and its impact on individual people's lives, leaving you feverish and scared. Its phantasmagoric vision is presented in a nearly psychedelic format, where the parts that at first seem to be wholly dislocated soon add up in a way that creates inevitable and painful clarity.
I think the best way to summarise the power of this book is that I've given it the top 5 stars, but I'm not putting it on my recommended shelf.
scheu's review against another edition
4.0
Sits alongside The Road and In the Country of Last Things as one of the most grim books I've ever read. Interestingly much of the story takes place in the Denver area, and involves diseases, it's really quite topical. And now I'm going to enjoy something happy.
justthisguy's review
5.0
I don't think I've read a more poignant book about the future written in the past. It's amazing how much of this book is relevant now considering it was written four decades ago.
It did take me a little while to get into this book because of the episodic nature of the writing. Once those episodes began to connect with one another I was hooked however.
It did take me a little while to get into this book because of the episodic nature of the writing. Once those episodes began to connect with one another I was hooked however.