A review by paulataua
This Perfect Day by Ira Levin

3.0

 

The story is set in a seemingly perfect  world ruled by  a computer called UniComp. Any deviation from  the happiness of being in a world where all decisions are made for you is kept in check  by  information  received from your bracelet or  by others reporting your strange behavior to supervisors . The novel  runs along the now well known path of a small  group of the dissatisfied few rebelling against the system. I was totally surprised to find out the Ira Levin has written anything in this genre and just  had to read it. It is a fair read, but feels a little tame when placed against  the many  more sophisticated dystopian  societies  that  have appeared since it was published in 1970. It  is worth reading even if it seems a little quaint at  times, especially felt for me when the group discard their bracelets and pass round the dreaded and banned  tobacco filled cigarettes and begin to smoke.  Better to be a pig satisfied than Socrates with degenerative lung disease?