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A review by brashtech
The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner
4.0
Filled with trademark John Brunner spooky stuff that makes you wonder if he had a crystal ball: 1-page rant on corporate irresponsibility that could have come out of any op-ed piece or blog during the current financial crisis, a depressingly familiar "thinks with his gut" president, and Whole Foods. (Okay, "Puritan." Same diff.)
The only trick he missed, really, is greenhouse gasses.
It was hard to keep track of all the characters as they were marched through the grim, chaotic hell of their interleaving plotlines. Anything nice that happens to someone just turns out to be setting them up for an even greater fall. Very, very grim.
It's a minor consolation that the world hasn't fallen apart quite as quickly as Brunner predicted—yet the novel retains a day-after-tomorrow feeling, more than 30 years after it was published.
I'd recommend it to anybody who is feeling too much elation and happiness... or who gets a kick out of cataloging Britishisms in dialog supposedly spoken by Americans.
The only trick he missed, really, is greenhouse gasses.
It was hard to keep track of all the characters as they were marched through the grim, chaotic hell of their interleaving plotlines. Anything nice that happens to someone just turns out to be setting them up for an even greater fall. Very, very grim.
It's a minor consolation that the world hasn't fallen apart quite as quickly as Brunner predicted—yet the novel retains a day-after-tomorrow feeling, more than 30 years after it was published.
I'd recommend it to anybody who is feeling too much elation and happiness... or who gets a kick out of cataloging Britishisms in dialog supposedly spoken by Americans.