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A review by powerpuffgoat
FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven
- Strong character development? No
2.0
What a huge disappointment. From the premise and the first couple of chapters, I got excited. I really shouldn't have.
Lack of cohesion
A good documentary structures the story around a small circle of key players, using interviews with other people to provide context and characterization. A good documentary (just like any story) unfolds gradually, planting seeds, developing characters, piling things on, and leading to some sort of culmination or big reveal.
Sadly, the way this book was structured worked against it. The interviews were disjointed, each person's account written from start to finish, really seeping tension out of the narrative.
The number of players also made it hard to relate stories to one another. You're expecting me to remember this or that person by name, including whatever happened to them or whatever tribe they were a part of? This is even harder because I listened to the audiobook, so it's not like I could flip back a few pages and check who was who.
Lack of reasoning
There doesn't seem to be a trigger for the violence, a viable reason why things devolved into violence, especially at such a rapid pace.
It's not enough to say, "and then they split into tribes and started killing each other". You have to have a trigger or put it into context that makes sense.
Whether it's a strange dystopian society or a deserted island, a monster that requires sacrifice or a lack of resources. With the exception of the fictional amusement park, the book is set in our reality. It's not enough to manufacture a nonsense reason for people to be without their phones and cite boredom as the reason dozens or hundreds of people turn into savages.
Murky timeline
How long were these people stuck in the park? Several times throughout the book, there is reference to a few weeks, but this could mean anything from like three to 8-9 weeks. The start of the book says the Florida national guard entered the grounds on 20th October, at the end of the book, we have a different date in November referencing a distress signal (so, presumably, before any rescue teams made it there).
Furthermore, the onset of violence, territorial fights and formation of factions seems to have happened almost immediately after these people are trapped in the park.
Stereotyping
I'm still unclear on the ages of the young people trapped in this book (college? High school? Mid-twenties?) but the author seems to have painted everyone with the same brush. These young people are vapid, obsessed with social media, with zero empathy or critical thinking, with no personality.
It was hard to relate to these caricatures of people, and at times this felt like a big manifesto that condemns social media and a whole generation.
Overall, it feels like a great concept with lackluster execution. A missed opportunity to focus on corporate greed, ill-preparedness for natural disasters, the struggle of rescue services... It could have explored the ethical dilemmas we face trying to survive in extreme circumstances, like that hospital where patients were eithanized during a hurricane. Instead, it's "Young people can have shelter and food, but without Facebook they revolt".
Rated 2 because the audiobook narrators did a good job and the premise was promising.
Lack of cohesion
A good documentary structures the story around a small circle of key players, using interviews with other people to provide context and characterization. A good documentary (just like any story) unfolds gradually, planting seeds, developing characters, piling things on, and leading to some sort of culmination or big reveal.
Sadly, the way this book was structured worked against it. The interviews were disjointed, each person's account written from start to finish, really seeping tension out of the narrative.
The number of players also made it hard to relate stories to one another. You're expecting me to remember this or that person by name, including whatever happened to them or whatever tribe they were a part of? This is even harder because I listened to the audiobook, so it's not like I could flip back a few pages and check who was who.
Lack of reasoning
There doesn't seem to be a trigger for the violence, a viable reason why things devolved into violence, especially at such a rapid pace.
It's not enough to say, "and then they split into tribes and started killing each other". You have to have a trigger or put it into context that makes sense.
Whether it's a strange dystopian society or a deserted island, a monster that requires sacrifice or a lack of resources. With the exception of the fictional amusement park, the book is set in our reality. It's not enough to manufacture a nonsense reason for people to be without their phones and cite boredom as the reason dozens or hundreds of people turn into savages.
Murky timeline
How long were these people stuck in the park? Several times throughout the book, there is reference to a few weeks, but this could mean anything from like three to 8-9 weeks. The start of the book says the Florida national guard entered the grounds on 20th October, at the end of the book, we have a different date in November referencing a distress signal (so, presumably, before any rescue teams made it there).
Furthermore, the onset of violence, territorial fights and formation of factions seems to have happened almost immediately after these people are trapped in the park.
Stereotyping
I'm still unclear on the ages of the young people trapped in this book (college? High school? Mid-twenties?) but the author seems to have painted everyone with the same brush. These young people are vapid, obsessed with social media, with zero empathy or critical thinking, with no personality.
It was hard to relate to these caricatures of people, and at times this felt like a big manifesto that condemns social media and a whole generation.
Overall, it feels like a great concept with lackluster execution. A missed opportunity to focus on corporate greed, ill-preparedness for natural disasters, the struggle of rescue services... It could have explored the ethical dilemmas we face trying to survive in extreme circumstances, like that hospital where patients were eithanized during a hurricane. Instead, it's "Young people can have shelter and food, but without Facebook they revolt".
Rated 2 because the audiobook narrators did a good job and the premise was promising.