Dystopian Horrors
Mar. 17th, 2006 01:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieBattle Royale (see my earlier post on it for plot summary) is that rare book that makes me angry. Blindly, blisteringly mad. Not because it's badly written, or because I find the author's morals offensive. It makes me angry in the same way 1984 makes me angry, or Zamyatin's We, in the way only a really good, uncomfortable book can make me mad.
It makes me angry because of what the fictional government does to the characters, it makes me angry because it's unjust, it makes me angry because people in the book become helpless. And it makes me afraid, because the scenario of the government and the book's view of human nature are neither of them far-fetched. And it makes me wonder what I'd do in a situation like this, and that thought is the scariest one of all.
And it grabs me and doesn't let go, to the extent where I don't even notice that somewhat clunky translation any more. Maybe because you get to know all the characters very quickly, so you cannot stay detached: it's not just you liking the protagonist and the rest of the characters being cut-outs so you just root for the protagonist to make it and hope he does, because he is the hero if the book. No, you get to know them all and when they die, it's horrifying.
And also because the author throws everything out of balance, throws you as a reader out of balance, so you are just as horrified and off-kilter as the characters. People you expect to live long, or die heroically, do neither. It's random and senseless and brutal. A character I truly liked, that by any fiction rules would have had a long part (because there are all sorts of clues in fiction as to who is more or less important), died a bit over 50 pages in, before the 'game' even started, shot by the soldiers when he objected.
Not that many books make me cry, and be angry, and laugh within pages of each other. And I cannot put it down, even as it disturbs me. And yet in all the horror (not just emotional, political and psychological. If violence disturbs you, are better stay away), there is also hope and bravery and kindess. It's a brutal, brilliant book. But if I was prone to them, I'd be worried it'd give me nightmares.
Also, in creepy or tin-foil (depending on your view) news of the real world, The Guardian has an Op Ed piece that discusses a possible plot in the 1970s in the U.K. for a military overthrow of the government. Truth? Conspiracy Theory? Something in between? You decide:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1731067,00.html
It makes me angry because of what the fictional government does to the characters, it makes me angry because it's unjust, it makes me angry because people in the book become helpless. And it makes me afraid, because the scenario of the government and the book's view of human nature are neither of them far-fetched. And it makes me wonder what I'd do in a situation like this, and that thought is the scariest one of all.
And it grabs me and doesn't let go, to the extent where I don't even notice that somewhat clunky translation any more. Maybe because you get to know all the characters very quickly, so you cannot stay detached: it's not just you liking the protagonist and the rest of the characters being cut-outs so you just root for the protagonist to make it and hope he does, because he is the hero if the book. No, you get to know them all and when they die, it's horrifying.
And also because the author throws everything out of balance, throws you as a reader out of balance, so you are just as horrified and off-kilter as the characters. People you expect to live long, or die heroically, do neither. It's random and senseless and brutal. A character I truly liked, that by any fiction rules would have had a long part (because there are all sorts of clues in fiction as to who is more or less important), died a bit over 50 pages in, before the 'game' even started, shot by the soldiers when he objected.
Not that many books make me cry, and be angry, and laugh within pages of each other. And I cannot put it down, even as it disturbs me. And yet in all the horror (not just emotional, political and psychological. If violence disturbs you, are better stay away), there is also hope and bravery and kindess. It's a brutal, brilliant book. But if I was prone to them, I'd be worried it'd give me nightmares.
Also, in creepy or tin-foil (depending on your view) news of the real world, The Guardian has an Op Ed piece that discusses a possible plot in the 1970s in the U.K. for a military overthrow of the government. Truth? Conspiracy Theory? Something in between? You decide:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1731067,00.html
