I recently featured this book in my post 'Summer Reading List' and I finally got around to starting to read those books. In all honesty, this is the best book I have read in a long time. I haven't wanted to put it down at all, which to me is a sign of a very good book.
I stumbled across a recommendation for this book in Company magazine and instantly thought that this is the kind of book that I love. It's set in the future after the world has pretty much gone to shit and society has decided to get rid of unnecessary things - cars, livestock and women naturally giving birth to girls. Females are now genetically made and brought up in The School until the age of 16 when they are either chosen as a companion, a concubine or a chastity. Men completely dominate this society and are in control of everything, including when companions have to be 'terminated'. The main character in this novel is Freida, a 16th year student coming up to the Choosing Ceremony. This book echoes many teenage girls worries - Am I too fat? Am I too thin? Am I pretty enough? - and massively amplifies them because whether you're pretty enough or not can have a drastic change on your life after The School.
This story is so cleverly written and I know it's one that I'll read over and over again. Little things such as female's names not starting with a capital letter show just how unbalanced this world is and gives you a real feel of how little women are valued. I am warning you now - this isn't a happy story. It's very harshly written and the quote on the front of my copy 'O'Neill writes with a scalpel' (Jeanette Winterson) is so fitting.
I reccommend this book for people who enjoyed the 'Uglies' series by Scott Westerfield.
What have you been reading recently?
- Millie xx
This seems really interesting. I love these types of books! Going to look into it :)
ReplyDeleteemily/0fftotheraces x