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Loading... Make Room! Make Room! (original 1966; edition 1966)by Harry Harrison (Author)
Work InformationMake Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison (1966)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. In spite of its reputation as the source for the film Soylent Green this is a very boring book. ( ) The book had some great concepts of the future and a real message to be considered but the writing doesn’t live up to it’s potential . More of a noir detective story with a touch of romance than real science fiction. The book was the inspiration for the classic movie “Soylent Gree” - spoiler alerts - however the main plot between the two are very different . The book and film both have the same main characters and set in the near future with an overpopulated world but the book deals with disappointments set in the sad realities of life in that future world and the message that the world needs to address birth control before it’s too late while the film is driven by a horrible truth not covered in the book. A combination of a noir detective story and a polemic for widely available (and used) birth control, written in 1966 and set in 1999. The writing is just ordinary, and it didn’t hold my attention until the last third of the book, when the pace picked up considerably. The female characters are stereotypical (call girl with a good heart; stupid, slovenly, lazy mother of far too many children). I know this book is popular, but it didn’t work for me. It’s very different from the movie, but neither hurts nor helps the reading experience. I have classified this book as science fiction, but it does not fall into this category. Harry Harrison wrote the book in 1967 or thereabouts, and it paints a very scary, very plausible view of our future. In New York, 1999, the good cop, Andy, is called in to investigate a murder. He has a brief affair with the victim's mistress, who finally leaves him for a better life. The nub lies here. A small elite lives a fabulous life of luxury. The rest, in crowded tenements, live on food scraps, struggling to survive. There is no escape, and in the end, Andy sees his ex-girlfriend get into a taxi - the mistress of a rich man. There is no escape from this dystopian, Malthusian future. What makes the book scary is that the picture he painted is plausible and closer than we think. The movie, 'Soylent Green', is based on this book - and is even bleaker. Read this book along with '1984,' 'Animal Farm,' and 'Brave New World.' It's hard to believe that this book was published in 1966 -- the heat waves, the birth control debate, the use of soybeans as a staple of the diet -- all these issues hit too close to home. Although the plot was interesting, I suppose I was expecting more of a societal view of the problems that were happening, rather than a murder mystery set in a crumbling, dystopian society. Definitely worth reading, but does not address the issues in a hard-hitting way like Brunner's "Sheep." no reviews | add a review
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A stark, unbridled vision of planet Earth on the brink of collapse, and the inspiration behind the classic sci-fi film, Soylent Green. At the close of the twentieth century, a planet overwhelmed by rampant overpopulation teeters on the edge of self-destruction. In New York City alone, 35 million people are squeezed into its packed boroughs, scrambling like rats for the world's dwindling resources. The only food available is a product called Soylent. And while the government tries to maintain order, the rich get richer and the poor stay underfoot. Finding a killer in this broken world is one hell of a job. But that's exactly what detective Andy Rusch has been assigned to do. If he can stay alive long enough, he might just solve the biggest case he's ever been on-unless humanity finally fulfills its promise and destroys itself first. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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