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Dignity
A packet of hand-scrawled letters found in a stranger's backpack tells of self-sufficient communities growing from the ruins of California's housing collapse and the global recession. In unfinished Mojave Desert housing tracts and foreclosure ghost towns on the raw edges of the chaotic cities of the West, people have gathered to grow their own food, school their own children and learn how to live without the poisons of gossip, greed, television, mobile phones and the Internet. Encouraged by an enigmatic wanderer known only as "B," the communities thrive as more families and workers are discarded by an indifferent system. But this quiet revolution and its simple rituals cannot stay unnoticed for long, because the teachings of "B" threaten an entire structure of power and wealth dependent upon people toiling their lives away to buy things they don't need.
- GenresFiction
Nook
First published May 7, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 18, 2011
If everyone lived communally in abandoned houses, grew their own food, was vegetarian, celebrated the solstices and equinoxes, and avoided "the three poisons" (hint, I'm typing on one of the three poisons right now), the world would be a paradise. But we'd still somehow go to the stars someday. And anyone who doesn't do all the aforementioned things is evil, The Man, The System.
Repeat the above idea with very little variation in every. single. chapter. The End.
I did greatly enjoy one thing about this book: I loved deleting it from my Kindle.
Repeat the above idea with very little variation in every. single. chapter. The End.
I did greatly enjoy one thing about this book: I loved deleting it from my Kindle.
April 2, 2023
Our first queer book club book!! Very very good, so much philosophical conversation about community and the role technology plays in our lives, both good and bad. Definitely would recommend. It’s short too so def a quick read.
August 28, 2025
Written during the Great Global Recession,Dignity rings relevant today during the Global Covid Pandemic. A book about a leader shepherding his followers to lead a life of Dignity with out the 3 poisons. One of which is screens. As I type this review on my phone I find this ironic. I hate screens and social media! Good reads the only social media platform I partake in and still people I know find me on here. We just want to not be found sometimes,a theme in the book. Also Veganism is a theme here! Sorry you need animal protein to survive in the wild just unrealistic IMHO. I found the instance in which the protagonist hitches a ride in a hog wagon with the pigs just sniffing him leaving him alone unbelievable. Sorry, pigs are land sharks and probably hungry being in a wagon with no food. They would have ate that motherfucker. That would have been ironic AF!
April 18, 2020
Anprim mind-porn. I enjoyed it, but I'm increasingly drawn to these kinds of narratives and general phobia and disgust with industrial society. (And it's future!)
Well written and good hearted. Worth reading if you've been feeling the creeping toxicity of modernity.
Well written and good hearted. Worth reading if you've been feeling the creeping toxicity of modernity.
July 20, 2020
A transcendent work
Layne has Arran epically transcendent book, alive with a vision of what might befall our ruined nation and a true roadmap to a better way of life. A powerful work, filled with hope and warning.
Layne has Arran epically transcendent book, alive with a vision of what might befall our ruined nation and a true roadmap to a better way of life. A powerful work, filled with hope and warning.
October 16, 2020
Reads like scripture, which in this case is comforting.
June 8, 2021
It’ll be no surprise to any readers/listeners of the Desert Oracle but this a beautiful, quiet, inspiring work. The natural heir to Edward Carpenter, John Muir and Edward Abbey.
July 22, 2024
An apostolic story of a man who just wanted to live outside of society
August 10, 2024
Both too realistic to be scary and comforting. Makes one fear the overreach of an over zealous government and gives enough hope that with communities of support, the kids are going to be alright. One of my new favorite authors.
July 9, 2011
In Post-TARP America, Eco-Jesus comes to California and leads his disciples into the wilderness, where they take over abandoned housing tracts to build socialist utopias.
Dignity is a collection of the epistles of "N" (Eco-Paul) to the fledgling communities founded by "B" (Eco-Jesus). Like his Biblical counterpart, N encourages these congregations to keep the faith, and lectures them sternly on those rare occasions when they deviate into heresy. Unlike Paul, N is a also an original disciple, so shares stories of the early days with B and their persecution by theRomans LAPD and the shadowy government agencies that see insurrection in nonconformity to the consumer culture (I had to Google "Use Tax"). The cellphone plays the part of Eco-Judas, betraying the location of its users to the all-seeing government.
The religious character of these communes helps encourage the suspension of disbelief, since socialist communes generally only succeed when they are religiously motivated. The believers must renounce cell phones, computers, and television. They must be vegetarians (but are not required to be vegans). They must take communal meals together and celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. Divorce is permissible only when there are no children or violence is involved, and even then, one or both divorcees must leave the commune. People who fail to conform to the society are cast out. These are not groups of Bohemians freeloading off the bounty of Mother Nature, but hard working disillusioned pioneers reclaiming land almost ruined during the long fever of consumption.
Layne's utopia-from-the-ashes-of-civilization glides over most of the difficulties (the disciples are all city born and bred professionals yet simply plant a few "organic seeds" and suddenly there is food for everyone; the meth labs and looters infesting one complex melt away without causing trouble; B can always get in touch with the people he needs in spite of his rejection of modern communication), but this is no insurmountable objection: N is writing to encourage the faith of the new communities, so would avoid discouraging topics. The time frame, though, seems compressed. The first few years are a disaster, with community after community being abandoned. Nevertheless, by the end of the book, the next generation has grown up in the safety and shelter of the new religion. In the meantime, persecution comes to a halt because society has collapsed (the great cities are burning themselves out in riots) and because the final renunciation of GPS enabled technology blinds the previously omniscient government. Nowhere is there any discussion of guns in this decentralized utopia -- which makes sense initially since stockpiled weapons give the ATF a pretext for taking out communes, but ought to create other problems for communities living beyond the police state, especially once all order breaks down.
The style of writing and religious parallels made Dignity interesting. My real difficulty is the central message that America's ills could be solved if only all the city dwellers put down their cellphones and became organic farmers. Even if we could try a Cambodian-style de-urbanization, it's unlikely we could feed our population, let alone export food to a hungry Third World. Implicit in these back-to-nature solutions is that some portion of our population (and more when we consider the world) will starve to death during the transition because we will be well above the carrying capacity once we roll back the Green Revolution. So, if the "true" carry capacity of the world is a billion people, 5 billion will have to starve. A select few will survive, of course (perhaps 144,000 believers?)
As Post-Apocalyptic literature goes, the Apocalypse content was quite low.
As a Cautionary Tale, warning of the "Three Poisons" of modern life, I don't think it will tempt any Goodreads patrons to give up their computers and eReaders.
As a blueprint for future Utopias,the solution (creating your very own a third world village) seems worse than the problem.
But it is a thought provoking book, written in an interesting style, with all sorts of Biblical parallels -- it was worth the $2.99 I paid for the Kindle edition.
Dignity is a collection of the epistles of "N" (Eco-Paul) to the fledgling communities founded by "B" (Eco-Jesus). Like his Biblical counterpart, N encourages these congregations to keep the faith, and lectures them sternly on those rare occasions when they deviate into heresy. Unlike Paul, N is a also an original disciple, so shares stories of the early days with B and their persecution by the
The religious character of these communes helps encourage the suspension of disbelief, since socialist communes generally only succeed when they are religiously motivated. The believers must renounce cell phones, computers, and television. They must be vegetarians (but are not required to be vegans). They must take communal meals together and celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. Divorce is permissible only when there are no children or violence is involved, and even then, one or both divorcees must leave the commune. People who fail to conform to the society are cast out. These are not groups of Bohemians freeloading off the bounty of Mother Nature, but hard working disillusioned pioneers reclaiming land almost ruined during the long fever of consumption.
Layne's utopia-from-the-ashes-of-civilization glides over most of the difficulties (the disciples are all city born and bred professionals yet simply plant a few "organic seeds" and suddenly there is food for everyone; the meth labs and looters infesting one complex melt away without causing trouble; B can always get in touch with the people he needs in spite of his rejection of modern communication), but this is no insurmountable objection: N is writing to encourage the faith of the new communities, so would avoid discouraging topics. The time frame, though, seems compressed. The first few years are a disaster, with community after community being abandoned. Nevertheless, by the end of the book, the next generation has grown up in the safety and shelter of the new religion. In the meantime, persecution comes to a halt because society has collapsed (the great cities are burning themselves out in riots) and because the final renunciation of GPS enabled technology blinds the previously omniscient government. Nowhere is there any discussion of guns in this decentralized utopia -- which makes sense initially since stockpiled weapons give the ATF a pretext for taking out communes, but ought to create other problems for communities living beyond the police state, especially once all order breaks down.
The style of writing and religious parallels made Dignity interesting. My real difficulty is the central message that America's ills could be solved if only all the city dwellers put down their cellphones and became organic farmers. Even if we could try a Cambodian-style de-urbanization, it's unlikely we could feed our population, let alone export food to a hungry Third World. Implicit in these back-to-nature solutions is that some portion of our population (and more when we consider the world) will starve to death during the transition because we will be well above the carrying capacity once we roll back the Green Revolution. So, if the "true" carry capacity of the world is a billion people, 5 billion will have to starve. A select few will survive, of course (perhaps 144,000 believers?)
As Post-Apocalyptic literature goes, the Apocalypse content was quite low.
As a Cautionary Tale, warning of the "Three Poisons" of modern life, I don't think it will tempt any Goodreads patrons to give up their computers and eReaders.
As a blueprint for future Utopias,the solution (creating your very own a third world village) seems worse than the problem.
But it is a thought provoking book, written in an interesting style, with all sorts of Biblical parallels -- it was worth the $2.99 I paid for the Kindle edition.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2011
High on schtick, and low on any of the other elements you need to keep the reader going through 157 pages. No sense of story, no tension. Mind you, some of Dignity's short comings are indeed structural; as a series of letters written in the first person, the character rendering is by necessity superficial. The point of view of the protagonist is, given the circumstances of the plot, imbued with self-serioussness and utopian purpose. As such, there are often some very trenchant insights on the failings of early 21st century American society-the "three poisons" of internet usage, consumer credit, and the 24-hour news cycle-alongside the compelling visual of mile upon mile of abandoned housing tracts repurposed as intentional communities. But if repetition of utopian narratives is indeed all there is to this work, then it could stand to lose about 40 pages or so, or be presented instead as an online serial. If it had more of a sense of humor about it itself (which, to my great disappointment, it does not), a serialized version of Dignity would totally be at home on McSweeneys.
But instead, it winds up reading more like a high concept, post-modern version of The Turner Diaries for the Occupy set. I definitely expected more.
But instead, it winds up reading more like a high concept, post-modern version of The Turner Diaries for the Occupy set. I definitely expected more.
August 30, 2011
Written as a series of letters to various communities in the California and Nevada deserts in the near future, Dignity imagines a scenario for returning abandoned subdivisions into little Edens where people abandon computers for gardens and consumption for reuse. While the narrative is a times a bit forced and the targets often too broad, Layne succeeds in moving his focus from this fringe group philosophies down to details of their lives while keeping a brisk pace. It's a quick read, and you can sense Layne's need to write through the questions that we all have about how we have been living at the turn of the century. But I also hope he has a secret longer version of this novel that he will work on at intervals over the next decade that will go into more detail about how some of the communities succeed and some fail.
July 7, 2011
Layne weaves a narrative about refugees of an economic collapse taking up residence in abandoned, half-finished housing tracts, who learn how to live off the land with a sense of spirit and community that has all but vanished in the West. Dignity channels the likes of Thoreau and other transcendentalists, presenting an optimistic, near-future while reflecting a dark and tawdry present. The book is written in stellar clarity and dispenses pieces of wisdom and common sense through out.
Dignity's epistolary style takes a little getting used to but is worth the initial acclimation.
Dignity's epistolary style takes a little getting used to but is worth the initial acclimation.
December 9, 2013
A good book told through missives. Some old lefty tropes and the idea of growing all your own food rather easily in some desert hellhole like Victorville are a wee bit unrealistic but its short and I was entertained. The idealistic southern californian kid in my head was patted on the head. Listened to Calexico while I read - this is recommended.
November 1, 2011
Beautiful. I love the occasional formality and deliberateness in the language. It's just gorgeous, and amazing. It really makes me want to consider my priorities, how I want to live my life, what I want from my life. Everyone should read Dignity, and think.
September 10, 2011
Reminiscent of Paul writing to 1st century Christian communities Layne writes with some optimism of communal life springing from a collapsed society. A simple but sweet ethos guides the early settlements built over abandoned housing tracts.
March 26, 2012
Way different than Dot Con. Awesome.
October 18, 2015
partially a hippie feel-good utopia. but also partially a beautifully lucid bit of writing.
March 5, 2012
I love Ken Layne's blog - religiously read it. But this book is near-unreadable gobbledegook....original concept, but probably belongs better in a museum display case than library
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews