In the Garden of Dead Cars

by Sybil Claiborne

In a future where survivors of a sexual plague are terrified of human contact and sex has become a capital crime, Emma, the daughter of a feminist physician, embarks on a dangerously criminal journey filled with self-discovery

Genres: Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction

245 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1993

Reviews

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly underrated and under-read.... It reads like a dystopian classic, a well wrought work of art that is thought-provoking, grim, and intelligent with characters that are believable and heroic. While the AIDS epidemic is not as high profile as it was when the book was written, the ramifications of deadly VDs are used to explore sexuality, gender, power constructs and humanity in a new and thought provoking way. I couldn't put it down.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this as a teenager. It hasn't lost it's grip on me. It's written in a way that I felt had the dreamy quality of many of the best female writers of the time. Claiborne may not be as important a writer as the women whose styles she reminds me of, like Walker and Allende, but then she has written far less.

I thought it was a beautiful and sad book. I still have my copy of it, and I still recommend it. I've reread it many times and it's kept it's hold on me.

[Gribblet · Rating 4 out of 5]

All at once sophomoric and stunning. Published posthumously, (and what a loss - it would have been great to read her as she developed) it's got too much Atwood and not enough Sybil in it. But it does make me wonder; as far as I can tell, all apocalyptic literature, even that written by men, is about reproduction, and the limiting of reproductive choices. There's something in that.

[Sierra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claiborne paints a horrific but well versed picture of what life could look like when those in power take the means of reproduction into their own hands. Because of this control, the majority are forced to comply to rules of what they can and cannot do with their bodies and are left with a longing of what life was like when they still had bodily autonomy.

[Lee Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read this book every couple of years for a couple of decades now. It is always thought provoking. Set in a dystopian future, it shines a light on themes like freedom/social control, propaganda, and "progress".

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Showed up in a Little Free Library. This is a somewhat unique version of a future dystopia.

[Bullet · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost never read science fiction, so this was probably a poor choice. But the cover said it was about a world where most of the human population was wiped out by a mutated AIDS virus, and with it comes a "Big Brother" kind of situation, and sex is outlawed. Also, for some reason, all the birds on earth have died, despite still having plants around that are pollinated by avian-types. (The story has a lot of this type of thing)
The first half of the book was like an extended argument with the main character, Emma, and her mother. Just in case you forgot you were reading a book about the future. It repeats over and over again what the world used to be like, when humans were still allowed to have sex.
I won't go into the details and the multitude of contradictions and "why didn't they just ---". I won't even go into the stereotyping of genders that bordered on sexism, even though this is published by a feminist press (maybe because women are more numerous and more "important" than men in this world).
It was just "OK" and I wouldn't read it again or recommend it. Which is too bad because it had a lot of potential.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the Garden of Dead Cars by Sybil Claiborne is an excellent, powerful, interesting, dystopian story set in a near-future world several decades after the AIDs virus has mutated and killed a large percentage of the population. The surviving society in America has strict rules about sexual contact. Rules prohibiting any type of sexual relationships are enforced by the comedians, who have replaced cops on the theory that people need to learn how to laugh again (and bullets were too expensive anyway). Dissidents disappear or are "wrapped" in punishment. Emma is coming of age in this society and is torn between the morals of her radical Mother and those of her friends and colleagues, who just want to get by and get ahead. Emma doesn't care much about politics, but begins to question society when her partner at work disappears and everyone pretends that he never existed. Emma is a sympathetic character, and seeing the world through the eyes of someone who's never known a normal family relationship and accepts society's twisted mores as commonplace is very interesting. Well written and compelling.

[Ursa · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a really interesting book, reminds me of "Fahrenheit 451" by Bradbury. The book explores the idea of a celibate dystopia after a big plague that transmitted through physical and sexual contact and killed half of the people on Earth. Civilization fell apart. Natural conception is prohibited. The government is skeevy and oppressive. People gradually become a shadow of what they were during the gender segration and sex ban. Rather than glorifying sex, Claireborne goes past the physical aspect and dwells in the human's psychological and emotional conditions through the repression of natural desires.

[Stephen Poltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In the Garden of Dead Cars” is a post-apocalyptic novel about humanity after a plague that actually worried me back in the ‘80s, that the AIDS virus would mutate and go airborne. I imagined the world coming to an end a la Stephen King’s “The Stand”. Claiborne imagines something less cinematic but just as dramatic, as the world’s population is cut in half and a fascist government outlaws sexual contact.

Come visit my blog for the full review…
http://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot...

[Zarya Rubin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating dystopian vision of society, told through the eyes of a young girl.