What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
Blind Faith
SOLVED: Adult Fiction
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SOLVED. Near-future society where privacy is illegal and everyone is expected to be on social media all the time. Guy doesn't like it, finds subversive friends. [s]
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It sounds like Blind Faith by Ben Elton. At the end just before he is killed, he sees that some people in the crowd are wearing t-shirts with his slogan on, which gives him hope that things may change after his death. Another thing you may remember is that the pavements are covered with floral tributes to the dead, and everyone has avoid stepping on them or risk being lynched!
Isabel! Thank you! Yes, this is the book!I don't recall the floral tributes part, but I do recall his noticing in the end that his ideas were spreading and wouldn't die with him.
It's been driving me crazy for a couple of years now, because every so often this sort of Oversharing-On-Facebook topic comes up in conversation, and I want to reference this novel, but I can't think of the name to reference!
That was remarkably fast solving too! Thanks again!
Also, was there something in there specifically about fast-food (KFC or McDonald's)? Or am I just crossing memories with that old Demolition Man movie where everything had to do with Taco Bell?
I don't remember anything about fast food, but I read it in 2008 so there could be.
I also forgot all about the whole Immunization thing, and the part about being near-naked the whole time. I did find the reference to McDonald's, as the culture prizes McDonald's as fine-dining!
I remember almost everything about the book, except the author/title, of course!
The book was set in the not-so-distant future, in a society where privacy is illegal, and everyone is expected to share all of their feelings and such on their equivalent of facebook, etc.
The protagonist is a married man and a new father, but he doesn't like the extroverted nature of society and basically fakes the blogging/facebooking stuff as little as possible to get by without suspicion. His wife is not happy with him, and they've just had a child together.
They live in an apartment or condo building, and are always expected to check in with neighbors and share all their emotions and feelings and thoughts.
The guy works in an office, where he meets an older man who shares his views. They become friends, and the older man invites him into a secret society or club (a very small one with only a few members), where they keep alive the old traditions (thinking for oneself, reading the banned books, etc).
The guy also meets a girl who shares his views, and falls for her. She eventually gets invited to the secret clubhouse, and becomes part of the club, to the skeptic dismay of some of the members.
This club comes up with a plan to stage a subversive revolution, by plotting to share "the truth" with the brainwashed masses at a big rally that the government is holding. It turns out, however, that the girl is an undercover government agent who made the protagonist fall for her so that she could infiltrate their club and destroy it from within.
In the end, the man is forced to make a public statement that the government is right, but uses the public-statement platform to say a single phrase that he will have time to utter to the crowd before the government cuts off his microphone and (I think) kills him.
He basically sacrifices himself so that he can put the spark of independent thought and freedom into the minds of the masses.
It wasn't a particularly excellent book, but it was very prescient about how our real society is becoming a cult of oversharing facebook addicts who think that they're celebrities and that everyone wants to know what they're up to all the time.
If you have any ideas about this book... author, title, etc, please let me know!
Thanks!