Any Dystopian Novels That You Did Not Like

[Julie]

Of course, everyone seems to be talking highly of the dystopian novels that they enjoyed. However, I am curious to see what opinions people have of the ones that they did not like so much.

I am too young in the genre to have very many disliked ones, so I'll let someone else start. Please mark your spoilers if you have any.

[Brandy]

It just felt very formulaic.

[Terri]

I loved that book. I think when it was published (in the 70s) it had more of a stronger feel

[Terri]

I did not like The Road because I felt there was no real hope for a better future.

[Dustin]

Wow, you did not like The Road!?! "No real hope for a better future..?" Maybe the author did that intentionally, as if he's trying to convey something...?

[Terri]

Yes it probably was intentional. I had this discussion with a friend of mine over dinner a couple weeks ago who felt the same as me. Without hope there seemed to purpose to their endless misery. And I really thought the mtoher was the smart one of the bunch. I remember my friend saying even if maybe they found a plant growing or SOMETHING hopeful it would have had a purpose for the misery.

[Dustin]

Hi, Terri! Thank you for your input!!

[Alanna]

Terri wrote: "I did not like The Road because I felt there was no real hope for a better future."

I'm ashamed to admit I never finished it... I promise I'll try again soon.

[Susan]

Alanna wrote: "Terri wrote: "I did not like The Road because I felt there was no real hope for a better future."

I'm ashamed to admit I never finished it... I promise I'll try again soon."

Well, I did finish it, and I have to admit I felt the same way as Terri. Another once I've read recently that I rated much lower than many other readers is Oryx and Crake. And I realized my ambivalence about it may be for the same reason. Maybe I like dystopias where someone has at least a chance to do something about the situation ... the Uglies series is a good example.

[Clackamas]

I didn't like The Road either but not because there was no hope. I didn't like the lack of actual plot or character development. It was just a dude and his kid walking and stuff happening to them... none of the action had a purpose. I don't understand why it's considered one of the "most beautiful" books of all time by so many people.

I also didn't like Huxley's The Island. Although I liked that the "free thinking" island mentioned at the end of Brave New World as the place people who couldn't fit in to THAT society ended up being just as bad as the totalitarian one.

[Jonathan]

I've benefited from every dystopian-themed novel I can think of that I have read, but I suppose my least favorite was written by a writer I find to be one of my favorites, and I actually did like the novel. It was just a little slow/dry at times. That novel is 'High Rise', by J.G. Ballard. The storyline is great. Some of the characters are interesting, particularly the narrator. However, for such a short novel (maybe 200 pages), it dragged in parts, but it was so long ago that I read it that I don't remember those specific parts.

[N.M.]

Clackamas wrote: "I didn't like The Road either but not because there was no hope. I didn't like the lack of actual plot or character development. It was just a dude and his kid walking and stuff happening to them....."

This is true. Though I did like the Road, but mostly because I enjoyed exploring their world. That was what was most interesting to me. The world and the people and the things they would do to survive (or the people they would leave behind when they chose to not continue living this way).

But I can see how others wouldn't like it for that same reason.

[Dana *]

Clackamas wrote: "I didn't like The Road either but not because there was no hope. I didn't like the lack of actual plot or character development. It was just a dude and his kid walking and stuff happening to them....."

I think the same as you regarding The Road. I had to work a lot of extraneous information into the story myself to make it meaningful. I didn't love it anymore after watching to Movie either. I guess if that is the message......

[Misty]

"I didn't like The Road either but not because there was no hope. I didn't like the lack of actual plot or character development. It was just a dude and his kid walking and stuff happening to them... none of the action had a purpose."

I see this in a different way. They left home, whatever that was, because they would not be able to survive there. Their quest was one of survival, and the journey take with them is one in which we see that the world really is a harsh place. We hope that they will, when they get to the ocean, find what they are looking for. But life isn't filled with Hollywood endings, and neither is The Road. There's no light at the end of the tunnel for them, but more tunnel. They are trapped in their existence, as we all are.

The father's focus changes from getting them somewhere better to ensuring that his child survives.

[Michael]

I did not like Mockingjay. I loved Hunger Games, thought book-2 was kind of a replay of book-1, but Mockingjay was over the top with gore and the romantic interplay was ruined at the end. Sigh.

[Hank]

Michael wrote: "I did not like Mockingjay. I loved Hunger Games, thought book-2 was kind of a replay of book-1, but Mockingjay was over the top with gore and the romantic interplay was ruined at the end. Sigh."

Have you read Battle Royale? To me, Hunger Games was just a less entertaining version of BR. Not to say that it was terrible, mind you - Hunger Games was a light, quick read. Which makes sense, being as it was a YA novel.

[Michael]

Back to "The Road" for a moment. I wasn't crazy about the plot or characters, but like the rest of Cormac McCarthy's novels the writing is stunning. I've heard said he's a writer's writer. He comes from a very dark place. I read him just to be amazed by his use of language. Go figure.

[Dana *]

Michael wrote: "Back to "The Road" for a moment. I wasn't crazy about the plot or characters, but like the rest of Cormac McCarthy's novels the writing is stunning. I've heard said he's a writer's writer. He comes..."

I'm not a writer, so maybe that is why McCarthy's style put me off. I stopped reading the book twice because it bothered me so much. The only was I was able to read the book was to get it in LARGE TYPE print, which had none of the formatting.

I did not like The Road because it just didn't seem to have a purpose.

[Dustin]

Hi, I'm sorry you didn't care for The Road, Dana..

[Michael]

I don't blame Dana for not liking THE ROAD because it seemed to lack purpose. Most of McCarthy's novels, to me, seem to lack purpose. I love his writing, but usually feel empty because of the hopelessness he portrays. At least it's literay, well-written hopelessness! :/

[Dustin]

I wouldn't say they lack purpose, but McCarthy's work is quite bleak..

[Sooz]

just butting in here with my own two cents to say The Road isn't really a dystopian novel. (not that it matters and i know this debate has happened before and will happen again. hey this sounds like Battlestar Galactica. but i digress)

back to my two cents on The Road. it really isn't dystopia is it? i mean there IS NO society. it really is an every-man-for-himself post-apocalyptic story. of course that makes no bearing on whether or not you like a book or not ... but ... i think it does have some bearing on the theme of hope. in most dystopian novels there is hope because the possibility of changing things exists. there are powers in place creating and enforcing rules, and the possibility of change exists because those powers can be overthrown and replaced. in The Road there are no powers in place. no rules. it really is every man and son for himself.

i liked what Misty had to say about there not being light at the end of the tunnel - just more tunnel. i think that is accurate in The Road. it will be generations before they have rebuild some kind of society. if they survive that is.

i'd like to add that i think the fact that the boy does end up with a family in the end indicates a lot of hope for the future. it is the beginning of community. we don't survive on our own. we need each other. so while there is a lot of tunnel ahead of them, i do believe they are going to survive and they will create community, and eventually rebuild a society.

[Dana *]

Sooz, that is very interesting. I like your take. So I guess the fact that there are a few organized people, that pick the kid up at the end, doesn't count as a 'society' to make this dystopian? Not trying to be argumentative at all. I just like to hear your opinion.

[Dana *]

Dustin wrote: "Hi, I'm sorry you didn't care for The Road, Dana.."

Yeah, well I stuck with it thru three tries until I could finish it, and watched the movie. It just didn't strike a chord with me like it seems to have with others. for me, the writing style and lack of plot detail detracted from the story.

[Alex]

Personally, I dislikes "The Knife of Never Letting Go"
It was interesting, but i feel I was to excited about another book, possibly.

[Sooz]

Dana wrote: "Sooz, that is very interesting. I like your take. So I guess the fact that there are a few organized people, that pick the kid up at the end, doesn't count as a 'society' to make this dystopian? ..."

i.m.o. one family does not a society make ... but it IS a beginning, which might be why i didn't find it as hopeless as some people. my take on the ending was that while it would take a long long LONG time, humanity would come together again to create community and society would follow. in fact, i felt the author was saying that was the ONLY WAY we would survive. every man for himself doesn't work.

i guess the real question for me at the end of the book isn't IF society will eventually reestablish itself but what kind of society will it be. but that's a different story and to me, The Road ends at the very beginning of it.

you do raise an interesting question though Dana ...
what key elements have to be in place before you can call a group of people a society?

[Kathy]

I just read the first 2 books in The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I have read quite a bit of YA fiction and like alot of it, so I was surprised at how disappointed I was in this. It totally seemed like the author held back for some reason.....is it because it was YA? The story has such an interesting premise, but the books as a whole, so far leave me pretty bored. I gave up after the second book in the series, I'm sad to say.

[Dana *]

THE ROAD SPOILERS IN THIS POST!!!

Sooz,
We also know that there are some 'other' survivors that are organized (the ones that drove the truck and had guns, were rounding up people to eat. And there was the group that ate the baby. I agree that is not a society though. But it shows the elements of society, just not organization. I guess the hope we were supposed to see was that there was a 'good' group also, the one the boy ends up with, that is more like a family or collective with good intent. That is more from the book than the movie.

Maybe we were meant to see the very beginnings of reorganization.... pre-society

[Julie]

I recently finished The Unidentified. While I thought that it had potential, I thought that it fell short into some kind of generic YA dystopian book.

[Renae]

Kathy wrote: "I just read the first 2 books in The Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson Haddix. I have read quite a bit of YA fiction and like alot of it, so I was surprised at how disappointed I was in ..."

Honestly, as a librarian, I'd categorize the Shadow Children series as middle grade, not YA. That may take off some of the dystopian edge. Not so gritty.

[Kathy]

Good point, Renae. That would explain alot. I'm still disappointed, cause there was such potential, but that would explain it.

[Renae]

I am a huge YA fan myself. I have a tough time with the "niceness" of middle-grade books. The edgier the better. Good YA should rival adult lit in quality and character.

[AB]

Same as Renae- I'm not a fan of dystopias that are toned down for younger audiences.

Now, there are a lot of YA dystopian novels coming out, trying to ride on the coattails of The Hunger Games' success, and many of them are very poorly executed. XVI comes to mind... it was very poorly done.

[Renae]

Ags wrote: "Same as Renae- I'm not a fan of dystopias that are toned down for younger audiences.

Now, there are a lot of YA dystopian novels coming out, trying to ride on the coattails of The Hunger Games' su..."

I'm reading Ship Breaker right now, and it is FABULOUS. Very edgy and gritty and wonderful.

[Julie]

Ags wrote: "Same as Renae- I'm not a fan of dystopias that are toned down for younger audiences.

Now, there are a lot of YA dystopian novels coming out, trying to ride on the coattails of The Hunger Games' su..."

That is an issue. Dystopias are hot right now in YA books. That means there will be some very good ones but also a lot of mediocre and bad ones. I'm young, so I read a lot of YA. This habit has exposed me to several of these generic dysopias.

[Niclas]

One of the worst things that could happen to you when you're reading a half-good YA dystopia is that you realize that the story would have a huge potential if it just had those 3-400 extra pages that would make it a huge read.