Matt McAvoy Book Review

A very well written book, with strong, not-so-subtle social metaphors for the way humankind lives, not just now, but throughout the history of the species.  This future-fiction offering starts with the hypothetical premise, how would mankind live if we could take all the lessons learned and be reborn as a species and a society.  The answer, in this book, turns out in fact to be not all that different at all, in the grand scheme. 

Perhaps predictability, this commentary at first takes a very socialist – communist, in fact – approach to the perfection of our covenant.  Of course, to the reader looking in, this in reality appears as something of a nightmare.  In this narrative, when one (just one?  Probably not, as it turns out) citizen of the fabricated, forced Utopia finds himself immune from the bio-oppression used to ensure peaceful society, free of independent thinking and emotional response which was so harmful to the “Ancients” (us, alternatively in this book referred to as the “Fools”), then the whole house of cards reveals itself as precarious as it clearly is.  Of course, this book is social satire, which increasingly hints at a political leaning as the story arc proceeds – though, from which end of the spectrum is admirably ambiguous by the author.  This could so easily have turned into the political rhetoric which is currently trending with authors, with finger-pointing at extremists on either the left or (more commonly) right poles, but, to its credit, it seems to do both – and in that respect, its views of the downfall of society, based on this growing and inevitable division, is probably not far wrong.

I’m probably painting the book as pretty heavy going, but whilst undeniably intellectual, for the most part it’s pretty easy, relaxing reading.  It doesn’t probe the depths of despair, such as a narrative like 1984, but does subtly mirror some of its socialist fantasy.  And, in general, with no disrespect meant to the author, some of it is probably intentionally a little bit silly.  The character names are very tongue-in-cheek, and much of the developing story starts to lean toward a bawdiness more in common with a saucy sci-fi comedy.  But there is absolutely no denying the author’s credentials, nor the quality of his writing, nor indeed that this is relevant observational literary fiction.  It has a prominent message, though I will confess that exactly what that message was I have probably dumbed down to its most simplistic, for the purposes of this review.

A pretty decent book, if you like socialist satire with a touch of self-deprecating humour in the mix, by an undeniably well qualified author.