Okay, so I know I’m way behind in writing about all my January books – so I’ll try an dget a bit written about each one before the end of the week. (edit: WAY behind. Wow. I’m so bad at this)
The first book I read in January was Stephen King’s ‘Cell. It’s not technically a dystopian novel, as it’s set in the present day? (Well, 2006 – when it was published.) But it has a very distinct dystopian, apocolyptic feel to it – which I loved – very much my sort of thing.
Cell follows the story of Clay, an artist from New England artist trying to reunite with his young son and estranged wife after a mysterious signal that later becomes known as ‘The Pulse’, is broadcast through every cell phone on earth turns the majority of his fellow humans into mindless, animalistic ‘zombies’.
The main bulk of the story is the journey of Clay’s vagabond group of remaining ‘normies’, as they help one another travel north to seek sanctuary and loctae lost loved ones. But it is in no way dull, we meet several new characters and the story developed through a series of mis-informed decisions – super clever 12 year olds and Clay’s unrelenting determination to find out the fate of his son.
I think one of my favourite things about this, and often King’s writing in general – is that we are thrown straight into the action of the story – there was no slow build up, no getting to know the characters before the action kicked off, no lulling into a false sense of security – just BAM. There’s a bloodbath, everything is chaos and Clay is on the run for his life. And that’s all pretty much within the first chapter. I was hooked.
My first impression of the content of the novel was that it was a clever, insightful way of looking at society’s addiction to technology. Everyone you see these days is glued to a molible phone (myself often included in this!) – and that addiction, that dependance, actually becoming the downfall of humanity? Genuis.
We invent all these things to make our lives so much easier, but the fact that we’re still here after never having a scrap of any of these things back in the caveman days goes to show that we don’t necessarily need them.
Even though we were better off, the very things designed to make our lives better and easier being our eventual downfall is a sobering thought – but one that King has so brilliantly dealt with in this novel.
Shortly after we are introduced to Clay at the start of the novel, we meet Tom, a middle-aged, middle class man – who I thought initially seemed weak and easily spooked – but then he soon becomes an essential character within the plot, I would even go as far to say he becomes the backbone of the group that he and Clay form in the immediate aftermath of the Pulse.
We then meet Alice – who is only 15, yet has to narrowly escape being killed by her own mother during the first moments of The Pulse, before finding and becoming an important figure within the dynamic of the initial trio.
Of all the characters, I think I identified with Alice the most, because it was easiest to put myself in her position – being of the same gender and even though I’m a fair bit older now, I can still vivdly remember being fifteen, and I feel like I would have reacted in much the same way Alice does to a lot of the deveopments within the plot.
King writes such a strong, together and headstrong character in Alice, and it was so refreshing to read – as King obviously isn’t a YA author, and you don’t often see such well rounded teenage characters in novels that are mostly geared towards an adult readership.
It would have been so easy to have her be a sort of ‘mascot’ a figure that needed proteection and showed the vulrability of the group – but Alice shines through as a dazzling character in her own right.
Overall, I think – while this isn’t one of my all time King favourite’s (more on those later) – it’s still a bloody good read, and one I won’t forget for a long time to come, and will almost certainly re-read!
The Bookie Monster. 