Rating: 2, not recommended Recommended By: io9
A man in a future, security obsessed America longs for freedom, but lacks the courage to defy the security guards at the subway entrance.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
The premise is painfully silly, and it's impossible to suspend disbelief. All travel in America is by subway--nationwide--all else is outlawed. Not only does the government scan everything going into the subways, it magically transforms objects from dangerous into safe. The protagonist's wife leaves him because he's not man enough to give her "real" things. He flees to China. Learns that China itself set up this system in America. That all the terrorist attacks were a government hoax.
Arguably this is fine surrealist fiction, such as we see from South American writers. However, as Lois Tilton points out, this is a "tell" story, where the narrator talks, but we never feel anything. Also, in good surreal fiction, such as Como agua para chocolate, the surreal elements all symbolize something. Here it all just feel gratuitous.
Arguably this is fine surrealist fiction, such as we see from South American writers. However, as Lois Tilton points out, this is a "tell" story, where the narrator talks, but we never feel anything. Also, in good surreal fiction, such as Como agua para chocolate, the surreal elements all symbolize something. Here it all just feel gratuitous.
