Scan barcode
moongelli's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
AM
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and War
Minor: Body shaming, Confinement, Infidelity, and Self harm
cpardub's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Read this because of a trivia question, and found Ellison’s style very strange. Sci-fi, yet poetic, and with a lot of 2D female characters. It was okay. I liked the titular story and only read the rest to appease my inner completionist.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and Murder
Minor: Infidelity
zakcebulski's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Well, I finally read it. This was one of those short stories that seems to always be near the top of the list for "what's your favorite short story?" (Ask in Ghostface's voice).
So, while I was looking for something to read while proctoring an exam I stumbled upon this story and figured, what better time than now?
The story follows a group of the last five people on Earth after the rest of humanity has been eradicated by a supercomputer named AM (short for Allied Mastercomputer and then Adaptive Manipulator and finally Aggressive Menace). This computer has developed sentience, and despite its vast knowledge it is unable to move, and therefore, unable to explore and quench its insatiable desire for learning.
Because of this it, taking on a near godlike form entertains itself by torturing the five humans who it has granted immortality (but, as it is seen, not indestructability) and are forced to wander aimlessly for years and millennia.
Now, this story, to me, is absolutely horrifying. It is listed as a post-apocalyptic story, and that is absolutely true. However, it is goddamn mortifying from the point of view of the survivors, who are living just because they cannot die. Not only that, but, AM has such a genuine and unshakable loathing and malicious hatred toward mankind that it derives its only enjoyment from torturing humans.
It does this by altering the beliefs and physical forms of the humans. For example, a man named Gorrister was once a positive pacifist who AM changed to be apathetic and overtly negative.
Benny was once an accomplished and dashingly handsome scientist who happened to be gay. However, AM mutated the man to become something between a man and a simian with, no joke, a giant dick. As well, Benny is driven completely mad.
Ellen, the sole female of the group, was once very reserved and chaste, but, AM gave her a pathological sexual appetite, which the other four men in the group commonly take part in with her.
The torture on the humans perpetrated by AM is absolutely hellacious to read. They are tortured because, inadvertently, AM developed sentience.
I had genuine chills reading this story because of the sheer hopelessness and despondence of the characters.
Their only chance for escape, is in death, which AM will not allow them, until Ted, the narrator and youngest member of the group, manages to kill his compatriots in the ice caves.
Because of this unholy and abhorrent, in the mind of AM, transgression, AM traps his final victim in a hell of incomprehensible existence. Hundreds of years pass and in that time Ted is transformed in to a great soft jelly thing incapable of self harm and with a constantly changing perception of time to wander for all eternity. It is the most, to me, accurate depiction of the feeling of entrapment and helplessness. It ends with the title of the story being thought by Ted- "I have no mouth. And I must scream." What a fucking terrifying read this was.
I thought that Ellison's prose was absolutely enrapturing and set the scene perfectly for the horrors throughout.
I adored the way that something as simple as walking was made to feel truly horrific because there was not end in sight. The concept of being stuck and there being no escape is one that makes my heart rate quicken and my palms start to sweat, as someone who suffers from that special brand of anxiety.
I would recommend this story to anyone, as I think it is one of those stories that gets better the more you think about it and it is clear that there are many lenses through which you can view this story through.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infidelity, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
More...