afro8921's review against another edition
4.0
What a strangely bazar and futuristic world Walter Tevis created. It's eerie that he wrote it in the 80's and we have people actively pushing our collective consciousness toward a wordless society where no one reads. It was a good read but, I hated the story line for the main robot.
kiriamarin's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 O livro se passa num futuro distopico realista,talvez o único exagero seja um mundo e sociedade onde robôs criados a partir de tecidos humanos comandam e tomam decisões da sociedade. Dominada por tecnologia, drogas inibidoras de fertilidade e vontade , e conhecimento, onde a introspecção isolamento e privacidade são um dever ,o fim da comunidade. Uma sociedade em que a leitura e a escrita desaparece.
Sinto que o livro não atingiu todo o seu potencial e até um pouco previsível mas tem observações bem interessantes dos valores e impactos da indústria cultural na consciência e comportamento das pessoas.Mas felizmente há sempre um "mockingbird" ou melhor dois na estória,representando pelo improvável casal Paul e Marie Lou que com a ajuda do robô Spofforth,o mais inteligente,avançado e último da sua linha redescobrem a interdependência, emoções e sua humanidade adormecida.
Além do poder da leitura, escrita e memórias para construção da pluralidade social.
"Sinto-me livre e forte. Se eu não fosse um leitor de livros,eu não seria capaz de me sentir assim .Aconteça o que acontecer,graças a Deus eu sei ler,fui capaz de entrar em contato verdadeiro com a mente de outros homens. [...] Pois deve ter sido a escrita, tanto quanto a leitura, que me deu essa forte sensação do meu novo ser"
Sinto que o livro não atingiu todo o seu potencial e até um pouco previsível mas tem observações bem interessantes dos valores e impactos da indústria cultural na consciência e comportamento das pessoas.Mas felizmente há sempre um "mockingbird" ou melhor dois na estória,representando pelo improvável casal Paul e Marie Lou que com a ajuda do robô Spofforth,o mais inteligente,avançado e último da sua linha redescobrem a interdependência, emoções e sua humanidade adormecida.
Além do poder da leitura, escrita e memórias para construção da pluralidade social.
"Sinto-me livre e forte. Se eu não fosse um leitor de livros,eu não seria capaz de me sentir assim .Aconteça o que acontecer,graças a Deus eu sei ler,fui capaz de entrar em contato verdadeiro com a mente de outros homens. [...] Pois deve ter sido a escrita, tanto quanto a leitura, que me deu essa forte sensação do meu novo ser"
anti_formalist12's review against another edition
4.0
The ending is really lovely. The book uses the dystopian trope of "people don't read books anymore and our protagonist knows how to read," but I like how Tevis presents it. People don't read because ingesting someone else's ideas would be a violation of the reader's privacy, and privacy needs to be protected. I thought that was interesting.
pau_coe's review against another edition
challenging
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
alexhempstxck's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
aaronmjnoy's review against another edition
5.0
I am surprised that this 1980 dystopian novel by the author of The Queens Gambit is not more widely read, especially since it is essentially about the joy and power of reading.
Walter Tevis seemed to have a knack for getting screen adaptations out of his books, The Hustler, The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Color of Money, and most recently of course The Queens Gambit. But not Mockingbird, it has fallen into cult status.
It is set in the distant future, humans have become completely stupid solitary beings, who just take drugs and watch TV. The rise of automation, robots to do our jobs, alongside a society strongly focused on the individual and privacy have basically destroyed family and community. People are basically stupid drones who don't understand that they are lonely and often gather in groups and self-immolate. Tevis himself was an alcoholic who went 17 years without writing a book as he struggled with addiction and was already dying of cancer when he wrote this, so death is a frequently explored theme. It's hard not to see some prescience here, it echos the opioid crisis and screen addiction of the 21st century.
We follow mostly two characters. Spofforth, the smartest and most advanced android ever created, the last of his type, a suicidal robot who basically single-handedly keeps New York running, but retains some of the desires of the human whose brain they used to program him and therefore yearns for a life he cannot have, and Bentley, a man who has taught himself to read using an educational film, the first man who can read in hundreds of years and goes to New York to work for Spofforth. We also meet Mary Lou, a girl who does not take the mind-numbing drugs everyone else takes, and therefore attracts the eye of Bentley who teaches her to read too.
This is a novel about how reading teaches us about our past, about how other people feel. That our inactions with each other make us human, make us a society. For me, it is up there with some of the more widely known great dystopian books.
Walter Tevis seemed to have a knack for getting screen adaptations out of his books, The Hustler, The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Color of Money, and most recently of course The Queens Gambit. But not Mockingbird, it has fallen into cult status.
It is set in the distant future, humans have become completely stupid solitary beings, who just take drugs and watch TV. The rise of automation, robots to do our jobs, alongside a society strongly focused on the individual and privacy have basically destroyed family and community. People are basically stupid drones who don't understand that they are lonely and often gather in groups and self-immolate. Tevis himself was an alcoholic who went 17 years without writing a book as he struggled with addiction and was already dying of cancer when he wrote this, so death is a frequently explored theme. It's hard not to see some prescience here, it echos the opioid crisis and screen addiction of the 21st century.
We follow mostly two characters. Spofforth, the smartest and most advanced android ever created, the last of his type, a suicidal robot who basically single-handedly keeps New York running, but retains some of the desires of the human whose brain they used to program him and therefore yearns for a life he cannot have, and Bentley, a man who has taught himself to read using an educational film, the first man who can read in hundreds of years and goes to New York to work for Spofforth. We also meet Mary Lou, a girl who does not take the mind-numbing drugs everyone else takes, and therefore attracts the eye of Bentley who teaches her to read too.
This is a novel about how reading teaches us about our past, about how other people feel. That our inactions with each other make us human, make us a society. For me, it is up there with some of the more widely known great dystopian books.
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
5.0
I read this while I had a temperature, which may not be the best experience for this book, but nevertheless it's gripping and diverting. It's set in a world with a tiny human population, in which almost everything is automated, and humans are encouraged to take drugs in order not to think or feel. The family unit has been abolished, and people are not supposed to cohabit with one another. On of the main rules is, "Don't ask - relax." The story follows three characters: Robert Spofforth, a robot of very high intelligence, and the only being who understands what's going on in the world; Paul Bentley, the last human who is able to read, and Mary Lou, an outcast, one of the few who doesn't take soporific drugs. Paul and Mary Lou become friends, and, through reading, try to understand the history of the world around them, and what events have led up to the world existing in its current state. But Spofforth begins to feel threatened by their actions, and intervenes. Though this novel is gruelling in its depressing view of the world, and in its depictions of the hopelessness of the characters, there is also a sense of love and human decency within this story. It's a bleak portrait of the world, but also one in which change is possible, and Tevis creates a twisted but compelling portrait of the future.
There are a couple of odd notes here. The fact that Spofforth is the only Black character, and that being Black is so noticeable in the far future in which much else has changed, strikes me as not fully thought-through. There is also the inclusion of a religious community living on some kind of nuclear reactor, which feels like it should be part of an entirely different sci-fi story and doesn't belong here. But these elements stand out so strongly because the rest of the book is so carefully judged, and the story feels so balanced.
I don't think this is as good as The Man Who Feel to Earth, but it is very worthwhile, and I would recommend it. Also, to this who need to know: the cat is fine throughout.
There are a couple of odd notes here. The fact that Spofforth is the only Black character, and that being Black is so noticeable in the far future in which much else has changed, strikes me as not fully thought-through. There is also the inclusion of a religious community living on some kind of nuclear reactor, which feels like it should be part of an entirely different sci-fi story and doesn't belong here. But these elements stand out so strongly because the rest of the book is so carefully judged, and the story feels so balanced.
I don't think this is as good as The Man Who Feel to Earth, but it is very worthwhile, and I would recommend it. Also, to this who need to know: the cat is fine throughout.
spinlock's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
carlaabra's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5