A review by ed_moore
Kallocain by Karin Boye

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

‘“Because then you would see that you’ve been scraped bare, exposed right down to your naked skeleton - and who has the strength to see that? Who wants to see his wretchedness until he is compelled to? Not compelled by human beings. Compelled by the emptiness and the cold” 

Karin Boye’s ‘Kallocain’ depicts a totalitarian society similar in power structures to the Airstrip One of ‘1984’. It follows the development of the drug kallocain that forces those accused to speak the truth, a terrifying decay in free speech and free will.

Leo Kall, the protagonist and inventor of the drug remains loyal to the state however has an Oppenheimer-esque guilt complex that he battles with, this exploring the human reaction to the greater effects of one’s creations, something that could be associated to the development of artificial intelligence in the modern day. A limited pool of characters allowed for good development in a not so long book, though Linda is really given the tougher end of things. 

Boye’s political vision written in the early years of WW2 does a very successful job of exploring the bleak and likely looking future for society in the wake of Nazi power, and can too be reciprocal of the modern day.