A review by arireads456
Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach

challenging hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

This book is lovely and I wouldn't have it any other way. It lives in my brain. It is also one of the weirdest books I've ever read in my life. It is very much tied to the time in which it was written, but there are also ideas in it that are only just now getting covered by environmentalists and urbanists. It's also got a lot of things are straight-up unethical, but are given the most ethical justification possible. minor, MINOR spoiler.
SpoilerThe treatment of communities of color is particularly bizarre- they have their own cities to live in, but are not particularly villainized, and this opinion of equitable segregation was likely born out of the author's conversations with the Black Panthers of the time. There are other such cases in this book.
Additionally, the characters in the novel are not characters so much as they are very obvious literary representations of ideas. So though I love this novel, do proceed with some caution.