Favourite dystopian fiction?

LionelNashe · 27-07-2017 8:10pm #1

For me it would have to be 1984. I read it by the light coming into my bedroom from the landing when I was in my early teens. Some heart-breaking/gut-wrenching stuff.

I wonder if the first Dark Tower book by Stephen King qualifies as dystopian? It's not our future, but it's a pretty bleak picture of a world that has moved on. I re-read that lately and really enjoyed it.

All the other examples I can think of are films, rather than books.

Ipso · 28-07-2017 6:04am

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Special Circumstances · 28-07-2017 6:18am

The Indo

Malayalam · 28-07-2017 6:35am

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. I haven't seen the tv version, would love to. Very prescient in terms of fallout from ideological war. Lionel Shriver's The Mandibles is another very interesting dystopian work, not as brilliant but more recent. She predicted Donald Trump as POTUS and her editors almost succeeded in getting her to change that as they said it was too incredible

judeboy101 · 28-07-2017 6:52am

The man in the high castle, not sure it qualifies?

Joe_ Public · 28-07-2017 4:30pm

Not particularly a fan of the genre, but love the novels and stories of JG Ballard. I think he had a bit of a twisted mind (you'd need it to have written Crash) but it helped him write great books with great narrative sweeps and lots of dark humour. Still can't get with The Atrocity Exhibition, mind!

Wyldwood · 28-07-2017 7:37pm

Atwood wrote some great dystopian novels but The Handmaid's Tale is superb and terrifying and not too far off the treatment of women in some parts of the world today. I'm really enjoying the televised version also.

evolving_doors · 28-07-2017 7:48pm

Brother in the Land

Had it read to us in school (primary school !). Now that I think of it it was pretty bleak (post nuclear apocalypse, Lord of flies meets Walking dead!). Just the shock we needed to realise how important family was and how society can break down pretty quick.

I have to chuckle when I see secondary students walking around clutching their Hunger Games and Maze Runner dross.
In my day....

Must read it again

Manach · 28-07-2017 7:49pm

Slightly tongue in cheek, any Star Trek novel. Other than that, Fallen Angels by Larry Niven where the Greens take over and ruin the planet.

LionelNashe · 28-07-2017 11:28pm

Ipso wrote: »

The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Have read the Crossing trilogy, and No Country for Old Men. I really like the prose style. Nobody else would have the audacity to write sentences as stark and brutal as he does.

Malayalam wrote: »

The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. I haven't seen the tv version, would love to. Very prescient in terms of fallout from ideological war. Lionel Shriver's The Mandibles is another very interesting dystopian work, not as brilliant but more recent. She predicted Donald Trump as POTUS and her editors almost succeeded in getting her to change that as they said it was too incredible

Only realised yesterday, when googling, that this was a dystopian novel. From the title, I had assumed it was a hitorical romance or something similar.

judeboy101 wrote: »

The man in the high castle, not sure it qualifies?

I liked the TV version, especially season 1, and the Japan-isation of the west coast of the USA. Wasn't so impressed with the novel, plot-wise.

Mr.Nice Guy · 29-07-2017 12:34am

I thought Brave New World was good and held up pretty well considering it was written in the early thirties.

OwaynOTT · 02-08-2017 10:14pm

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I thought Brave New World was good and held up pretty well considering it was written in the early thirties.

Started reading it for the first time in work the other day and so far I would agree.
Farenheit 451 for a classic book. And wool by Hugh Howey was quite good but the two other books in that trilogy didn't blow me away.
So much dystopian fiction nowadays though. Nearly every second young adult book is dystopian.

OwaynOTT · 02-08-2017 10:20pm

LionelNashe wrote: »

For me it would have to be 1984. I read it by the light coming into my bedroom from the landing when I was in my early teens. Some heart-breaking/gut-wrenching stuff.

I wonder if the first Dark Tower book by Stephen King qualifies as dystopian? It's not our future, but it's a pretty bleak picture of a world that has moved on. I re-read that lately and really enjoyed it.

All the other examples I can think of are films, rather than books.

I wouldn't really count it but The Stand would fall into the category for me.

quickbeam · 02-08-2017 10:24pm

One of my favourite genres.

I love:
Day of the Triffids, and in fact, a lot of John Wyndham's output.
On the Beach, Nevill Shute
I Am Legend, Richard Matheson

As well as some already mentioned (eg: Handmaid's Tale, The Stand).

Will follow thread eagerly for more recommendations.

Jimbob1977 · 02-08-2017 10:26pm

Brave New World

Fahrenheit 451

Fatherland

Animal Farm

A Clockwork Orange

alchemist33 · 02-08-2017 11:22pm

Fahrenheit 451 stands out for me.

A problem I have though (particularly with The Handmaids Tale, maybe as its the last one I read) is that the genre presents vivid bleak perspectives but the story is often lacking. Handmaid didn't really go anywhere, except developing some of the society, until the last chapter.

PuppyMcPupFace · 24-08-2017 5:10pm

Hi all. I've just reread the Handmaids Tale after the tv show. Brilliant but bleak.

Thargor · 24-08-2017 10:22pm

The Road has to be the pinnacle of dystopian fiction tbh, its so utterly bleak it affects you emotionally as you read it, John Hillcoat absolutely nailed it with the film aswell, it has to be one of the best book to screen adaptions ever made. I just wish they'd gone into more detail about the disaster and its effects on the wider world but I suppose the not knowing was part of its theme.

PuppyMcPupFace · 25-08-2017 5:47am

Would anyone class The Stand in this category? I've often thought so. Great book.

GLaDOS · 25-08-2017 10:26am

I'd consider the likes of The Stand and The Road to be post-apocalyptic fiction as opposed to dystopian, as it's a case of society being destroyed and attempting to survive and/or rebuild.

Dystopian for me would be 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, where society is still there, but has mutated into something terrible.

Maybe I'm being pedantic though.

MadamRazz · 25-08-2017 10:39am

I loved Swan Song by Robert McCammon
The Year of The Flood by Margaret Atwood would be another one to try.

LionelNashe · 25-08-2017 12:39pm

GLaDOS wrote: »

I'd consider the likes of The Stand and The Road to be post-apocalyptic fiction as opposed to dystopian, as it's a case of society being destroyed and attempting to survive and/or rebuild.

Dystopian for me would be 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, where society is still there, but has mutated into something terrible.

Maybe I'm being pedantic though.

I'd never thought of it like that but I think it's a useful way to look at it

The Nigerian Prince · 25-08-2017 12:44pm

LionelNashe wrote: »

Have read the Crossing trilogy, and No Country for Old Men. I really like the prose style. Nobody else would have the audacity to write sentences as stark and brutal as he does.

Been meaning to read Blood Meridian. Not dystopian but it does have a grim, stark view of the world and humanity as a whole.

wreade1872 · 09-09-2017 2:00am

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, which was the inspiration for 1984 is rather good. If you've seen films like Equalibrium or Aeon Flux you'll recognize elements of it there too.

Paris in the Twentieth Century, the lost Jules Verne novel is pretty interesting. Not saying its great but interesting to see Verne's idea of a dystopia. I thought it seemed a lot like the real 1980's

.

H.G Wells, The Shape of Things to Come is pretty interesting too. Its quite dry though, its basically a history book but of a fictional history. Its a dystopia which becomes a utopia through mass murder and the control of the earth by a co-op of air-force people.

thegreengoblin · 18-09-2017 9:42pm

I loved The Road, it really hit home.

But if I had to pick one I'd go for the Wool trilogy by Hugh Howey. It's an immense story, which sucks the reader in from the start. Howey has a great talent for making you want to turn the page fast but at the same time leaving you fearful of what you might see. Hugely enjoyable.

the purple tin · 28-09-2017 12:06am

Children of Men by PD James.

fisgon · 12-10-2017 9:44pm

The Mandibles, by Lionel Shriver (of We need to talk about Kevin fame).

Entertaining, hilarious at times, troubling, inventive. Focused on the US and a collapsing economy.

spurious · 12-10-2017 9:47pm

Loved 'Fahrenheit 451' from the first time I read it, rather a number of moons ago. It would be the book I have read most often.

snowflaker · 12-10-2017 9:50pm

Nineteen Eighty-Four - Greatest book ever written
Brave New World

La_Gordy · 13-10-2017 10:55am

wreade1872 wrote: »

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, which was the inspiration for 1984 is rather good. If you've seen films like Equalibrium or Aeon Flux you'll recognize elements of it there too.

Absolutely agree with We. It's excellent and inspired not just 1984, but many dystopian novels. The bleakness, the rebellion, and the 'living in a bubble' - great themes!

the purple tin · 19-10-2017 1:43pm

spurious wrote: »

Loved 'Fahrenheit 451' from the first time I read it, rather a number of moons ago. It would be the book I have read most often.

I loved the fact that overdoses were so commonplace that they had callout emergency stomach pump technicians. More like plumbers than doctors.
It also coined the phrase 'the fourth wall'
great book.

echo beach · 19-10-2017 2:58pm

the purple tin wrote: »

I loved the fact that overdoses were so commonplace that they had callout emergency stomach pump technicians. More like plumbers than doctors.

Not so far from reality in America now where with the opioid crisis police and volunteers are trained to give antidote injections which are almost as common as sticking plasters in first aid kits in certain areas. It is a far more useful skill than CPR in saving lives.

gogo · 14-11-2017 2:04am

Probably one of my favourite genres, For some reason The Road always comes to mind when I try to narrow down favourites.
Do any of you remember Z for Zachariah? Probably my first dystopian book as a young teen, it clearly left an impact and the fact I can still remember the title after 20 odd years says a lot. Must go pull it out and have a reread, see if it's stood the test of time.

The Late Late Show · 04-09-2019 11:56pm

The Handmaid's Tale
The Postman
Oryx and Crake/The Year of the Flood/Maddaddam
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Blade Runner basis)
1984

And these 2:

Doctor Zhivago
Animal Farm

(it is debatable if these 2 are dystopian entirely but there is a lot of it in there).

Can't wait for The Testaments next week.

JoeCasey · 05-09-2019 12:18am

Olympus (Rise of the Empire) by Ivan Kal
People seem to either love it or hate it.

Sardonicat · 05-09-2019 12:21am

The Late Late Show wrote: »

The Handmaid's Tale
The Postman
Oryx and Crake/The Year of the Flood/Maddaddam
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (Blade Runner basis)
1984

And these 2:

Doctor Zhivago
Animal Farm

(it is debatable if these 2 are dystopian entirely but there is a lot of it in there).

Can't wait for The Testaments next week.

Doctor Zhivago? How is that dystopian?
It's set in Imperial Russia / Soviet Union, up to the aftermath of WWII. It's historical fiction.

H3llR4iser · 05-09-2019 12:26am

Enjoyed the most, probably Neuromancer as I do have a thing for Cyberpunk scenarios.

1984 IS a classic, Fahrenheit 451 present a frankly not so impossible scenario (people read less and less).

Favourite has to be Brave New World, different take on the whole "puppet society" thing and one that somewhat fits the current state of things - people jumping more than willingly into control (recently read of people volunteering to get chips implanted in their arms to open doors, clock in at work etc - somebody even implanted her car key into her) in the name of perceived "safety" ... but mostly laziness.

storker · 05-09-2019 12:31am

Does the Fallout universe/backstory count?

The Late Late Show · 05-09-2019 12:15pm

Sardonicat wrote: »

Doctor Zhivago? How is that dystopian?
It's set in Imperial Russia / Soviet Union, up to the aftermath of WWII. It's historical fiction.

Yes that's what it is. Historical fiction. But the upheaval unleashed on Yuri Zhivago's life always reminds me of how Gilead did same to Offred's/June's life in Handmaid's. WW1 and the Russian civil war/revolution and the poverty in the period after it that DZ shows would be a dystopia but a historical one.

ChrisJ84 · 05-09-2019 2:58pm

Fahrenheit 451 hits close to home, with everyone drowning in endless stimulation, entertainment and trivia. Quite thought provoking for us 21st Century Westerners; if the government was going to take away our freedom that seems like a realistic way to do it.

As others have said, The Road is an absolute masterpiece.

New Home · 07-09-2019 8:44pm

Not sure if the whole book can be described as dystopian, but certain chapters of Cloud Atlas definitely are.

banie01 · 07-09-2019 8:51pm

Judge Dredd, America.

I think the 2000a.d writers have more than a touch of prophet about them in particular their 70's and 80's stuff that was a reaction to Thatcherism and what was then perceived to be "right" wing.

There are so many good Dredd arcs, but America is one that to my mind at least highlights the frailty of democracy.

The Otto Sump stories and many of the Vid pellet stories too, IMO are a good anticipation of celebrity culture and the rise of citizen broadcasting.

Ipso · 08-09-2019 5:48am

I loved On the Beach by Nevile Shute. It’s the end of the world with some dignity, but still very grim.

Paddy Samurai · 11-10-2019 4:19pm

As already mentioned Swan Song and The Road are Top notch.Another one I liked big time was Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky.

Favourite dystopian fiction?

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