Review of Babel-17

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This classic by Chip Delaney left me more confused than entertained, though the premise that language shapes your brain is a great one to explore. Are you even capable of forming thoughts that you do not have words for? What happens to a person that doesn't know the meaning of the words 'I' or 'You?' as one example.

It's a thriller, but unlike modern thrillers, the prose is extremely hard to follow. A two-page sentence surrounded by several sentences of subtext in the margins will do that to you, especially when followed up by several very short sentences.

Overall, not that exciting, but interesting. I spent most of my time, however, trying to piece together what was actually going on, not because of the mystery aspect of it, but because of the prose itself.



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Review of Cell by Stephen King

Cell by Stephen King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Cell is a good representation of the zombie sub-genre, although the climax was "meh" and predictable. It is also a quest novel, which is somewhat unresolved, but, when you think about it, there are a number of ultimate endings that would work, and I didn't feel the need to choose one in particular.

At the end of the day, it is classic Stephen King, which, in my humble opinion, is always very good. It's just not in the upper tier class of The Dark Tower series, The Stand and 11/22/63. Still, a good, solid effort.



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Review of Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


How do you review a classic?

By today's standards, this novel is very short, probably in the 50-60K range. New writers would fail to get this work traditionally published, solely based on word count alone, but also because it is written in the style of 1950. But this is considered a masterpiece. Just wanted to make that editorial comment.

I don't know if this is a masterpiece, but it probably was groundbreaking at the time. It's about a dystopian society that burns books because it doesn't want the masses to think for themselves. In fact, they'll burn whole houses where books are found. I don't know if Bradbury was the first one to come up with entertainment fake news, but 60-70 years later, we certainly have entertainment fake news.

He completely whiffed on communication devices, but then again who in that era didn't? Ender's Game came out two generations later. But I digress.

I loved the ending, much more so than the beginning. Because of the weak beginning, I gave it 4 stars. But it's still worth sticking with it for the ending.

Anything more I say will be spoilers, and since this is a classic, I won't bother anyway.

Read it for your social literacy alone. It should take you less than 5 hours out of your day.



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