19th - 23rd October.Not my usual sort of thing at all, described by one reviewer on Amazon as "Haunting dystopia of ultimate utilitarianism". And I am sure they thought they were very clever too! It is a difficult one to categorise, definitely not sci-fi in the accepted sense but based on the sort of premise that makes it sci-fi, this isn't helping at all is it? Basically bunch of clones, raised in a boarding school called Hailsham, who will become organ donors when they are adults, but not organ donors that get thank you cards and a box of chocs, organ donors that get buried! It is a very visual book, hence no doubt it being made into a film which has just been released, and although slow compared to my usual slash and grab type of thing it is thought provoking. Will come back when I have finished it and finish this, frankly, brilliant attempt at a review! Finished it, I think the thing I found most irritating was the way most chapters began with "so then such and such a thing happened, but before I can tell you about that I have to go back to two days/6 weeks/half a century to tell you why it happened" I just wanted to scream I don't give a crap, cut to the chase tell me what happened. More annoying was that after all the big build up as a rule nothing, or any great interest, had happened. Yes it was all very futuristic and then at the same time weirdly not - mention of Sony Walkmans, which are no longer being made! - and a warning about what might happen if we dabble in genetics I guess but not as thought provoking as I had hoped.
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