The Unit
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Book Type: Paperback
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Book Type: Paperback
The perfect read for anyone who didn't find Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let Me Go" quite depressing enough ...
In Holmqvist's dystopian Sweden, women who reach the age of 50 (or for men, 60) without fulfilling certain criteria that prove that they are "needed," or useful to society -- producing children, establishing a committed relationship, and/or maintaining a career that is deemed productive -- are hustled off to a luxurious concentration camp where they will spend the final months of their lives participating in increasingly intrusive medical tests and drugs trials, ultimately donating their organs to those their society does not consider "dispensable."
As you have probably already guessed, this requires an Olympic Gold Medal standard of suspension of disbelief ... but I'm here to say that it's well worth it. This is a different sort of "Scandi noir": it's a fable or thought experiment about the value of any one individual to his or her society (whether you define that society as the State, or your local community, or even your immediate network of family/friends). It is beautifully written (and translated) and, in the end, unbearably poignant.
There are so many layers to be peeled away, as you read, and as you think about what you have read. Some reviewers have pounced on it as a dire warning of what we might be letting ourselves in for with a welfare state, like Sweden's cradle-to-grave support system: "hey, you lefties! This is what you get with socialized medicine!!!" Well, maybe: you could also argue that this is what you get without socialized medicine: "hey, grandma, you need that hip replaced? Diabetes medication? Chemotherapy? Well, tough: quite frankly you're not worth the investment ..." Take your pick ...
Or the interpretation could be more subtle than that ... and more personal: how do we value ourselves as we get older? Do we buy into society's obsession with youth, and with "romance" (you are less than a real person if you're not in a relationship). What can we do with our lives that is of value ... how do we leave the world a better place than the way we found it.
Highly recommended.
In Holmqvist's dystopian Sweden, women who reach the age of 50 (or for men, 60) without fulfilling certain criteria that prove that they are "needed," or useful to society -- producing children, establishing a committed relationship, and/or maintaining a career that is deemed productive -- are hustled off to a luxurious concentration camp where they will spend the final months of their lives participating in increasingly intrusive medical tests and drugs trials, ultimately donating their organs to those their society does not consider "dispensable."
As you have probably already guessed, this requires an Olympic Gold Medal standard of suspension of disbelief ... but I'm here to say that it's well worth it. This is a different sort of "Scandi noir": it's a fable or thought experiment about the value of any one individual to his or her society (whether you define that society as the State, or your local community, or even your immediate network of family/friends). It is beautifully written (and translated) and, in the end, unbearably poignant.
There are so many layers to be peeled away, as you read, and as you think about what you have read. Some reviewers have pounced on it as a dire warning of what we might be letting ourselves in for with a welfare state, like Sweden's cradle-to-grave support system: "hey, you lefties! This is what you get with socialized medicine!!!" Well, maybe: you could also argue that this is what you get without socialized medicine: "hey, grandma, you need that hip replaced? Diabetes medication? Chemotherapy? Well, tough: quite frankly you're not worth the investment ..." Take your pick ...
Or the interpretation could be more subtle than that ... and more personal: how do we value ourselves as we get older? Do we buy into society's obsession with youth, and with "romance" (you are less than a real person if you're not in a relationship). What can we do with our lives that is of value ... how do we leave the world a better place than the way we found it.
Highly recommended.
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