The blurb:
When language is a crime, only the truth can set you free. In the tradition of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, Laura Bynum has written an astonishing debut novel, a bold and incendiary vision of a chilling, all-too-plausible future in which speech is a weapon and security comes at the highest price of all.
Harper Adams was six years old in 2012 when an act of viral terrorism wiped out one half of the country's population. Out of the ashes rose a new government, the Confederation of the Willing, dedicated to maintaining order at any cost. The populace is controlled via government-sanctioned sex and drugs, a brutal police forced known as the Blue Coats, and a device called the slate, a mandatory implant that monitors every word a person speaks. To utter a Red Listed , forbidden word is to risk physical punishment or even death.
But there are those who resist. Guided by the fabled "Book of Noah," they are determined to shake the people from their apathy and ignorance, and are prepared to start a war in the name of freedom. The newest member of this resistance is Harper-a woman driven by memories of a daughter lost, a daughter whose very name was erased by the Red List. And she possesses a power that could make her the underground warriors' ultimate weapon-or the instrument of their destruction.
Review:
A work of dystopic fiction set in the recent future, Veracity paints a picture of a people decimated by a pandemic. The remaining population is ruled by a totalitarian regime that has gone beyond limited personal freedoms. The government controls nearly all aspects of behavior, but most noticeably, the use of language. By blacklisting or "Red Listing" words from the population's vocabulary, the government erases the ideas behind the words from the collective culture. The criminalization of these words is reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984 and an interesting aspect of the novel.
Among the words that were expunged and criminalized:
poem
kindred
heresy
ego
discriminate
apostasy
offline
I thought that the character of Harper Adams was the best part of Veracity. Bynum created a strong and sympathetic heroine in Harper. In spite of her difficult and painful childhood, Harper grew up with a deep sense of integrity and courage. A critical moment occurs when Harper gradually realizes how much she'd lost through the State's censorship.
Overall, Veracity is an unusual and compelling read. I recommend Veracity to everyone willing to imagine a world where our thoughts and words are edited for the greater good.
ISBN-10: 1439123349 - hardcover $25.00
Publisher: Pocket (January 5, 2010), 384 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
About the Author, courtesy of her website:
Laura Bynum was born in Springfield, Illinois in 1968. Childhood plans to be a writer of novels and screenplays and a director of films are currently underway. Laura completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Communications at the University of Illinois at Springfield and Eastern Illinois University respectively. She’s since done some filmmaking (Ugly Girl Productions) and marketing consulting. In 2006, Laura won the Rupert Hughes Literary Writing Award at the Maui Writer’s Conference. As a result, she was signed with the Writer’s House. Her Literary Agent is Dan Conaway and her Books to Film Agent is Sylvie Rabineau of Rabineau, Wachter, Sanford & Harris. Laura’s first novel, Veracity, is due out January of 2010. In the summer of 2008, while moving from Illinois to Virginia, Laura was diagnosed with breast cancer and has since been successfully treated.
Laura’s favorite books are both by Steinbeck- East of Eden and The Grapes of Wrath. Her favorite song is Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel. Her favorite movie is The Quiet Man. She lives with her husband and three daughters in a small Virginia town in the Shenandoah foothills and is currently writing her second novel and first full-length screenplay. Learn more about Laura Bynum's website.
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Thank you to Sarah and PocketBooks for this review opportunity!
I haven't read much dystopian fiction to date but I've got The Handmaid's Tale on the list to read this year. If that goes well, I'll have to check this one out.
ReplyDeleteI love dystopian. Thanks for the review!
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