Finished this today. I had a hard time putting it down, although it is very bleak, even for me. I like dystopian novels, but WOW this one is grim. There is a ray of hope at the end, but it's tough to get there.
Here is what I said on Goodreads.
Definitely not a feel good book, but a really interesting read. Scary to think that the world in the novel is a possibility. I have hard time believing that we could ever allow the country to get that bad, but it's not completely impossible.
The environment is pretty much shot to hell, with global climate change causing long droughts and severe storms. The economy is in the toilet, with probably more than 90% of people either dirt poor or severely struggling. What is left of the middle class hides in fortified walled neighborhoods, trying to keep the desperate poor from storming them to steal what little they have left. Even the rich have to live in walled enclaves with state-of-the-art security systems and armed guards. Corporations have turned workplaces into literal places of slavery, with people paid in "company scrip" instead of money. Like the old company stores of the past, the "scrip" isn't enough to live on and cannot be spent outside of the company. When people get in debt to the company they are not allowed to leave and can be traded or sold to other companies. Their children can be taken away as payment.
The first half of the book is 100% bleak. About halfway through, all Hell breaks loose, then some glimmers of hope begin to emerge. Lauren Olamina, the main character, loses nearly everyone and everything from her old life. Her middle class walled neighborhood is stormed by crazed drug addicts and the dirt poor who stream in to attack, steal, rape, burn, and kill. These poor people do not even feel remorse because of the resentment they feel for anyone who has anything. Lauren is left to run for her life and hide in the ruins of the outer neighborhood. Finally, she takes to the road and gradually begins to gather a new group of friends and followers. She's a budding religious leader, who has discovered a new way of looking at God, which may be the philosophy that is needed to save what is left of the country, or to create a new one.
Story continues with "The Parable of the Talents" which I intend to read next.
