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Monday, December 25, 2006

Book #31 Rash by Pete Hautman

The thirty-first book of this year's book plan was Rash by Pete Hautman. It's a futuristic novel and looks at a world where safety and law have taken over to the extreme. Bo, the protagonist, is a doll but I didn't connect with him as much as I did with the protags in Invisible and Godless. I think the difference was that Hautman had to sacrifice some character in order to develop this new world--the U.S.S.A.

I enjoyed the book...hell, Hautman wrote it and I'd read anything he wrote and probably love it...but it did leave me a little cold. Part of me wonders if that was the intent. This was not a "feel good" book as much as it was a cautionary tale, kind of 1984ish. I would totally recommend it, the writing is up to Hautman's usual wit and strength, but you do need to be in the right mood to read it. A cautionary mood? Perhaps... And maybe this isn't quite the right book for the holiday season.

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