Exceptional writer, beautiful and hard-hitting prose. Takes place in a society fueled by fear, which makes the novel more important today than ever. Very edgy. Surprising plot twists and a terrific ending. ( )

It is not about intelligence at all. It is not 'Flowers for Algernon' and does not try to be.
But it is a wonderful retelling of that very old story we all already know.
I actually wanted to know how to retell it in a sci-fi way.
Someone beat me to it, in the 60's.
Damn. ( )

Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch makes for two dystopian science fiction novels in a row. I seem to be reading quite a bit of this stuff lately. I'm not really writing a review of this one--I didn't really like it and I only review books I like. So please don't consider what follows a review.

Written in 1968, Camp Concentration is full of Big Brother type anti-government paranoia. The narrator/hero is serving a five year prison sentence as a conscientious objector for refusing to join the U.S. army. The U.S. is fighting a war against an unnamed opponent but that's just a narrative device to get the narrator in prison--this book is not about the war. Shortly into his sentence, the narrator is taken to a secret laboratory where he is forced to participate in a government experiment to develop a drug that will make people smarter. The drug works but at a price--while those who take it become geniuses, they also slowly die from the side effects. This may sound very familiar to fans of Daniel Keyes book Flowers for Alegernon which was a much better in my view. I've not read it since high school, but all of my friends were very moved by it. In Flowers for Algernon an uneducated, mentally disabled janitor is given a drug that over time makes him a genius. It's written as a first person narrative so the writing itself mirrors this process. The effects of the drug eventually begin to wear off, which we can see in the writing as the narrator returns to his natural state. All of the cool kids at Foothill High School, class of 1982, loved it.

Camp Concentration is an entertaining read, for the most part. It becomes a bit bogged down towards the end when the narrator starts debating politics with the other characters. (I found myself mercilessly skimming--another reason why this is not a review.) Dystopian science fiction is supposed to reveal truths about contemporary society, but it's not supposed to preach it. Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison, which I reviewed yesterday, got a little preachy towards the end too, but the overall novel was a much better read that Camp Concentration. If you happen to be looking for this sort of novel, I'd go with Mr. Harrison's book or with Mr. Keyes's. ( )

Since I first read this book 30-some years ago, it has been one of my favorites. I often wish it had somehow been adapted to a movie. The exploration of what creates creativity and the idea of an AIDS-like(and not so like) virus a dozen years before the epidemic still hold true. It is a dystopian world where the Vietnam war did not die. (President McNamara, indeed-- Too much Rumsfeld in that vision) In some ways, Disch's best, prescient work. ( )

A silly plot, but well written and strangely compelling. You could read this as another salvo in the battle betwixt intellectuals and joe sixpack, like much 'The Ebony Tower' by John Fowles. ( )