Daniel Pearlman

It's a marvelous thing when a story takes exactly as long as it needs, and not a sentence longer. In an overpopulated future, natural resources are shared evenly among the billions of people, by a very strict accounting. Having more than one child is strongly discouraged. Nina has just given birth to twins, and is expected to choose one, and surrender the other. She has one hour to decide, with the help of a morally-minded nurse and her husband, Bucky. But she's the one who has to make the show more horrible decision.

Pearlman does a marvelous job of introducing the reader to just enough details of his future to make it comprehensible and real. It's certainly not hard to imagine our world becoming his. He reveals only enough to keep the tension tightly focused on Nina. It's a nail-biter all the way. I think Shirley Jackson would have loved it.

Review copy provided by publisher. show less

It's a marvelous thing when a story takes exactly as long as it needs, and not a sentence longer. In an overpopulated future, natural resources are shared evenly among the billions of people, by a very strict accounting. Having more than one child is strongly discouraged. Nina has just given birth to twins, and is expected to choose one, and surrender the other. She has one hour to decide, with the help of a morally-minded nurse and her husband, Bucky. But she's the one who has to make the show more horrible decision.

Pearlman does a marvelous job of introducing the reader to just enough details of his future to make it comprehensible and real. It's certainly not hard to imagine our world becoming his. He reveals only enough to keep the tension tightly focused on Nina. It's a nail-biter all the way. I think Shirley Jackson would have loved it.

Review copy provided by publisher. show less

It's a marvelous thing when a story takes exactly as long as it needs, and not a sentence longer. In an overpopulated future, natural resources are shared evenly among the billions of people, by a very strict accounting. Having more than one child is strongly discouraged. Nina has just given birth to twins, and is expected to choose one, and surrender the other. She has one hour to decide, with the help of a morally-minded nurse and her husband, Bucky. But she's the one who has to make the show more horrible decision.

Pearlman does a marvelous job of introducing the reader to just enough details of his future to make it comprehensible and real. It's certainly not hard to imagine our world becoming his. He reveals only enough to keep the tension tightly focused on Nina. It's a nail-biter all the way. I think Shirley Jackson would have loved it.

Review copy provided by publisher. show less

Le risorse sono agli sgoccioli: ogni persona é dotata di un bonus traducibile in risorse che impoveriscono il pianeta (dalle bistecche biologiche ai tessuti contenenti fibre plastiche).
Un altro aspetto è la sovra-popolazione: in alcuni casi viene limitata da organismi preposti, in altri casi tassata.
E' il caso della protagonista che deve decidere se e quale terminare dei due gemelli che ha appena messo al mondo, la scelta è difficile, anche a causa del padre egoista e insensibile che non show more ne vorrebbe nemmeno uno.
Il racconto tocca temi attuali e è ben scritto, anche grazie al passaggio tra i punti di vista dei narratori.
L'unica pecca dell'edizione digitale è in alcune parole di carattere più grande delle vicine; potrebbe essere un errore di edizione (e non sarebbe bello visto che il racconto si appoggia a una casa editrice), alla peggio potrebbero essere concetti sottolineati, personalmente non apprezzo quando altri mi evidenziano concetti per loro importanti, è sfiducia nel lettore. show less