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Govan Babak

Författare till A-Void

2 verk 10 medlemmar 2 recensioner

Verk av Govan Babak

A-Void (2018) 8 exemplar

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Kort biografi
Babak’s writing debuted in North American Review (“Fighting Fish”), and he was a finalist for a Glimmer Train award. His story “Glow,” published in Palo Alto Review, was deemed “flawless” and “brilliant” by Shenandoah literary review. Babak is also a music artist known as Secret Arcade, whose debut electronic rock album, Quarter Century, skyrocketed on college radio. A Los Angeles native, Babak lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife and children, where he is in private practice as a psychologist. He is the originator of moderative psychotherapy.

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A-Void is one of those “On the Beach” type of stories but in this case it follows an individual navigating a wasteland of human abandonment following a biological apocalypse. Unusually, but perhaps appropriate for a psychiatrist, the story is liberally offset with diagrams. Death by… Could the end of the world work in PowerPoint? Not the world though, just humans, as the bears, elk, gorillas and particularly flies are having a high time of it. After all, there are plenty of human rib cages to nest in. Humans drop like flies but flies don’t drop and appear to be adjusting quite well, which suggests that the flies should adopt the expression “to drop like humans” – oh, how the tables have turned. My first thought was that this story could have had more depth to it and perhaps a few more twists and shocks but in hindsight I can see that if you’re writing about an underpopulated world in which all the hierarchies have collapsed there aren’t enough other characters to fence with or add to the conversation. There is an element of suspense that perpetuates quite well and I think I was supposed to build affinity with the character and care whether he was reunited with his family but I think I didn’t engage because although he held out hope for their survival, I considered the probability to be unnoticeably low. I’m not being particularly critical about this or, indeed, praising to too much either, so it’s alright as a writing project and I particularly liked the spectacle of a ship of the dead sailing in (hope dispelled and only one witness to see it). It’s okay without catching fire.… (mer)
 
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HavingFaith | 1 annan recension | May 29, 2018 |
Wow. This was really quite something. I've read a bunch of dystopian, post-apocalyptic stories before, but A-Void was different. This was one of those books that really makes you question your priorities, makes you do a double take when you think about getting what you wished for.

A-Void takes place in a world that is fast-paced and technology-dependent. It is also a world where everything has gone wrong. Billy Carrington was simply taking a nap, but when he wakes up, he is all alone. Billy has only three things that keep him afloat:
1. His Organelle, a smart device that does everything. (Everything, really.)
2. Cleveland, his dusty Siberian husky.
and 3. a vaccine that could save him and everyone he loves from the disease sweeping Jamestown.
The problem is, things are moving just a little too fast.

This was definitely a crazy story. I won't lie - I was definitely confused several times, as there is a lot of technical terminology - but overall this really felt like one of those books you could read over and over again, and every time you would discover something hidden. The plot was definitely twisted, and I felt like I was trying to keep up, giving me the same feeling of "information overload" that the book was warning against. At the same time, however, A-Void had its moments where you could really take a deep breath and think about how similar the real world was to the world in the story, and it's definitely an eye-opening comparison.

I didn't exactly love the main character, but in this situation, I was okay with that. I had the same sort of emotion I had towards Montag from Fahrenheit 451 or Winston from 1984. They weren't characters I loved or hated - there were bigger fish to fry, more important lessons to take from the book itself.

The writing style was great, and I felt like the author achieved a really interesting balance between writing and experimentation. There were lists, flowcharts, signs, and other different styles that would be very interesting to look at visually. I've always been a fan of these, but due to the nature of the story, I can't help but also feel like they helped provide a sense of novelty and control pace - which is extremely meta, when you think about it.

Overall, this was a pretty quick read, and I'd definitely recommend it to any readers of dystopia or post-apocalyptic novels, maybe lovers of George Orwell or Ursula Le Guin - A-Void is definitely a book that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Hell, read it to your kids to make them too scared to ask for the iPad.
… (mer)
 
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CatherineHsu | 1 annan recension | May 16, 2018 |

Statistik

Verk
2
Medlemmar
10
Popularitet
#908,816
Betyg
½ 3.3
Recensioner
2
ISBN
3