Appliance by J O Morgan - Nov 2024 Book Group choice
8 watchers
Nov 2024
9:46pm, 19 Nov 2024
54,736 posts
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McGoohan
Well, I picked this and I suppose I was persuaded by the blurb that says 'Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction 2022'. I was expecting some depth. The set-up is a sort of what-if scenario. What if the transporters on Star Trek were real and became an everyday household object. Plenty of scope there for considering the ethics and application of this. And I think that's what J O Morgan thinks he's done. Well, I thought this was bollox. It's basically eleven very slender short stories with puddle-depth insight. Each one pussyfoots around the subject and actually says nothing at all. Structurally, a lot of the stories are the same, consisting of two points of view: usually an antagonistic one attacking the new tech in some way, and a calmer or indifferent one very mildly arguing back. Unlike Westmoors, I didn't even like the one with the two kids because I found their voices unconvincing. What age were they supposed to be? They spoke like no kids I've ever heard. Oh, and the first chapter. Mr and Mrs Pearson. I suppose he was trying to capture the feel of a 1950s kitchen sink drama, but the two characters were like Terry Jones dressed as a housewife in Monty Python. I gave this a three out of ten. Quite generous of me I thought. |
Nov 2024
5:30pm, 23 Nov 2024
15,879 posts
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Little Nemo
I didn't expect to enjoy this book as it's just a loosely connected series of short stories. I normally struggle with short stories as I feel I can't really get into them before they're finished. Also this is one of those books where large parts are unexplained which can be annoying. However, I unexpectedly really enjoyed it! I didn't mind that the device isn't really explained in any rational way. Everyone seems to accept that it just works even if they don't understand how. It reminded me of how technology and science is viewed a lot of the time now. A lot of people can't really explain exactly how airplanes fly, or TV works but they are such everyday things now that they are taken for granted. I liked the way we got different aspects of the evolution of it in the stories. It seemed to start off in the 50s/60s and by the end felt current or maybe slightly in the future. I liked some of the theoretical issues raised - is it the same painting once it's gone through the machine? Do all the books arrive with all their text intact, how would you check this? Are there really no accidents or are they covered up as implied because the world wouldn't cope with knowing the truth? Not every story worked, I felt the one with the code being hacked was the weakest one. Probably because I used to work in IT and this felt like it was written by someone who doesn't really understand this aspect of computers. My favourite story was the kids on the runway, something about testing a toy plane on something that has become completely redundant was a beautiful image. It felt like an ominous end that echoes how I feel about Elon Musk et al - we're going to take all our shit and pollute the moon and Mars instead of fixing the Earth which is a sad and bleak thought  This book gave me lots to think about and I'll look out for his other books as I liked his writing style. I gave this book a 7. Now off to see why McG hates it and if I'm an outlier again!
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Nov 2024
5:33pm, 23 Nov 2024
15,880 posts
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Little Nemo
Ooof, a lot of hate! Well, I enjoyed it anyway
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22 Apr
5:01pm, 22 Apr 2025
73,789 posts
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LindsD
Didn't realise I was so far behind with this one. Thought it was about Feb. Was worried as had seen some negative chatter on the main forum, mostly McG beating himself up about his choice. Had a bit of a false start where I read the first chapter then gave up for a while. However... I liked this. I was unprepared for the short-story-on-a-theme nature of it, but once I got used to that, I liked some stories well enough, and some I really liked. I liked the one about the translator, unsurprisingly. It was a bit clumsy sometimes, but it made me think, and I liked the way it obliquely pointed out issues whilst ostensibly discussing the appliance network thingy. I gave it a 7. |
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22 Apr
5:04pm, 22 Apr 2025
73,790 posts
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LindsD
Me and @Little Nemo against the world!
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22 Apr
5:12pm, 22 Apr 2025
17,075 posts
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Little Nemo
Yay!
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