Ninni Holmqvist

Although this book was/is thought provoking, it's just too dark and disturbing for my liking. I guess it's a "good" dystopia because the author brings the reader into a world that is sickening, warped, upsetting and sad and raises lots of questions. It's a page turner, that's for sure but I wasn't all that pleased with the ending.

I would also have liked the story to provide some background about how society came to be this way...i.e. believing that children are the primary contribution people make to society. Also, it would have been nice to know if the Unit was only a way of life in Sweden or was the Unit representative of the world?

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What a tale of social engineering! All the independent thinkers are cordoned off from the rest of society yet given complete freedom and pampering which encourages them to accept their situation. I wonder if this is a uniquely Swedish (or European) perspective, indicating what a universal health care and basic economic support system will eventually lead to. I fully expected to find that some of the residents found ways to escape, or that (cynically) we'd discover that recipients of the body harvests were wealthy and influential people. But this turned out to be a tale of people accepting the social norm. Still, there was no real conflict to drive the story forward, so I only rate this a 3 star.
This book was highly recommended to me by a friend who is a midwife & mother of 6. I wonder how that might have made her more appreciative of it's message.… (mehr)

3.75 stars. This book takes place in Sweden, sometime in the near future. Dorret Weger has just turned 50 and must surrender her existence and dog, in order to be remanded to the Unit. 50 year old women and 60 year old men, deemed not needed by society go to the Unit, where they are subjected to various testing and organ harvesting. One is "dispensable" if s/he does not have children or does not create economic growth, so there are many artists and writers. Life is sterile but pleasant for the inhabitants, and Dorrit finds more friends than she has ever had before. Then she falls deeply in love, and miraculously gets pregnant despite her age. Has she become useful now, and what will happen to her, the father and the baby? A sympathetic worker provides her with a means to escape the Unit. Will they break out? What I liked best about this book was the way it conveyed the Swedish view of life, and a myriad of social issues. Excellent job by the translator.… (mehr)