While I was reading this book, I kept thinking to myself, "This is one weird book!" Now that I am finished with it, I am not so sure. First of all, it is science fiction. It takes place in the future, but not the extremely distant future. The technology necessary to support the plot line wouldn't have to be that much in advance of what is currently available. The weirdness stems in part from the very premise of the book: children who are talented in gymnastics or dance are "recruited" (i.e. kidnapped) and sent to a distant planet to be performing captives for the aliens who live there. The children who aren't good enough to be top quality performers are sometimes placed in cages and given to aliens who care for them as pets. The story revolves around the Lord of the Flies type atmosphere of the group of children who perform, and the main character, who becomes a pet.
Rather than give away the ending, I will simply say that there are many issues that are exposed as you read the book. Obviously there is the pet theme. We keep pets and they are essentially our prisoners. We care for them, keep them healthy, show appreciation for them. But is this ethical?
This book also touches on many other aspects of ethics: is it ethical to kidnap children who are starving on the streets of decaying cities and force them to perform, even if, in doing so, they receive better food, better shelter, better clothing, and more care than they might get on the streets. What if the children become used to it? What if they never protest? What if they do? What if it results, for some, in their deaths?
Then, there are all of the issues surrounding the reason for the captivity and the performances. Why must the children perform daring and dangerous tricks? Is it ethical to feed off of others' emotions? There are many more similar questions that I am not going to discuss explicitly because I can't do so without spoilers.
And a warning: there are deaths in the story - two children fall to their deaths doing dangerous gymnastics or dance stunts and the children all end up killing the man who kidnapped them and held them captive, even though he cared for them. These are not just "in the background" deaths either. They are pretty graphic and scary and should probably be accompanied by a thorough discussion.
In fact, this book is teeming with questions about society and possible future societies. It would make a very interesting book for discussion for groups of (probably gifted) students who enjoy science fiction. One problem, though, would be trying to make sure that, if students are like me and want to read ahead, that they don't allow that to influence the discussion. In fact, this is one of the few books that I would be tempted to tear apart and only hand out to the students one chapter at a time.
Another interesting aspect of the book is the patois that the children speak. There is a glossary in the front of the book, rather than at the end - and it is needed. This is probably one major reason why I would NOT recommend this book for most kids - it is simply too intimidating to read. It is also probably a major reason why I have never heard anyone talk about the book. It is challenging - in many ways.
I suppose, in the end, it is not really a great book - it isn't lyrical prose, the characters don't pull at your heartstrings across the ages. But it sure is an interesting one and one I am glad I have read. I would be very curious to know what a group of middle school or older gifted kids would make of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment