You read “The Hunger Games”,”Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay.” You saw “The Hunger Games” movie–six times. Until Suzanne Collins writes another book or the “Catching Fire” movie comes out, how will you satisfy your lust for dystopian literature? You’ll take this handy list of best futuristic dystopian/utopian books to your local library and get busy reading.
* “Brave New World” (Aldous Huxley) Categorically the best dystopian book ever, I didn’t see this when I read it in high school. Rereading as an adult, I find it shockingly prophetic. And dryly funny–that’s a nice element. Science fiction can be pedantic and full of itself. It’s nice to find levity.
* “Walden Two” (B.F Skinner) Skinner gives Henry David Thoreau’s self-sustaining utopia at “Walden Pond” a dark dystopian tweak. Skinner, a behavioral psychologist shows the dangers of psychological experimentation by a too-powerful government.
* “Lord of the Flies” (William Golding) Golding showed how perfect Utopian freedom is corrupted by man’s innate need to dominate and enslave others.
* “Animal Farm” (George Orwell) This story employs dystopian progression (what begins as Utopia becomes flawed dystopia). In a barnyard allegory, Orwell shows that those seeking freedom may in turn control others themselves.
* “1984” (George Orwell) “Animal Farm” identifies problems with anarchy and self-government, “1984” reveals problems with superimposed government.
* “Fahrenheit 451” (Ray Bradbury) This story draws dystopia as a place where books are burned (title refers to the temperature at which book paper burns) and learning is outlawed.
* “The Giver” (Lois Lowry) This tween/ teen book is another dystopian progression story. It shows how a Utopian elimination of pain and suffering could have unforeseen results.
* “City of Ember” (Jeanne DuPrau) Like “The Hunger Games,” this is a post-apocalyptic tween book series. It follows children in a futuristic underground city.
* “A Clockwork Orange” (Anthony Burgess) This novel explores gang violence and drug use in an impulse-driven dystopia devoid of personal responsibility. Unfortunately, the movie based on this book was so sexually violent that it gave the book negative associations.
* “We” (Yevgeny Zamyatin) This novel was written in response to Zamyatin’s experiences during the Russian Revolution. It shows loss of individuality within a state-controlled world and the dangers of totalitarian communism.
Enjoy these novels.
