XVI
Julia Karr



rating: 8.5 out of 10 "books"

“Some girls can’t wait to be sixteen, to be legal. Nina is not one of them. Even though she has no choice in the matter, she knows that so long as her life continues as normal, everything will be okay. Then, with one brutal strike, Nina’s normal is shattered; and she discovers that nothing that she once believed about her life is true. But there’s one boy who can help—and he just may hold the key to her past. But with the line between attraction and danger as thin as a whisper, one thing is for sure… for Nina, turning sixteen promises to be anything but sweet.” – Back cover, XVI

As the back cover of Julia Karr’s XVI states, Nina is not thrilled with the idea of turning sixteen. In this futuristic dystopian novel where the Governing Council and the Media controls everything and citizens are bombarded with noise from advertisements and the like 24/7, sixteen is a very important age for females. Sixteen for a girl indicates adulthood, and the legal age for girls to have intimate relations with men. Schools show videos that instruct girls on how to make men happy and “verts,” (advertisements) tell girls, “how popular they’ll be if they dress and act so boys will want to have sex with them” – page 277. However, as exciting as that sounds for girls like Nina’s friend, Sandy, who’s been studying up on XVI Ways learning about what guys like in a “sex-teen” (as sixteen year olds are referred to), Nina knows turning sixteen is more dangerous than liberating. Because at sixteen, girls are required to get a large XVI tattooed on their wrists, and most guys see that as fair game to do whatever with girls and in many cases, without their consent.

Nina and Sandy are considered lower tiered girls. In this version of the future, money is referred to as “credits,” and those with it are considered a tier 10 or higher. The government provides for everyone even those who have no money as long as they agree to government experiments. Nina and Sandy are at a tier 2, and for girls like them there are not many options. Nina can either hope to earn status as a Creative with her artwork, marry an upper tier guy, or enroll in the mandatory FeLS (Female Liaison) program that all lower tiered girls are required to sign up for. Sandy can’t wait to enroll in and hopefully be chosen for FeLS, and escape her lower status, but Nina has reservations as to what the program is actually about. Whereas Sandy’s mom encourages her daughter’s sixteen ways, Nina’s mom instructs her daughter on the dangers of life at sixteen. With Nina’s dad deceased, Ginnie is the only parent Nina has left.

Nina’s life is going ok until major events change everything. With the seemingly impossible prospect of her father being alive, and the threat of her mother’s boyfriend coming after her at every turn, Nina enrolls the help of her friends to discover the truth behind the Governing Council, the Media, and the FeLS program before it’s too late

I thought this was a really great case study if you will, as to what could happen if society really took media portrayals seriously. Karr writes in an interview at the end of the book about how “there is a huge disconnect between the vestiges of our country’s underlying Puritan mind-set regarding sex and the business of selling teen sexuality through media.” It’s already enough that society itself sends girls one message on how to look and act with regards to sexuality; and movies, television, and magazines send girls a completely different message.

I did feel the back cover of this book was somewhat detrimental to the point of XVI. I know that the author did not write it, but whoever included the part that says, “There’s one boy who can help,” kind of missed the point. I saw this book as trying to show Nina as a strong female character, who yeah is dealing with typical teenage hormones but, who doesn’t need a prince charming to save her. To include that line on the back cover kind of drops the book down from “independent woman” theme of the story back to the typical “weak damsel in distress in need of rescuing from a man,” portrayal of women.

The only other major problem that I had with this book was how Karr wrote about sixteen year old girls as if becoming sixteen was like contracting a disease that made girls only want to have sex with every guy in sight. I know that this was the message the girls in this book were getting from the Media, and that was just bleeding through onto the pages when the female characters were thinking or speaking, but it got annoying after awhile. With Sandy basically saying things like “you won’t be able to think about anything else besides sex once you turn sixteen,” I started getting really mad. Especially since this didn’t seem to be the case at all for any of the guys in the story. The author never really included any dialogue that showed how Nina’s guy friends felt about the girls becoming sex-teens, or how they felt about sex at all. It seemed like the guys were the level-headed characters of the story, especially the character of Sal. Nina and Sal would be making out and Nina would be freaking out with thoughts of “oh I’m no better than a sex-teen with my intimate thoughts and wanting to do more with Sal,” while Sal seemed to be all smooth talking and in control, with no resemblance of the typical horny sex-obsessed teenage boy most of us are familiar with.

I really enjoy stories that look at an extreme version of our future if current global practices continue; whether environmentally, socially, politically, etc. If you like dystopian books, or books that portray a very realistic future, I’d recommend (both guys and girls) checking out XVI. In a world where kids can’t wait to grow up, it’s refreshing to read a cautionary story about wanting too much too soon. Although the book mentions sex a lot, XVI is more about the dangers of teenage relations and attitudes towards it, as opposed to an endorsement. Nothing obscene happens, so parents of teenagers rest easy.

The Unit
Ninni Holmqvist



rating: 8.5 out of 10 "books"


I saw a summary for this book on an ALA online booklist website once and have always wanted to read it. The only problem was the few copies my local library services had always seemed to be checked out. I had actually seen this book before I even heard mention of “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood (reviewed further down my site), and when I was finally able to get my hands on a copy, I devoured this story! So without further adieu, here’s my review and thoughts on “The Unit.”

The main character of “The Unit,” Dorrit, has reached her 50th birthday at the beginning of the story. She recalls how she can hardly believe this benchmark has come so fast. She can remember like it were yesterday, when she’d just moved into her house at 42 years old and still regarded the future with optimism. “I still believed and hoped that it wasn’t too late to have a child. Or at least to start earning money from my profession and become financially secure, or find a partner, someone who would love me and want to live with me.” Dorrit has never been in love nor had someone love her other than her dog, Jock. A lot of this, we find, seems to stem from her upbringing.

Dorrit lives in a world in which, as she explains it “the housewife and her male provider have not only been out of fashion for a long time, they have been eradicated. And children are no longer a drag, a hindrance, for anyone. There is no longer the risk of ending up as a dependent, or falling behind on the salary scale, or losing skills in the workplace. There is no longer any excuse not to have children. Nor is there any longer an excuse not to work when you have children.” For in this dystopian society, everyone is equal; for the most part. You see, society is based on a sort of scale that measures people’s worth based on what they can offer the world in terms of children, financial prosperity, and success; anything that can benefit the future of society. In this type of world, men are ashamed if they openly show off their physical strength and women are scorned if they dare to be physically weak or accept help with heavy jobs. It is actually against the law for either party to take part in such activities.

So what it comes down to is: those who are “needed” and those who are not or, in other words “dispensable.” Dorrit finds herself amongst the latter, and therefore required to leave her world and spend her remaining life at the “Second Reserve Band Unit for biological material.” Women who are 50 years old and do not have a husband, children, or any significant accomplishments to speak of and 60 year old men with no wives, children or successes are all sent to “The Unit.” Here, their everyday lives revolve around scientific experiments and organ donations because those who are “dispensable” constitute a reserve, that when, in the event that a seriously ill “needed” person requires an organ “donation,” the “dispensable” person would provide the matching organ. The longer a person remains in “The Unit,” the more risky the experiments he or she is expected to participate in, while at the same time he or she moves closer to donating vital organs. The people of “The Unit” refer to this as the “final donation,” because the removal of their vital organ ultimately results in the “dispendable’s” death.

However, the treatment of the “dispensables” is hardly uncomfortable. Their living arrangements are very comfortable. Each person has their own apartment with all the amenities. They are allowed to bring any personal items they choose, although they can have no contact with the outside world (no telephone, email, text messaging, etc.). People in “The Unit” can pursue any hobby or professional activity they wish and never have to worry about finances again because everything is taken care of for them. There is a garden, library, cinema, theater, art gallery, café, restaurant, sports complex, etc. Above all, as the director of “The Unit” explains it, “you have each other. For the majority of you it isn’t until you come here that you will experience the feeling of belonging, or being part of something with other people, which those of us who are needed often take for granted.”

Dorrit, like everyone else just entering “The Unit” is very scared, but she tries to keep her head up and distract herself from what is going on by keeping busy at the sports complex. She begins to realize that the experiments are humane and the workers of “The Unit” try to keep them alive as long as possible before the “dispensables” are sent in to make their final donations. But even realizing that is not enough to keep Dorrit’s spirits up all the time. She explains to her psychologist that, “I used to believe that my life belonged to me. Something that was entirely at my disposal, something no one else had any claim on, or the right to have an opinion on. But I’ve changed my mind. I don’t own my life at all; it’s other people who own it.” The only thing that gets her though her situation, what makes her believe what she’s doing is meaningful, is to tell herself she’s doing it for the good of “the needed.” Things get even more complicated however, when she falls in love with Johannes, a fellow writer like herself. Saying goodbye to your "Unit" friends(the only friends you've ever really had)is hard, but this story begs the question: how can you deal with having to say goodbye to the only person you've ever loved?

"The Unit" was really amazing. Even with how horrible the overall idea of the story was to imagine, I found it one hundred times better to think about than what occurred in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Like another reviewer put it, I really enjoyed the characters, even if none of them were very memorable. This was another one of those “speculative fiction” stories, where the events presented in the story, while although appearing all science fictiony, are actually not all that far off from becoming true. I could totally see this happening in the near future, bizarrely enough. Of course, the one thing I did not like about this book was the ending. Yes, I am yet another reader who was unsatisfied with the ending of this book. I mean, I’m all for books having unpredictable endings, but this one just killed me. That cost this story points in my book. I’d like to rank “The Unit” by Ninni Holmqvist a 10 out of 10 “books,” but because of the above mentioned, combined with the less “wow” factor I felt between this story and “The Handmaid’s Tale,” I am going to have to give “The Unit” a rating of 8.5 out of 10 “books.” I do suggest anyone and everyone read this book though!

The Handmaid’s Tale
By Margaret Atwood


rating: 10 out of 10 "books"

Honestly, I’m not really sure how to begin this review other than to start by saying that “The Handmaid’s Tale” blew my mind. It was so seemingly out there yet eerily possible at the same time that after each time I set the book down I couldn’t help but think about what I had just read. Not only was this book amazing along the lines of the whole “dystopian society” theme (think “The Giver” but way more messed up), but I had a hard time tearing myself away.

Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” is the story of a woman by the name of Offred. The story starts off in what had once been an old gymnasium. We as the readers have no idea when or where in time the story is taking place, but by the descriptions it is easy to assume it is in the near future. We come to learn that this is exactly the case, but that things are very different. For one, the United States is no more. The former U.S. is being run by a type of religious military operating under the front of a “return to traditional values.” As Offred remembers back to the past early in the story, she can recall the dangers that existed for women. However, now women “walk along the same street in pairs and no man shouts obscenities at us, speaks to us, touches us. No one whistles.” Men must be of a certain age or rank to even touch a woman. Offred even teases one of the young men and instantly feels ashamed but then finds she is not at all. She says she enjoys her power. Men have no sexual outlets in this new society, except themselves. All the pornographic magazines, films, and substitutes have been abolished. Places that used to exist with names such as “Pornomarts,” “Feels on Wheels,” and “Bun-Dle Buggies” are no more.

It all sounds pretty great right? How awesome, as a woman, would it be to not have to deal with all that crap that many men do? The story almost sounds pro-feminist when I describe the story in this manner. However, this is only one facet of the story. The larger scope, or rather the trade-off, is much worse. Men rule society completely. Women have no rights. They cannot own property or work. They are not even allowed to read or write. In this futuristic story, the birthrate is shockingly low, and most of the female population is infertile. “Handmaids” have been employed, whose sole purpose is to breed for married couples. Offred, who is part of the first generation of handmaids, describes her and her lot as “two-legged wombs: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.” They are each designated to one “Commander,” or high ranking male, with whom they must have sex with to try to provide a child for the Wives, the infertile married women. All the other women despise the handmaids, believing them to be slutty, but mostly jealous of them because they themselves cannot conceive. Women are divided up in the society by function and men by power and age. Unwomen, or old women and any women against the new form of government are sent to work in the “Colonies,” where they starve and eventually die trying to clean up toxic waste dumps, nuclear plant accidents, and leakages from chemical and biological warfare stockpiles of the past. Homosexuals, or “Gender-Traitors,” are also sent to the “Colonies.” Handmaids may also be sent there if they cannot provide a child for the Wives and Commanders after three tries. They are cycled between couples, so they are not with one Commander the whole time. Once a handmaid provides a “keeper,” a baby not stillborn or containing deformities or defects, she is guaranteed to never be declared an “unwoman” and sent to the Colonies.

We learn early on that Offred is not even the narrator’s real name. It is the name given to her after she has become a handmaid. The name “Offred” itself is more of a slave name, meaning she is the possession “of Fred,” who we assume is the name of her current Commander. We find out that Offred once had a real life, with a husband and a daughter of her own. We only find out in the end how they were torn apart, and how Offred became a handmaid. We even find out that she had a choice in the matter. All throughout the story, Offred tries to keep her sanity and individuality, no matter how private she must keep it. She explains, “I try not to think too much. Like other things now, thought must be rationed. There’s a lot that doesn’t bear thinking about. Thinking can hurt your chances, and I intend to last.” She doesn’t know how long her current enslavement will last, let alone any outside information other than what she can get through whispered conversations with other handmaids at the market, but she is determined to someday reunite with her husband and daughter. She holds out for some sort of message from her husband, who may or may not still be alive, of which may never arrive but is the one thing that keeps her alive.


This type of fiction has been described as “speculative fiction,” meaning the events that occur in this story could actually happen. It takes specific attitudes held about women and sees them towards potential conclusions if they keep going down the path that they are following. Many points in this story are very chilling. One of the characters, the Wife named Serena Joy, was a huge promoter and speaker on the return of women to “traditional values” and when her religious and social beliefs become reality we see the outcome of all this. It’s kind of a “be careful what you wish for” sort of moment. Even the abolishment of pornography and treatment of women that occurs in this story has such a moment. Yes women do not have to deal with the sexually abusive treatment by men anymore to a certain degree, but is their current state in the book any better? And these moments are not only for the women. I believe there are definitely some “be careful what you wish for” type moments for men. In a conversation between the Commander and Offred the Commander says of the past, “The problem wasn’t only with the women. The main problem was with the men. There was nothing for them anymore. With all the “Pornycorrners” etc., the sex was too easy. Anyone could just buy it. There was nothing to look for, nothing to fight for. Men were complaining most about their inability to feel. Men were turning off on sex even, and on marriage.” The story even gave a frightening look at what could happen in the future if we don’t do something about the environment today, evidenced by the low birthrate due to damages made to the environment by nuclear power plants, etc.

This story really impacted me. One of the worst parts was the whole description of the beginning of the end of Offred’s real life; from the loss of her job to the loss of any money she had earned, all being transferred over to her husband. She described the scene of facing her husband as if something had suddenly changed. Her husband tries to console her saying, “at least we have each other,” but the narrator reflects on how “something had shifted, some balance. I felt shrunken, so that when he (her husband) put his arms around me, gathering me up, I was small as a doll. He doesn’t mind this,” she thinks. “He doesn’t mind it at all. Maybe he even likes it. We are not each other’s, anymore. Instead, I am his.” For some reason this was just a really powerful passage to me. I find myself not even being able to imagine something like this happening to me. The organization of this book is really great too. The story slips between the past and the present in a way that doesn’t give itself up all at once. This is what keeps the reader at it for hours if possible, until he or she must put down the book to finish or attend to some other task or what not. If I could have read the story in one sitting I would have. That’s how enthralling this book was.

There is so much that I wish I could include in this review, but I know it’s already super long. All I can say is that you must read this book. It is not preachy or outwardly “feminist” in any way (not that I think there is anything wrong with the latter). I whole-heartedly give “The Handmaid’s Tale” a rating of 10 out of 10 “books.” I have been really careful in my ratings to give what I believe are the best ratings and not inflate them in any way, and I honestly feel this book deserves not but the highest rating.

Pride And Prejudice And Zombies
By Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith


rating: 2 out of 10 "books"


Pride and Prejudice and Zombies takes the classic Jane Austen story and attempts to transform it into a witty modern day zombie action story. Unfortunately, the outcome felt more smug to me than innovative. Although I had never read the original Pride and Prejudice and must confess it’s been months if not years since I’ve seen the film version, I was still interested to see how this “Quick Classic” Jane Austen fan-fiction would play out.

I learned that the majority of the original text had been preserved and thus left me wondering if some of the events listed in the book had actually occurred in the original, but the existence of zombies and ninjas tipped me off to the obvious additions of some situations in P&P & Zombies. The story follows the Bennets, a family of seven who are no different than any other of their low birth, except for the fact that Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s five daughters are skilled in the “deadly arts.” For more than 50 years, England has been overrun by zombies, and in desperate times desperate measures must be taken. Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters had been trained in the deadly arts of combat at a very young age, and even sent to China to master the art of zombie killing. From the Bennet sisters’ training in their dojo, to the existence of ninjas in England to protect the affluent Lady Catherine de Bourgh, much of the story seems different from the original.

But of course where would this update to the classic be without the drama and gossip of the original? There are still all the balls, excitement over officers in town, obsession with marriage, proper etiquette, and who could forget Mr. Darcy?! As Elizabeth’s older sister, Jane, falls in love with the newly arrived Mr. Bingley, Elizabeth has the chance to meet and despise Bingley’s friend, Mr. Darcy. But events unfold and the two gentlemen return to London, much to the heartbreak of Jane, who was very much in love with Bingley. Elizabeth travels often; to see her dear friend and recently “plague stricken” Charlotte Lucas who has married Elizabeth’s cousin, Mr. Collins; to visit with and travel with her aunt and uncle, etc. But it seems she can never go too far without running into the proud and arrogant Mr. Darcy.

Elizabeth is almost no better in attitude and spirit than Mr. Darcy however. She proclaims that, “There are few people whom I really love, and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every zombie confirms my belief that God has abandoned us as punishment for the evils of people.” She would much rather serve her King killing zombies as the “bride of death,” than entertain the idea of finding a proper husband. At the mention of her accompanying her aunt and uncle on an outdoor summer trip she replies, “What are young men to rocks and mountains?!” She is so set on hating Mr. Darcy, that she hardly has time to see any of his positive attributes. It is only when a series of events occur that Elizabeth begins to see the true side of Mr. Darcy, and against her wildest dreams, falls deeply in love with him.

When they are not fighting zombies, this whole book is about marriage (who is thinking of marrying whom, who is suitable to marry whom, who will make a good match, etc.), and gossip. Throughout the whole story people are gossiping behind each other’s backs instead of facing the matter head on. But then again, maybe this was the custom of the time, and besides, what else was there really to do back then? I just got really angry at Mrs. Bennet’s behavior. She was such an annoying character, obsessed with marrying off her daughter’s to big money. Elizabeth’s embarrassment for her family’s obsession with money and silly behavior was perfectly justifiable. Her mother went from hating a gentleman; to praising him when she found out he was to marry one of her daughters. Elizabeth’s youngest sister Lydia was no different. I could not stand this character and the way she behaved throughout the story. Elizabeth fantasized about chopping off her sister’s head, and I would not have minded if this had actually come to happen. What happened with her and the officer Wickham in the end of the story was the only thing that satisfied me with regards to that stupid girl.

There were some funny moments in the book that made the story somewhat enjoyable. One such moment occurred when Charlotte, who had been “stricken,” (bitten by a zombie), and was undergoing the transformation into a zombie herself, can only think about how delicious people’s brains would taste. When considering the proficiency of Mr. Darcy’s mind, “her thoughts would turn to the subject of chewing on his salty, cauliflower-like brain.” Elizabeth’s aunt also had some funny commentary to add to the story by commented on Mr. Darcy, stating that, “there is something of dignity in the way his trousers cling to those most English parts of him,” and after a visit to Pemberly and an encounter with Darcy, some chuckle-able moments ensue as Elizabeth remembers she has Darcy’s gun and ammo. Offering them to him, she says, “Your balls, Mr. Darcy?” As he reaches out and closes her hand around his bullets, he offers, “They belong to you, Miss Bennet.” But these laughable moments were hardly enough to make the book worth reading. Although the cover states that “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” makes the classic more enjoyable and less boring to read, I think it’s worth it to read it in its original form. Sure, the language may be a little daunting to read, but at least this way, you can honestly say you’ve read a classic Jane Austen story. My advice: save your money, and buy the original version for practically nothing, or borrow it from your library. Don’t waste your time on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

*** UPDATE 12/15/09: It seems this book can be added to the book-turned-movies category as I've just learned that Natalie Portman has just signed on to play the Elizabeth Bennet character in a movie version of this story. Oh dear.... ***