Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner – Dystopian Books Review
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Review, Synopsis, and Summary of Science Fiction Novel Stand on Zanzibar
John Brunner, a British novelist and author, became famous for his work on science and dystopian fiction. He impresses the readers with his realistic predictions and sketches of a future world which is now the past to us. Stand on Zanzibar is one of those novels that never fails to astound us. This novel won many awards, including the Hugo Award for Best Novel, BSFA Award and Prix Tour-Apollo Award.
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Author: John Brunner
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 576
Good reads rating: 3.96 of 5
My Ratings: 7.9 of 10
Published: 1968 (Original publication)
Publisher: Orb Books; First edition (August 16, 2011)
Language: English
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Review and Summary of The Science Fiction Novel Stand on Zanzibar
***Warning Spoilers Below This Point***
The novel sketches a future of 2010, which is now the past to us. The main theme of the novel talks about overpopulation and many other situations that we can see the world is facing today. The theme elaborates the writer’s imagination. The world’s population escalated and requires the whole Isle of Wight to fit the population by making them stand from shoulder to shoulder.
Now it is the year 2010. The conditions of the population became worse. Zanzibar offers a much larger area and accommodates the whole population of the Isle of Wight. The author raises his concern regarding the increased daily population. Brunner mentioned some of these glitches which he displays as his future 2010 world.
Like, they chop family homes off into much smaller double and even single bedroom apartments. It costs a fortune to have any kind of luxury and privacy. Abortions become very common, and even many countries will opt for population control programs. People with any genetic abnormalities for example colour blindness and hemophilia won’t be allowed to reproduce.
The author centralises the novel on three characters. Norman is an African American Muslim and works as an executive at General Technics, a company that makes everything and even owns the Shalmaneser. Donald Hogan is a government spy and an undercover student. The third one is Chad Mulligan who is a sociologist trying very hard to make people realise what is happening to the world.
They appoint Norman as a lead negotiator between Africa and America. This is to allow America to take control over Africa through industrialisation. They send Hogan to a state of Yatakang to find information about the man claiming to create designed babies through genetics.
Final Say on The Science Fiction Novel Stand on Zanzibar
The novel is no doubt exceptionally written with its unique slangs and argots. The author expresses his imagination by use of different emotions and words. He uses codder for man, shiggy for woman, offyourass for possessing attitude and many others. The storyline stays binding and astonishes us for its true predictions regarding future becoming the reality. I give this novel a 7.9 out of 10 ratings. Would I re-read it? No. Am I glad I read it? Yes.
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