Genesis by Bernard Beckett
April 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Hardcover, 160 pages
Borrowed
Book Synopsis
Anax thinks she knows her history. She’d better. She’s now facing three Examiners, and her grueling all-day Examination has just begun. If she passes, she’ll be admitted into the Academy—the elite governing institution of her utopian society.
But Anax is about to discover that for all her learning, the history she’s been taught isn’t the whole story. And that the Academy isn’t what she believes it to be. Anax’s examination leads us into a future where we are confronted with unresolved questions raised by science and philosophy. Centuries old, these questions have gained new urgency in the face of rapidly developing technology. What is consciousness? What makes us human? If artificial intelligence were developed to a high enough capability, what special status could humanity still claim............(Goodreads)
Review
Well after reading this novel, I feel as if I stepped off the sane train. I wanted to like this…I really did but the story was so contrived I just couldn’t connect to it. Perhaps it was the use of the biblical story in Genesis verses the story of evolution mixed into one theory that equaled artificial intelligence that bugged me or perhaps it was just the use of the title….but something about this novel was just…..off…..
The entire story takes place over a three hour exam, where Anax after years of intense study and mentoring, faces a panel of examiners who will determine her admission into The Academy. Throughout each hour we are showed the society’s history and glean background on the story unfolding purely through the use of dialog. Anax analyzes the distinctions between human beings and technology, the human heart verses the unemotional calculations of a computer. Basically the overall idea of man verses machines, yet Beckett takes this idea and fragments it with pieces of creation and pieces of evolution and twists it into a new idea of science fiction.
The writing to me almost felt like a textbook, it was so sterile that I couldn’t connect to Anax at all. Think classic science fiction with white walls, white rooms with no furniture and characters with no faces. While the ending was shocking, it still left me with just a blah feeling due to the fact that there was no emotional investment into any aspect of the novel.
From a dystopian standpoint, I did see the Utopian feeling it created but didn’t see the gritty dark story I’m normally drawn to in an apocalyptic setting. This was a much more, let me throw all these theories at you and test your inner thoughts on philosophy and see how deep your genius can go.
Rating
Genesis by Bernard Beckett is suitable for most readers, while a more mature audience will understand the philosophy and overall message Beckett is trying to send, the content is PG. Topics include: Violence, murder, betrayal, evolution/creation and A.I intelligence.
2/5- YA-Dystopian-Philosophy
I'm sorry you didn't like it. I really enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteGreat review though.
ReplyDeleteExcellent review. Doesn't sound like my type of book, though it has an interesting premise. I like sci fi, but to a certain degree. =)
ReplyDeleteGenesis by Bernard Beckett More successfully than any other novel I've read recently, Bernard Beckett's Genesis epitomises the investigative ideal of science fiction. read great books at rapidshare download
ReplyDeletethis is a good read thanks a lot
Alex