Tuesday, August 18, 2015

My First Dystopian Book

The first dystopian book I ever read was The Giver by Lois Lowry. I remember reading it in 7th grade for English class with Mrs. M. I completely fell in love with this world of books and knew that I needed to have more. At that age, I couldn't imagine living in a world where everything was the same  or equal - the weather never changed, jobs were chosen for people based on their skills, there was no color, and spouses and children were placed with families. It seemed so bizarre and I couldn't understand how a world would ever get that way. I began reading all sorts of dystopian books, like The Divergent series, The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Uglies, etc. I couldn't wait to find more of these books. I still have tons of them on my TBR list. 

The more I read, the more I began to understand how a world could become like that. What intrigues me so much about them now is why the "creators" of these worlds thought it would be a better place for society. Sometimes I think certain aspects of these worlds would be pretty nice. But the more I read that story, or the more dystopian books I read, I always remember why it wouldn't be so great to live in these worlds. They're called dystopian for a reason. 

This is one of those genres that I'm always going to go back to. Even if I haven't read a dystopian in a while (which I haven't), I know that I'm always going to want to read them. I find (most) of these stories to be so compelling and interesting. I want to know how the author came to think of this world; was it a personal experience they thought could be changed, was it another book they've read, did it come out of nowhere? Regardless of the answer, I find it fascinating. 

What was the first dystopian book you've read that made you love this genre? 

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