Book 40: Stand on Zanzibar

Well, I keep not finishing books, and this is just another example. I’m not exactly sure what Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner is supposed to be about, but I couldn’t get past about 3% of the novel according to my Kindle.

According to Wikipedia, the story is about overpopulation and “follows the lives of a large cast of characters, chosen to give a broad cross-section of the future world.” There are also two main plot lines I suppose, but I didn’t read enough to get into them I think.

Stand on Zanzibar and other novels from the 1960s were part of the so-called New Wave of science fiction, and truly this is not my style, as evidenced by the number of books I couldn’t finish reading lately. The New Wave of science fiction saw a lot of experimentation with story structure and storytelling, and I just can’t handle it.

Maybe I’m too much a product of my time, with our specific storytelling structure more akin to the hero’s journey. Or maybe I’m too rigid in what I consider a good story. Or maybe both! I’m not that opposed to experimentation in style and structure, but I do think you still need the main story beats in order to keep readers or viewers interested. And this brings me back to being a product of my time, because I’m sure many readers enjoyed the experimentation of Stand on Zanzibar when it came out in 1968. 

Unfortunately it’s just not for me, so I decided to put it down.

Next on my list is 2001: A Space Odyssey! A classic! So I will do my best to finish it!