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A Very Private Life
A dystopian distant future novel. An inquisitive heroine, smitten by love & fuelled by angst, seeks to break free of her enclosed community to make meaningful contact with another.
The protagonist, Uncumber, begins life in privileged home. She's estranged from her family by their reliance on drugs to regulate emotions & social interactions. She leaves them in order to pursue Noli, a man she falls in love with on 1st sight despite a language barrier, which inhibits any relationship with him or his family. Noli unlike Uncumber is from the working class. She abandons him when he insists on using the drugs she abhors in love making. She makes it full circle when she's picked up afterwards by the police & imprisoned in a room remarkably similar to the one in which she began & is reconciled to the medicated life where every emotion exists on tap & intimate sex has been replaced by lying next to your lover experiencing entirely private hallucinations.
The protagonist, Uncumber, begins life in privileged home. She's estranged from her family by their reliance on drugs to regulate emotions & social interactions. She leaves them in order to pursue Noli, a man she falls in love with on 1st sight despite a language barrier, which inhibits any relationship with him or his family. Noli unlike Uncumber is from the working class. She abandons him when he insists on using the drugs she abhors in love making. She makes it full circle when she's picked up afterwards by the police & imprisoned in a room remarkably similar to the one in which she began & is reconciled to the medicated life where every emotion exists on tap & intimate sex has been replaced by lying next to your lover experiencing entirely private hallucinations.
144 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 1968
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807 people want to read
About the author
Michael Frayn
115 books268 followersMichael Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy. His novels, such as Towards the End of the Morning, Headlong and Spies, have also been critical and commercial successes, making him one of the handful of writers in the English language to succeed in both drama and prose fiction. His works often raise philosophical questions in a humorous context. Frayn's wife is Claire Tomalin, the biographer and literary journalist.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
March 19, 2024
A Very Private Life is a dystopian comedy.
It’s the bleak and funny future… There are two social classes – inside people and outside people… Insiders live in the totally insulated dwellings and never exit into the outer world – they are the rulers… Outsiders – derisively nicknamed animals – are all the rest…
Her father is an insider…
Since her early childhood she is romantic and rebellious… She doesn’t want to be similar to others…
They live in the chemical world… All their feelings and emotions are regulated with drugs… Her brother is in love…
She refuses to use medication… She wants to find her only special man… And at last she sees him…
She rushes outdoors…
So often romanticism turns out to be just a trap and nothing ever comes up roses.
It’s the bleak and funny future… There are two social classes – inside people and outside people… Insiders live in the totally insulated dwellings and never exit into the outer world – they are the rulers… Outsiders – derisively nicknamed animals – are all the rest…
Her father is an insider…
He’s a decider. All day he sits watching the holovision manifestations coming in from all over the earth, as often as not of events in the outside world, deciding disputes between people and “animals,” or between “animal” and “animal.”
Since her early childhood she is romantic and rebellious… She doesn’t want to be similar to others…
Barren deserts, stretching rawly grey for hundreds of miles. She yearns to visit them and to mope wanly about them. She feels that it would be sweet to be contaminated with their radioactivity and to decay with them in the pale yellow light.
The romanticism of her adolescence, in fact, is the romanticism of waste and decay.
They live in the chemical world… All their feelings and emotions are regulated with drugs… Her brother is in love…
Their relationship is perfect. They turn on their holovision and lie for hours beside each other’s manifestation – perfectly still, but going through great ranges of sexual experience prepared for by careful medication with Libidin and triggered by Orgasmin.
She refuses to use medication… She wants to find her only special man… And at last she sees him…
She is trying to dial her private education channel for a session of Archaic Botany, and either she misdials, or else she gets wrongly connected, because a small, wiry, bald-headed man she has never seen before appears on the screen. He looks anxious: his forehead is lined, and there are lines at the corners of his eyes.
She rushes outdoors…
So often romanticism turns out to be just a trap and nothing ever comes up roses.
September 24, 2017
This was a great quick read. Makes you think and look at solitarity and families differently.
April 16, 2021
Short 1968 SF novella by a guy who doesn't normally write SF. In this future, entitled people live and work indoors, never leaving home, having everything they need delivered, and interacting with others only via video screens. Those who live outside, exposed to dirt, germs, and physical work, are called "Animals". The main character, Uncumber, is a teen-age insider who decides she wants to visit in real life with someone she met through a random wrong number on the video screen. She learns about the difficulties of life outside, gets in trouble, and is thrown in prison, which isn't much different from her original life, to which she eventually returns.
Not a lost masterpiece, but entertaining enough.
The insiders all have names of Christian saints or philosophers, so it isn't totally weird that the main character is named Uncumber. But, still, I wonder what the significance was of naming her after that specific saint, a bearded lady who has become associated with dis-encumbering women from abusive husbands, whose legend may have originated from a carving of Jesus wearing a robe, which was misinterpreted as a dress.
Not a lost masterpiece, but entertaining enough.
The insiders all have names of Christian saints or philosophers, so it isn't totally weird that the main character is named Uncumber. But, still, I wonder what the significance was of naming her after that specific saint, a bearded lady who has become associated with dis-encumbering women from abusive husbands, whose legend may have originated from a carving of Jesus wearing a robe, which was misinterpreted as a dress.
January 16, 2014
I read this once as a teen and then forgot the title and author. As an adult I went through hoops trying to find this book again. I kept describing it to everyone and it seems noone else has read it. It's a very telling post-apocalyptic book that is ahead of its time.
June 25, 2025
Originally published on my blog here in August 1999.
Michael Frayn is so well known today as a playwright that it is strange to realise that he was first a journalist and then a novelist. And his novels are very different from his plays, often being science fiction and written in a whimsical manner. Despite the tone in which it is written, A Very Private Life wants to say some fairly serious things about Western culture in the second half of the twentieth century.
The novel is set a fair way into the future, when humanity has split into two classes, Insiders and Outsiders. Insiders live in sophisticated houses, in which every necessity for life is provided through holovision and drugs - instead of feeling emotions at the whim of nature, when they could distress or embarrass, they take drugs to produce or suppress feelings when their expression is socially desirable. Even their holidays are taken in this way; they never go out of their houses into the real world. Why should they, when the holograms they experience can have the real world's imperfections removed?
The Outsiders, by contrast, live among the ruins of less up to date houses, and take on the manual labour of the world. They continue to wear clothes, abandoned by the Insiders, and are thought of as animals by the other class. (In a neat inversion, they wear dark glasses to be considered decent - so that others cannot know what they are thinking.)
Uncumber is brought up as a privileged Insider, but never really fits in. She craves real experience, refusing to take the drugs with her family, switching off the holographic representations of visitors. Eventually, she manages to go Outside, but then finds she cannot fit into Outsider society either.
The clear targets of A Very Private Life are the ways in which modern Western society cuts each one of us off from true human companionship. I once met some people who had worked in West Africa. When talking to a group of Ugandans about life in England, they described shopping in a supermarket. The idea of a building in which you could find all your shopping did not surprise them, for they believed England a land of marvels. They could not believe, however, that it was possible to do all your shopping there without speaking to anyone - and not only was this a fantastic idea, but it was almost immoral in their eyes.
The Insiders do not even experience anything directly; part of their withdrawal from human contact is through the use of holovision and drugs as a substitute for interaction with the potentially unpredictable real world. It is hard not to see this as a comment on the modern TV culture, not to mention the escapist side of drug taking.
How little Frayn approves of these aspects of modern life is shown by one particular incident. After some time outside, Uncumber unwittingly gets involved with a group of criminals; she is put into what is a prison for Outsiders, yet it turns out to be almost identical to the home in which she was brought up.
Michael Frayn is so well known today as a playwright that it is strange to realise that he was first a journalist and then a novelist. And his novels are very different from his plays, often being science fiction and written in a whimsical manner. Despite the tone in which it is written, A Very Private Life wants to say some fairly serious things about Western culture in the second half of the twentieth century.
The novel is set a fair way into the future, when humanity has split into two classes, Insiders and Outsiders. Insiders live in sophisticated houses, in which every necessity for life is provided through holovision and drugs - instead of feeling emotions at the whim of nature, when they could distress or embarrass, they take drugs to produce or suppress feelings when their expression is socially desirable. Even their holidays are taken in this way; they never go out of their houses into the real world. Why should they, when the holograms they experience can have the real world's imperfections removed?
The Outsiders, by contrast, live among the ruins of less up to date houses, and take on the manual labour of the world. They continue to wear clothes, abandoned by the Insiders, and are thought of as animals by the other class. (In a neat inversion, they wear dark glasses to be considered decent - so that others cannot know what they are thinking.)
Uncumber is brought up as a privileged Insider, but never really fits in. She craves real experience, refusing to take the drugs with her family, switching off the holographic representations of visitors. Eventually, she manages to go Outside, but then finds she cannot fit into Outsider society either.
The clear targets of A Very Private Life are the ways in which modern Western society cuts each one of us off from true human companionship. I once met some people who had worked in West Africa. When talking to a group of Ugandans about life in England, they described shopping in a supermarket. The idea of a building in which you could find all your shopping did not surprise them, for they believed England a land of marvels. They could not believe, however, that it was possible to do all your shopping there without speaking to anyone - and not only was this a fantastic idea, but it was almost immoral in their eyes.
The Insiders do not even experience anything directly; part of their withdrawal from human contact is through the use of holovision and drugs as a substitute for interaction with the potentially unpredictable real world. It is hard not to see this as a comment on the modern TV culture, not to mention the escapist side of drug taking.
How little Frayn approves of these aspects of modern life is shown by one particular incident. After some time outside, Uncumber unwittingly gets involved with a group of criminals; she is put into what is a prison for Outsiders, yet it turns out to be almost identical to the home in which she was brought up.
June 25, 2024
Considered by many a classic of its day, 1968, this is an offbeat vision of the future, mainly written in the present tense, occasionally in the future, and never in the past tense. It opens..
Initially the narrative follows Uncumber, her parents and her younger brother through the early years of their life, but the main part of the story is concerned with Uncumber once she is a teenager.
She is rebellious and curious, and with a childhood completely within the four walls of the family house she becomes determined to see what Outside is like. She falls for a man on her Holovision screen and sets out to find him.
It’s more social satire than it is dystopian fiction, with Frayn poking fun at what society accepts as the norm, wearing clothes for example. For that reason it is some respects dated, though certain aspects are still relevant, especially with the advent of social media, and it does give a glimpse into 1960s culture.
Once upon a time there will be a little girl called Uncumber.
Initially the narrative follows Uncumber, her parents and her younger brother through the early years of their life, but the main part of the story is concerned with Uncumber once she is a teenager.
She is rebellious and curious, and with a childhood completely within the four walls of the family house she becomes determined to see what Outside is like. She falls for a man on her Holovision screen and sets out to find him.
It’s more social satire than it is dystopian fiction, with Frayn poking fun at what society accepts as the norm, wearing clothes for example. For that reason it is some respects dated, though certain aspects are still relevant, especially with the advent of social media, and it does give a glimpse into 1960s culture.
November 13, 2012
Though it depicts a future dystopia, A Very Private Life is actually less a science fiction novel and more a futurist fairy tale. The young female protagonist Uncumber lives in a sterile underground world in which personal privacy is paramount, being a cultural reaction against the invasions of privacy that began in the 20th century. Emotions must be drug-induced to be acceptable, babies are made at the factory when you provide the ingredients, and dark glasses are the only item of clothing because they help keep your feelings to yourself. But, being a bit of a rebel, Uncumber looks for something more tactile and goes on her way to the outside world in search of Noli, a surface-living man she accidentally encountered on her holovision TV. He turns out to be a selfish low class polygamist among other things, and her situation get worse from there. As an allegory for the dangers of withdrawal from the world A Very Private Life works well but the story never really comes alive as anything other than a mild comedy of manners. Yes, life is always far more complex than we can perceive from a naïve standpoint, but that observation seems self-evident from the beginning and the development of this theme never really moves beyond second gear.
February 16, 2018
„Имало едно време…” – така започват всички приказки, дори сагата на Лукас започва с „Преди много време, в една далечна галактика…”. Но защо пък всички приказки трябва да са в миналото? Не е задължително, нали? Та ето една, която започва така:
„Ще има едно време…”
Някога в бъдещето технологиите ще се развият толкова, че няма да е нужно да напускаш дома си, за да посетиш което и да е кътче по света. Няма да е нужно да пътуваш, за да идеш на почивка на плаж от златен пясък, под кристално синьо небе, къпан от изумрудено море. Технологията ще ти носи всичко в къщи – храна, напитки, обзавеждане – всичко, от което се нуждаеш, дори и деца. Приятели и роднини ще ти идват на гости с помощта на холокамери и ще са все едно са физически при теб. Ще работиш от дома си, всичко, от което имаш нужда, ще е около теб, на една ръка, или на една стая разстояние. Тогава защо да напускаш дома си? В бъдещето хората са се разделили на две групи – хора, които никога не напускат къщите си и посещават света през електронния филтър на технологията и хора, които обслужват тези, които живеят само на закрито, и също се грижат машините да работят, храната да се произвежда и доставя.
Историята започва в една такава къща, където живее и Анкамбър, която има всичко, но разбира за света навън и постепенно в нея се заражда изгарящо желание да го посети, да разбере с какво той е по-различен от този, който посещава с помощта на технологиите. Започва да я гложди въпросът кой свят е истински? След време един грешно набран номер и един разговор с непознат човек, който живее отвън ще я тласнат към нейното пътешествие във външният свят.
Това е вечната история за бунта на младите, за мечтата да напуснеш своя свят, за да попаднеш в истинския, или по-скоро в различния, както ще разбере и героинята, история за различните светове и за това как се привличат, как всеки си мисли, че другият е по-добър, че чуждият живот е по-интересен, по-жив, че различен непременно е синоним на интригуващ. „Строго личен живот” описва два свя��а, които се привличат един друг, жителите на всеки от тях искат да се докоснат до другия, да се потопят в него, но въпреки че това се случва те остават неизменно разделени.
Майкъл е ловък разказвач, който умее да прикове вниманието. Два негови похвата много ми допаднаха в книгата:
В момента, в който Анкамбър попада на място, където не говорят нейният език става нещо интересно с книгата. Майкъл Фрейн не решава проблема с някой фантастичен трик, като универсален преводач, универсален език или някое друго магично решение, не минава и на бележки под линията, за да разберем какво казват на Анкамбър, а просто оставя ситуацията така. Отначало това ми се стори малко странно, но много бързо нещата си дойдоха на мястото. Ние виждаме външният свят през погледа на Анкамбър и го интерпретираме през нейния мироглед, а този свят е точно толкова неразбираем и чужд, колкото и езика, на който говорят обитателите му. Двата свята си остават разделени не само от културата, но и от езика. Няма значение какво ѝ казват от другата страна, важното е какво тя иска да чуе и разбере. Така че в контекста на идеята, че двата свята едновременно се привличат, но са осъдени да си останат и неразбираеми един за друг и разделени, това е брилянтно авторово решение. По-късно, когото тя се среща с терористите, те говорят на френски и там мога да си направя превод на техните думи, но отново няма смисъл какво са казали, важното е какво е разбрала героинята и какво читателя е вложил като смисъл в неразбираемите думи.
Фрейн използва един дребен елемент, незначителен на пръв поглед детайл, с който да илюстрира различията между двете общества, но с него успява да покаже каква бездна ги дели. В света на Анкамбър е неприлично хората да виждат очите ти и затова те носят тъмни очила, когато общуват с други. Голотата не е табу, никой няма проблем с нея и затова тя тръгва на своето пътешествие във външният свят, както си ходи обикновено в къщи.
Книгата излиза през 1968 г. и описва до какво може да доведат съобщителните технологии, но както се случва винаги реалността отвява фантастиката – и като технология, и като социални ефекти. Но за това какво е очаквал Майкъл, като е писал книгата и какво всъщност е станало, има повече в предговора, който е адски интересен, първо, защото е писан май 2016 и отразява огромната промяна от 60-те години досега и второ, защото автора откровено говори за мотивите си за написване, за това какво се е и не се е сбъднало и къде е сгрешил в прогнозите, и най-вече за това с какво го е изненадала информационната революция.
„Строго личен живот” е повече приказка, отколкото антиутопия, тя не е роман предупреждение а роман разсъждение, не е за свят, който на всяка цена трябва да избегнем, а за възможен такъв, който не е непременно лош, а просто различен. Много ми допадна, че в нея липсва оная нотка на обреченост, на безизходица, на неизбежен крах, толкова характерна за повечето произведения от жанра антиутопия и въпреки няколкото сцени на графично насилие „Строго личен живот” си е оптимистична книга. Тук липсва черната краска, без нишка на надежда на победилия тоталитаризъм от „1984”, липсва и острата социална сатира към автоцензурата от „451 по Фаренхайт”, няма я и присъдата, че това общество се е провалило като в „Прекрасния нов свят”. Фрейн не влиза в ролята на съдник и нито за миг не дава превес за някое от обществата описани в книгата. Той просто разказва една приказка и оставя изводите и размислите на читателя, а края просто казва, че светът продължава напред.
„Ще има едно време…”
Някога в бъдещето технологиите ще се развият толкова, че няма да е нужно да напускаш дома си, за да посетиш което и да е кътче по света. Няма да е нужно да пътуваш, за да идеш на почивка на плаж от златен пясък, под кристално синьо небе, къпан от изумрудено море. Технологията ще ти носи всичко в къщи – храна, напитки, обзавеждане – всичко, от което се нуждаеш, дори и деца. Приятели и роднини ще ти идват на гости с помощта на холокамери и ще са все едно са физически при теб. Ще работиш от дома си, всичко, от което имаш нужда, ще е около теб, на една ръка, или на една стая разстояние. Тогава защо да напускаш дома си? В бъдещето хората са се разделили на две групи – хора, които никога не напускат къщите си и посещават света през електронния филтър на технологията и хора, които обслужват тези, които живеят само на закрито, и също се грижат машините да работят, храната да се произвежда и доставя.
Историята започва в една такава къща, където живее и Анкамбър, която има всичко, но разбира за света навън и постепенно в нея се заражда изгарящо желание да го посети, да разбере с какво той е по-различен от този, който посещава с помощта на технологиите. Започва да я гложди въпросът кой свят е истински? След време един грешно набран номер и един разговор с непознат човек, който живее отвън ще я тласнат към нейното пътешествие във външният свят.
Това е вечната история за бунта на младите, за мечтата да напуснеш своя свят, за да попаднеш в истинския, или по-скоро в различния, както ще разбере и героинята, история за различните светове и за това как се привличат, как всеки си мисли, че другият е по-добър, че чуждият живот е по-интересен, по-жив, че различен непременно е синоним на интригуващ. „Строго личен живот” описва два свя��а, които се привличат един друг, жителите на всеки от тях искат да се докоснат до другия, да се потопят в него, но въпреки че това се случва те остават неизменно разделени.
Майкъл е ловък разказвач, който умее да прикове вниманието. Два негови похвата много ми допаднаха в книгата:
В момента, в който Анкамбър попада на място, където не говорят нейният език става нещо интересно с книгата. Майкъл Фрейн не решава проблема с някой фантастичен трик, като универсален преводач, универсален език или някое друго магично решение, не минава и на бележки под линията, за да разберем какво казват на Анкамбър, а просто оставя ситуацията така. Отначало това ми се стори малко странно, но много бързо нещата си дойдоха на мястото. Ние виждаме външният свят през погледа на Анкамбър и го интерпретираме през нейния мироглед, а този свят е точно толкова неразбираем и чужд, колкото и езика, на който говорят обитателите му. Двата свята си остават разделени не само от културата, но и от езика. Няма значение какво ѝ казват от другата страна, важното е какво тя иска да чуе и разбере. Така че в контекста на идеята, че двата свята едновременно се привличат, но са осъдени да си останат и неразбираеми един за друг и разделени, това е брилянтно авторово решение. По-късно, когото тя се среща с терористите, те говорят на френски и там мога да си направя превод на техните думи, но отново няма смисъл какво са казали, важното е какво е разбрала героинята и какво читателя е вложил като смисъл в неразбираемите думи.
Фрейн използва един дребен елемент, незначителен на пръв поглед детайл, с който да илюстрира различията между двете общества, но с него успява да покаже каква бездна ги дели. В света на Анкамбър е неприлично хората да виждат очите ти и затова те носят тъмни очила, когато общуват с други. Голотата не е табу, никой няма проблем с нея и затова тя тръгва на своето пътешествие във външният свят, както си ходи обикновено в къщи.
Книгата излиза през 1968 г. и описва до какво може да доведат съобщителните технологии, но както се случва винаги реалността отвява фантастиката – и като технология, и като социални ефекти. Но за това какво е очаквал Майкъл, като е писал книгата и какво всъщност е станало, има повече в предговора, който е адски интересен, първо, защото е писан май 2016 и отразява огромната промяна от 60-те години досега и второ, защото автора откровено говори за мотивите си за написване, за това какво се е и не се е сбъднало и къде е сгрешил в прогнозите, и най-вече за това с какво го е изненадала информационната революция.
„Строго личен живот” е повече приказка, отколкото антиутопия, тя не е роман предупреждение а роман разсъждение, не е за свят, който на всяка цена трябва да избегнем, а за възможен такъв, който не е непременно лош, а просто различен. Много ми допадна, че в нея липсва оная нотка на обреченост, на безизходица, на неизбежен крах, толкова характерна за повечето произведения от жанра антиутопия и въпреки няколкото сцени на графично насилие „Строго личен живот” си е оптимистична книга. Тук липсва черната краска, без нишка на надежда на победилия тоталитаризъм от „1984”, липсва и острата социална сатира към автоцензурата от „451 по Фаренхайт”, няма я и присъдата, че това общество се е провалило като в „Прекрасния нов свят”. Фрейн не влиза в ролята на съдник и нито за миг не дава превес за някое от обществата описани в книгата. Той просто разказва една приказка и оставя изводите и размислите на читателя, а края просто казва, че светът продължава напред.
December 27, 2009
"A Very Private Life" is a dystopian novel--not that you'd deduce that from the beige cover, a horrible wrapper aesthetically akin to the design of most Misery Memoir jackets.
The premise of the novel shares some similarities with Brave New World: the sullen protagonist, Uncumber, lives in the ultra-comfortable "inside world" in her own private room in a windowless house. People who live inside never leave their houses, and encounter others (even the people they share the house with) primarily via their holovision machines. Everyone's medicated to the gills, drugs meted out for the full range of experiences: hilarity, sexual ecstasy, even intellectual euphoria (not to mention happiness, sadness, even judiciousness[?!:]).
Although comforted by the romantic fantasies and pleasurable delusions provided by her holoscreen, Uncumber feels intensely disconnected from the inside world. She rebels against the inside's conventions by refusing to take her medication, becomes infatuated with a man named Noli who is part of the outside (and lower) classes, and runs away (read: leaves the house) to find him.
However, the outside world is not half so romantic as Uncumber imagined: it's dirty and full of unhappiness and bugs and nasty food. Noli lives on a desert island where he works to exhaustion each day, lives with several wives. He is bluntly cruel and as escapist and pill-happy as Uncumber's family.
When at last Uncumber leaves Noli's house (well, his shared room), she gets lost in the jungle, almost starves to death, is found by a consortium of pirates who kill and rob people who live in the inside world. The pirates feed Uncumber and keep her safe for night; when she sees them rob a house, she feels ambivalent, both hateful toward and sympathetic to the people on the inside. Uncumber is found at the scene of the crime and, after a bizarre non-trial, sentenced to reintegration into the inside world in her own little house. There she lives, immortal and fully integrated, blaming her old rebellious tendencies on incompatibility with her family.
The End.
What did I make of this? It's worth mentioning foremost how many absorbing and beautiful passages there are in this book. Uncumber's discovery of the sheer volume of life outside of her carefully sanitized world is both shocking and delightful, playing to the reader's sense of wonder. The dystopia described is well-realized, as effecting to me now as a well-remembered nightmare.
Uncumber's attempts to discover a meaningful life beyond the one proscribed to her by her family and the inside society ultimately seems to reflect on ineffectual attempts at rebellion against contemporary society: although Uncumber senses that something is wrong and tries to act on it, she's so unaware of social and psychological reality (and so unable to cope with reality when she finally gets a dose of it!) that she is only ever able to express her feeling of unease and displacement through ineffectual and self-damaging rebellion. If one extrapolates from this story some sort of parable for contemporary society, things look bleak: people are miserable but deluded, ineffectual and perpetually trapped. While I don't agree with that bit of Hobbesian pessimism, I certainly think "A Very Private Life" is engaging both as a novel and as a piece of social commentary.
The premise of the novel shares some similarities with Brave New World: the sullen protagonist, Uncumber, lives in the ultra-comfortable "inside world" in her own private room in a windowless house. People who live inside never leave their houses, and encounter others (even the people they share the house with) primarily via their holovision machines. Everyone's medicated to the gills, drugs meted out for the full range of experiences: hilarity, sexual ecstasy, even intellectual euphoria (not to mention happiness, sadness, even judiciousness[?!:]).
Although comforted by the romantic fantasies and pleasurable delusions provided by her holoscreen, Uncumber feels intensely disconnected from the inside world. She rebels against the inside's conventions by refusing to take her medication, becomes infatuated with a man named Noli who is part of the outside (and lower) classes, and runs away (read: leaves the house) to find him.
However, the outside world is not half so romantic as Uncumber imagined: it's dirty and full of unhappiness and bugs and nasty food. Noli lives on a desert island where he works to exhaustion each day, lives with several wives. He is bluntly cruel and as escapist and pill-happy as Uncumber's family.
When at last Uncumber leaves Noli's house (well, his shared room), she gets lost in the jungle, almost starves to death, is found by a consortium of pirates who kill and rob people who live in the inside world. The pirates feed Uncumber and keep her safe for night; when she sees them rob a house, she feels ambivalent, both hateful toward and sympathetic to the people on the inside. Uncumber is found at the scene of the crime and, after a bizarre non-trial, sentenced to reintegration into the inside world in her own little house. There she lives, immortal and fully integrated, blaming her old rebellious tendencies on incompatibility with her family.
The End.
What did I make of this? It's worth mentioning foremost how many absorbing and beautiful passages there are in this book. Uncumber's discovery of the sheer volume of life outside of her carefully sanitized world is both shocking and delightful, playing to the reader's sense of wonder. The dystopia described is well-realized, as effecting to me now as a well-remembered nightmare.
Uncumber's attempts to discover a meaningful life beyond the one proscribed to her by her family and the inside society ultimately seems to reflect on ineffectual attempts at rebellion against contemporary society: although Uncumber senses that something is wrong and tries to act on it, she's so unaware of social and psychological reality (and so unable to cope with reality when she finally gets a dose of it!) that she is only ever able to express her feeling of unease and displacement through ineffectual and self-damaging rebellion. If one extrapolates from this story some sort of parable for contemporary society, things look bleak: people are miserable but deluded, ineffectual and perpetually trapped. While I don't agree with that bit of Hobbesian pessimism, I certainly think "A Very Private Life" is engaging both as a novel and as a piece of social commentary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 29, 2025
The only thing I've yet read by Frayn, who is much more famous for his plays. Every page of this little science fiction fairytale is incredible, though; it's something that can be read within a day but the impression it leaves will last much longer.
Read
May 12, 2019Майкъл Фрейн - "Строго личен живот", изд. "Кибеа" , прев. Петър Скипп
Причините да пожелая да прочета тази книга, бяха няколко.
На първо място - авторът. До този Момент "познавах" Майкъл Фрейн единствено като драматург, и беше приятна изненада да открия, че пише и в друг жанр. А когато разбрах, че именно тази книга спада към антиутопичния жанр, това само засили желанието ми.
Втората причина беше заглавието. Всъщност за мен то беше изненадващо, защото някак "не се връзваше" с целия ми досегашен опит с жанра "антиутопия" - защото във всяка една книга от жанра, която съм ч„ела до този момент, животът на героите е всичко друго, но не и "личен" - нещата, които можеш да скриеш, са толкова малко, че се броят на половината пръсти на едната ръка.
Третата причина... Не, нея няма да ви кажа. Оттук нататък ще говоря за самата книга.
Подзаглавието на тази малка, но оставяща следи в съзнанието книга, е "Приказка за бъдещето". Защото, оказва се, не всички приказки започват с "Имало едно време". Някои - като историята на Анкамбър - започват с: "Ще има едно време..."
Ще има едно време свят, в който едни ще живеят напълно защитени. И няма да излизат навън дори за да се снабдят с най-необходимото. Защото то ще идва при тях.
Ще има и друг един - външен - свят, и неговите обитатели ще имат задачата само да се грижат за онези вътре. И без дори да си подадат носа навън, "вътрешните" ще могат да си поръчат всичко - от храна до предмети за бита, от морска ваканция до бебета...
Физическият допир между хората ще се превръща в отживелица.Дори родителите няма да се виждат истински с децата си. никой вътрешен няма да жадува да види какво е Навън. Защото Навън е опасно... и може да успееш да излезеш, но никой не ги гарантира, че ще успееш да влезеш обратно.
Да, това е книга за едно, надявам се, неосъществимо бъдеще. Но е книга и за едно непокорно момиче, чийто бунт започва с дребни неща - да задава въпроси за другия свят, да отказва да пие "правилните" таблетки, да прави собствени планове... и в крайна сметка, да последва поривите си.
Това, което ми хареса, е че на Анкамбър /или Камби, както я нарича семейството й/ не са й спестени никакви неприятности. Напротив, в рамките на тези толкова малко /143/ страници тя преживява толкова неща, че понякога ми беше трудно да ги следя. И, честно казано, изобщо не бях убедена, че нещата ще завършат добре за нея.
Винаги, когато чета антиутопии, си задавам въпроса: Бих ли искала да живея в свят като описания в съответната книга? Зададох си го и сега. И отговорът е: Не, не бих. Именно защото е твърде защитен, твърде сигурен... контролиран. И така добре "направен", че в един момент онези, които го обитават, приемат именно него за истински, а всичко извън нег�� - за симулация на реалността.
"Строго личен живот" е писана през 1968 г. и в нея Майкъл Фрейн предрича бъдеще, изцяло доминирано от технологиите. Оттогава насам наистина сме свидетели на множество открития и изобретения. Иска ми се обаче да вярвам, че няма да стигнем чак до описаното в книгата. Защото този свят ми се видя... нечовешки.
Книгата ми хареса и ще потърся и други произведения от автора.
Причините да пожелая да прочета тази книга, бяха няколко.
На първо място - авторът. До този Момент "познавах" Майкъл Фрейн единствено като драматург, и беше приятна изненада да открия, че пише и в друг жанр. А когато разбрах, че именно тази книга спада към антиутопичния жанр, това само засили желанието ми.
Втората причина беше заглавието. Всъщност за мен то беше изненадващо, защото някак "не се връзваше" с целия ми досегашен опит с жанра "антиутопия" - защото във всяка една книга от жанра, която съм ч„ела до този момент, животът на героите е всичко друго, но не и "личен" - нещата, които можеш да скриеш, са толкова малко, че се броят на половината пръсти на едната ръка.
Третата причина... Не, нея няма да ви кажа. Оттук нататък ще говоря за самата книга.
Подзаглавието на тази малка, но оставяща следи в съзнанието книга, е "Приказка за бъдещето". Защото, оказва се, не всички приказки започват с "Имало едно време". Някои - като историята на Анкамбър - започват с: "Ще има едно време..."
Ще има едно време свят, в който едни ще живеят напълно защитени. И няма да излизат навън дори за да се снабдят с най-необходимото. Защото то ще идва при тях.
Ще има и друг един - външен - свят, и неговите обитатели ще имат задачата само да се грижат за онези вътре. И без дори да си подадат носа навън, "вътрешните" ще могат да си поръчат всичко - от храна до предмети за бита, от морска ваканция до бебета...
Физическият допир между хората ще се превръща в отживелица.Дори родителите няма да се виждат истински с децата си. никой вътрешен няма да жадува да види какво е Навън. Защото Навън е опасно... и може да успееш да излезеш, но никой не ги гарантира, че ще успееш да влезеш обратно.
Да, това е книга за едно, надявам се, неосъществимо бъдеще. Но е книга и за едно непокорно момиче, чийто бунт започва с дребни неща - да задава въпроси за другия свят, да отказва да пие "правилните" таблетки, да прави собствени планове... и в крайна сметка, да последва поривите си.
Това, което ми хареса, е че на Анкамбър /или Камби, както я нарича семейството й/ не са й спестени никакви неприятности. Напротив, в рамките на тези толкова малко /143/ страници тя преживява толкова неща, че понякога ми беше трудно да ги следя. И, честно казано, изобщо не бях убедена, че нещата ще завършат добре за нея.
Винаги, когато чета антиутопии, си задавам въпроса: Бих ли искала да живея в свят като описания в съответната книга? Зададох си го и сега. И отговорът е: Не, не бих. Именно защото е твърде защитен, твърде сигурен... контролиран. И така добре "направен", че в един момент онези, които го обитават, приемат именно него за истински, а всичко извън нег�� - за симулация на реалността.
"Строго личен живот" е писана през 1968 г. и в нея Майкъл Фрейн предрича бъдеще, изцяло доминирано от технологиите. Оттогава насам наистина сме свидетели на множество открития и изобретения. Иска ми се обаче да вярвам, че няма да стигнем чак до описаното в книгата. Защото този свят ми се видя... нечовешки.
Книгата ми хареса и ще потърся и други произведения от автора.
January 23, 2020
Cute story, but the real message is: Don’t Do Drugs. Remember this 3-D people!
Michael Frayn’s A Very Private Life doesn’t actually made the point about having private moments in life nor having a private life. Our main character, named Uncumber, had to live with a family that relies too much on drugs to be emotionally stable (or maybe, mentally stable?). She doesn’t like that and she is also very distant with her family because she doesn’t want to join the drug family. Smart.
So, she left her home in search to find a man she fell in love at first sight. Not really smart, but hey, a girl’s gotta do what she gotta do. Unfortunately, the two of them can’t communicate with each other. There’s no translator app back in the day. They couldn’t understand what the other was saying. What they do know though? Love-making. That language is universal. However, this guy wants to use drugs too when they do it. She left him, but was caught and was put in jail. While there, she gained an epiphany: there is no more love-making; people can just spend an intimate time lying next to each other and seeing things. Her love life is the same as her childhood: filled with drugs.
Michael Frayn’s A Very Private Life doesn’t actually made the point about having private moments in life nor having a private life. Our main character, named Uncumber, had to live with a family that relies too much on drugs to be emotionally stable (or maybe, mentally stable?). She doesn’t like that and she is also very distant with her family because she doesn’t want to join the drug family. Smart.
So, she left her home in search to find a man she fell in love at first sight. Not really smart, but hey, a girl’s gotta do what she gotta do. Unfortunately, the two of them can’t communicate with each other. There’s no translator app back in the day. They couldn’t understand what the other was saying. What they do know though? Love-making. That language is universal. However, this guy wants to use drugs too when they do it. She left him, but was caught and was put in jail. While there, she gained an epiphany: there is no more love-making; people can just spend an intimate time lying next to each other and seeing things. Her love life is the same as her childhood: filled with drugs.
December 3, 2024
This is my third Frayn novel and either I'm constitutionally incapable of appreciating his "genius" in fiction (although I do like his plays) or Frayn is a wildly overrated writer. This "fairy tale" in the "future" comes to us from the fever-pitch anything-goes year of 1968 and it's probably about as wild as Frayn is going to get. A few decent ideas about holovision (including anticipating cybersex), but it's marred by Uncumber being a one-dimensional doormat for the author's sexist streaks and the fact that she doesn't really have any particular quest or purpose, other than to bounce around and call up numbers (very long numbers; again, that Frayn "comedic" touch that isn't especially funny and that he runs into the ground and that he telegraphs with all the subtlety of a rhinoceros trying to make himself inconspicuous in an efficiency apartment). This was so dull that I'm wondering if I should even bother with the other Frayn volumes in my TBR pile. I fell down this rabbit hole because I really love NOISES OFF and felt that I should become familiar with Frayn. But it's just one dud after another.
September 25, 2016
Nog ééntje uit de pocket-collectie van mijn vader (nog een tachtigtal te gaan). Dit had ik ergens in de jaren '80 al eens gelezen. Typisch SF-verhaal uit de jaren '60, de hoogdagen van de SF.
In feite wel gedateerd omdat een aantal van de beschreven evoluties de dag van vandaag ondenkbaar zouden zijn. Bijvoorbeeld: holovisie is ten tijde van het verhaal de standaard maar men moet de verbindingen wel maken door lekker ouderwets een telefoonnummer in te toetsen.
Vermakelijk. Makkelijk op een dagje uit te lezen.
In feite wel gedateerd omdat een aantal van de beschreven evoluties de dag van vandaag ondenkbaar zouden zijn. Bijvoorbeeld: holovisie is ten tijde van het verhaal de standaard maar men moet de verbindingen wel maken door lekker ouderwets een telefoonnummer in te toetsen.
Vermakelijk. Makkelijk op een dagje uit te lezen.
March 10, 2016
Couldn't put it down, yet it disturbed me greatly, to be honest I won't read it again and I'm not interested in what happens next. But that could just be me, so a definite recommend to read it for yourself and see what you think.
December 30, 2017
(To me, this book could represent our future with Generation Z. I could absolutely see those kids turning into the Inside people; they'd have different technology and mannerisms, but it would essentially be the same thing.)
At some unspecified point in the future, humanity has divided itself into two classes. The upper class consists of the Inside people. They barricade themselves in houses which they never leave. To meet someone means that you meet them on holovision. Everyone past the age of puberty is expected to wear dark goggle-like glasses so they do not reveal their emotions to their family and holovision friends, which is considered extremely rude and inconsiderate. Drugs are used to experience or suppress every emotion, or just to get you high in every conceivable way. There are no windows. Education and entertainment are obtained - like everything else - via the holovision.
Our "heroine" Encumber - called Cumby - finds herself outside and very far away with Outside people. The Outside people are the majority of human beings who do the work to provide Inside people with their easy lives. Their lives are spent in squalor, finding what pleasure they can from love, friendship, and food. Despite what she sees and experiences, Uncumber never gains an understanding of just what this parasitic relationship between Inside and Outside has done to the world.
At some unspecified point in the future, humanity has divided itself into two classes. The upper class consists of the Inside people. They barricade themselves in houses which they never leave. To meet someone means that you meet them on holovision. Everyone past the age of puberty is expected to wear dark goggle-like glasses so they do not reveal their emotions to their family and holovision friends, which is considered extremely rude and inconsiderate. Drugs are used to experience or suppress every emotion, or just to get you high in every conceivable way. There are no windows. Education and entertainment are obtained - like everything else - via the holovision.
Our "heroine" Encumber - called Cumby - finds herself outside and very far away with Outside people. The Outside people are the majority of human beings who do the work to provide Inside people with their easy lives. Their lives are spent in squalor, finding what pleasure they can from love, friendship, and food. Despite what she sees and experiences, Uncumber never gains an understanding of just what this parasitic relationship between Inside and Outside has done to the world.
June 19, 2025
This was one of those impulse book store buys because it has an interesting cover. The book itself is written in a rather simplistic manner, so it's a pretty fast read. The story is interesting, though not much deeper than surface level. I would have liked to hear more about the world in which the characters find themselves. We get a little, but not much.
The story itself is about a rebellious girl who questions her reality, which is one who lives in an underworld box of a house where the only way to communicate with others, including her parents, is through the provisional. Food, feelings, and sex, are administered with pills. She receives a wrong number holo-call one day from a strange man named Noli who speaks a different language. She then runs away from her home and finds him, only to be brought into a world beyond what she ever could conceive. Not grade A literature, but it's a quick and fun story.
The story itself is about a rebellious girl who questions her reality, which is one who lives in an underworld box of a house where the only way to communicate with others, including her parents, is through the provisional. Food, feelings, and sex, are administered with pills. She receives a wrong number holo-call one day from a strange man named Noli who speaks a different language. She then runs away from her home and finds him, only to be brought into a world beyond what she ever could conceive. Not grade A literature, but it's a quick and fun story.
August 17, 2019
Uncumber, a restless child, tires of the inside life where all is secure & all material and pharmacological needs are met, & escapes to join Noli, a man she has met by holovision after marking the wrong number. Thus she discovers a distant community of outside workers who speak a strange language (Finnish?). Tiring of him & this life, she tries to walk to the rocket port to fly home, but gets lost, is denied entry into any of the inside people's homes, then is captured by brigands ("sad men" — they speak French) who break into an insiders' house, murder everybody & steal the goods. “Kind Men” (police — speaking yet another language, possibly Esperanto) arrive, arrest Uncumber & one of the brigands. She is sentenced to her own house in another distant land.
April 2, 2023
The further in time we get away from this book, the closer we are to it. Recommend reading it along with EM Forster's The Ghost in the Machine, Atwood's Oryx and Crake, and Dick's The Penultimate Truth.
February 17, 2024
I’m not sure what I thought of this.
Then I looked at the year it was written. And well I’m amazed the creativity and how delicate the author can be.
I enjoyed this anyways even though I have no idea what it’s about.
Then I looked at the year it was written. And well I’m amazed the creativity and how delicate the author can be.
I enjoyed this anyways even though I have no idea what it’s about.
February 21, 2017
Unbelievable that this was written in the 1960s. Brilliant.
May 18, 2020
This is the perfect read in times of Covid19 .. amazingly prophetic
August 1, 2021
intriguing little sci-fi parable from the late 60s, which was once seen as a premonition of virtual reality, but also contains a fairly prescient description of internet culture
December 8, 2024
Interesting concept but kind of a dumb plot. At least it was short
July 27, 2025
I very much like the way Frayn takes current trends and extends them into the future. The end was a bit disappointing, but was consistent with the rest of the story.
January 27, 2025
Nahe Zukunft: Uncumber lebt mit ihrer Familie in der inneren Welt, d.h. sie leben in vollkommender Isolation, verlassen ihr Haus niemals, alle etwaigen Kontakte zu anderen verläuft über Hologramme. Eines Tages ruft bei Uncumbers Holochamber ein fremder Mann an, der sich verwählt hat – ein Mann aus der Außenwelt, einer jener Menschen, die nicht völlig abgeschottet leben! Uncumber hat ihr Leben satt und beschließ kurzerhand, auszubrechen, jenen Mann zu suchen, sich die Außenwelt zu erschließen.
Die Privilegierten schotten sich von der Außenwelt ab, weil diese als unzivilisiert gilt. Bei einer Dystopie wäre zu erwarten, dass sich dieses Bild umdreht, dass die Außenwelt die Innenwelt als falsch strafen wird. Aber die Außenwelt IST in der Tat unzivilisiert und außerdem genauso eskapistisch wie die Innenwelt. Das mag zwar zeigen, dass romantische Ideale und Vorstellungen häufig enttäuscht werden, für eine Dystopie, meine ich aber, funktioniert das nicht. Denn weil die Außenwelt tatsächlich unzivilisiert ist, scheint die gegebene Gesellschaftsordnung gerechtfertigt: Jeder hat seinen festen Platz und muss an diesen Platz zurückkehren. Warum man an diesem Platz ist, warum daran nichts zu ändern ist, wird somit auch nicht hinterfragt.
A very private Life will eine Dystopie sein, ist dafür aber nicht im Entferntesten kritisch genug.
Die Privilegierten schotten sich von der Außenwelt ab, weil diese als unzivilisiert gilt. Bei einer Dystopie wäre zu erwarten, dass sich dieses Bild umdreht, dass die Außenwelt die Innenwelt als falsch strafen wird. Aber die Außenwelt IST in der Tat unzivilisiert und außerdem genauso eskapistisch wie die Innenwelt. Das mag zwar zeigen, dass romantische Ideale und Vorstellungen häufig enttäuscht werden, für eine Dystopie, meine ich aber, funktioniert das nicht. Denn weil die Außenwelt tatsächlich unzivilisiert ist, scheint die gegebene Gesellschaftsordnung gerechtfertigt: Jeder hat seinen festen Platz und muss an diesen Platz zurückkehren. Warum man an diesem Platz ist, warum daran nichts zu ändern ist, wird somit auch nicht hinterfragt.
A very private Life will eine Dystopie sein, ist dafür aber nicht im Entferntesten kritisch genug.
January 29, 2024
Във въздуха витае магична история за едно футуристично бъдеще,сурова антиутопия,портали на времето изключително обсебващо начало на една почти невероятна на текст приказка."Холовизията" е устройство в дома на всеки с,което получваме всичко от което се нуждаем.Не е нужно да излизаме от своят дом,а просто натискаме бутон с желание "искам" и го получаваме.Невероятно,но къщите се местят и достигат до други дестинации извън нашата шир.Хората пият хапчета ежедневно за да си набавят щастие,тъга,емоции дори комуникативно да се чувстват свързани.Всички носят очила за да не ходят голи и съответно да не издават емоция с поглед.Децата се доставят по поръчка на семействата,в които ще бъдат отглеждани такива каквито са си ги поръчали.Звучи неразумно,но ако трябва да бъда искрена усещам ,че това е измислена история за нещо невероятно, но напълно възможно да се случи в живота ни в близко бъдеще.Може би всички ще бъдем заключени в нашият свои собствен свят и ще притежаваме всичко,което желаем и никога това няма да ни удовлетворява,а когато отключим простраството за да погледнем извън своята шир ще се окаже,че капана е за всички и всеки е заключен с ключ,който е изгубен или направо унищожен.
Книгата е ТОП! Великолепие за вашето вътрешно телепортиране извън разумното! 🎯⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Книгата е ТОП! Великолепие за вашето вътрешно телепортиране извън разумното! 🎯⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
July 15, 2016
Modern literature is rich with dystopian visions of the future – do you really need to read another one? The answer is no, not really, but this is a classy example of the genre and has the virtue of being a compact and very readable novel. The set-up is straightforward and not particularly original: human society has separated into wealthy, privileged Insiders who lead long, disease-free lives and rely on three-dimensional ‘holovision’ and an endless variety of recreational drugs for entertainment; and the Outsiders who do the real work and are regarded by the Insiders as drones. You know the kind of thing.
The plot revolves around an Insider girl, Uncumber, who is compelled by curiosity to visit the outside world, for which she is of course absolutely unprepared. It's a spare sort of story, with no extraneous incidents or characters, but quite a lot of intriguing and amusing details about the world Frayn creates. One of them is that the Insiders wear no clothes, but are very prudish about revealing their eyes, almost constantly wearing dark glasses. The Outsiders, by contrast, seem to have developed into a polygamous society and speak a different language which is an amalgam of various real contemporary languages and seems to have been quite intricately worked out by the author. This means that the reader, together with Uncumber, remains largely in the dark about what is going on in the outside world, although we can piece together a few more scraps of knowledge than she can thanks to our greater familiarity with the sort of human lives she encounters. This puts us in an odd relationship to the characters – though the lives of the Outsiders are, on the face of it, more similar to our own, it is the Insiders whose language we can understand.
The strength and interest of this novel is in the care Frayn takes with the detail. It is more Brave New World than 1984, more concerned with the social elements of a potential future society than the structure of political control. Compared with these works, it’s a slight addition to the genre, but an entertaining and intelligent one.
The plot revolves around an Insider girl, Uncumber, who is compelled by curiosity to visit the outside world, for which she is of course absolutely unprepared. It's a spare sort of story, with no extraneous incidents or characters, but quite a lot of intriguing and amusing details about the world Frayn creates. One of them is that the Insiders wear no clothes, but are very prudish about revealing their eyes, almost constantly wearing dark glasses. The Outsiders, by contrast, seem to have developed into a polygamous society and speak a different language which is an amalgam of various real contemporary languages and seems to have been quite intricately worked out by the author. This means that the reader, together with Uncumber, remains largely in the dark about what is going on in the outside world, although we can piece together a few more scraps of knowledge than she can thanks to our greater familiarity with the sort of human lives she encounters. This puts us in an odd relationship to the characters – though the lives of the Outsiders are, on the face of it, more similar to our own, it is the Insiders whose language we can understand.
The strength and interest of this novel is in the care Frayn takes with the detail. It is more Brave New World than 1984, more concerned with the social elements of a potential future society than the structure of political control. Compared with these works, it’s a slight addition to the genre, but an entertaining and intelligent one.
July 4, 2020
A Very Private Life is a book based on a futuristic fairytale reality inhabited by a teenage girl named Uncumber, whose rebellious impulses lead her on a journey to a world she has never encountered from her shielded insider lifestyle.
I was intrigued by Michael Frayn’s approach to this original storyline. A Very Private life, of course, is set as a fairytale in the future, not the past. Interesting though, the chapters are separated into increments only a few pages long, making it effortlessly digestible and an overall easy and fun read.
However, Although I enjoyed the majority of the book, I think that the ending could have had some more development. I feel that Uncumber’s journey towards the end was oversimplified and glossed over, despite the traumatic and complex journey she experiences. To conclude, this book was an overall pleasant read and I would recommend it.
I was intrigued by Michael Frayn’s approach to this original storyline. A Very Private life, of course, is set as a fairytale in the future, not the past. Interesting though, the chapters are separated into increments only a few pages long, making it effortlessly digestible and an overall easy and fun read.
However, Although I enjoyed the majority of the book, I think that the ending could have had some more development. I feel that Uncumber’s journey towards the end was oversimplified and glossed over, despite the traumatic and complex journey she experiences. To conclude, this book was an overall pleasant read and I would recommend it.
June 5, 2016
Sigue el clásico tema de la joven que se rebela contra el sistema, tratando de buscarse a si misma, pero dentro del contexto sci-fi de los 60 influenciados sobre todo por la obra de Robert Heinlein, es decir donde se habla abiertamente de drogas, sexualidad, se cuestiona las familias nucleares, etc. Es una lástima que los libros de Michal Frayn (al parece ninguno) hayan sido traducidos al castellano.
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