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1996
This fictionalized memoir of the award-winning author, Gloria Naylor, tells a story of a massive covert surveillance operation perpetrated against her by an official of the U.S. government.
175 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2005
7 people are currently reading
881 people want to read
About the author
Gloria Naylor
24 books688 followersGloria Naylor was an African-American novelist whose most popular work, The Women of Brewster Place, was made into a 1984 film starring Oprah Winfrey.
Naylor won the National Book Award for first fiction in 1983 for The Women of Brewster Place. Her subsequent novels included Linden Hills, Mama Day and Bailey's Cafe. In addition to her novels, Naylor wrote essays and screenplays, as well as the stage adaptation of Bailey's Cafe. Naylor also founded One Way Productions, an independent film company, and was involved in a literacy program in the Bronx.
A native New Yorker, Gloria Naylor was a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale University. She was distinguished with numerous honors, including Scholar-in-Residence, the University of Pennsylvania; Senior Fellow, The Society for the Humanities, Cornell University; the President's Medal, Brooklyn College; and Visiting Professor, University of Kent, Canterbury, England. Naylor was the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for her novels and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for screenwriting.
Naylor won the National Book Award for first fiction in 1983 for The Women of Brewster Place. Her subsequent novels included Linden Hills, Mama Day and Bailey's Cafe. In addition to her novels, Naylor wrote essays and screenplays, as well as the stage adaptation of Bailey's Cafe. Naylor also founded One Way Productions, an independent film company, and was involved in a literacy program in the Bronx.
A native New Yorker, Gloria Naylor was a graduate of Brooklyn College and Yale University. She was distinguished with numerous honors, including Scholar-in-Residence, the University of Pennsylvania; Senior Fellow, The Society for the Humanities, Cornell University; the President's Medal, Brooklyn College; and Visiting Professor, University of Kent, Canterbury, England. Naylor was the recipient of Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships for her novels and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for screenwriting.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
July 27, 2021
Amazing book on being "gangstalked" (surveilled, harassed, tormented) by the NSA.
Read
April 6, 2022If Orwell wrote an episode of Gilmore Girls
August 24, 2021
Unlike anything I’ve ever read. Naylor was such a gifted writer. This fictionalized memoir is bizarre and actually ridiculous enough to be true! Definitely aligns with my distrust of the govt/surveillance state.
October 23, 2025
This is a strange and fascinating book. It's a fictionalized account of Gloria Naylor's experience of being gang-stalked by the NSA. The novel alternates between Gloria's perspective and the points of view of the perpetrators.
The story features Mossad agents, old as* ADL members, and infuriatingly incompetent officers from the NSA and other agencies. One of the main antagonists, a Jewish NSA agent, even has a kink for SS boots. The most bizarre and compelling characters are the tech-savvy teenagers "groomed" by the state for undercover work; they are portrayed as being wacky and particularly cruel. Naylor also mentions how people within civil rights and other political movements often act as informants for these agencies. A particularly insane part was the introduction of the brain chip technology where computer activity is transferred onto one's mind (and vice versa). These elements are integrated smoothly into the narrative, avoiding a gratuitous or sensationalist tone.
In several scenes, the agents discuss their barbaric tactics (i.e., turning friends into informants, conducting a horrible noise campaign, and inducing paranoia). The narrative often highlights their pure dumb incompetence, as Gloria blows their cover multiple times and underscores the inane nature of the entire operation. She repeatedly questions the purpose of this crusade against her simple life, never receiving a satisfactory answer.
It's a wild novel, yet it is written not with schizophrenic chaos, as one might expect, but with great clarity and simplicity. While there is debate about the veracity of her account, it is definitely worth a read. As a piece of literature, it is fast-paced and captures the maddening paranoia really well (nothing too highly literary but decent).
The story features Mossad agents, old as* ADL members, and infuriatingly incompetent officers from the NSA and other agencies. One of the main antagonists, a Jewish NSA agent, even has a kink for SS boots. The most bizarre and compelling characters are the tech-savvy teenagers "groomed" by the state for undercover work; they are portrayed as being wacky and particularly cruel. Naylor also mentions how people within civil rights and other political movements often act as informants for these agencies. A particularly insane part was the introduction of the brain chip technology where computer activity is transferred onto one's mind (and vice versa). These elements are integrated smoothly into the narrative, avoiding a gratuitous or sensationalist tone.
In several scenes, the agents discuss their barbaric tactics (i.e., turning friends into informants, conducting a horrible noise campaign, and inducing paranoia). The narrative often highlights their pure dumb incompetence, as Gloria blows their cover multiple times and underscores the inane nature of the entire operation. She repeatedly questions the purpose of this crusade against her simple life, never receiving a satisfactory answer.
It's a wild novel, yet it is written not with schizophrenic chaos, as one might expect, but with great clarity and simplicity. While there is debate about the veracity of her account, it is definitely worth a read. As a piece of literature, it is fast-paced and captures the maddening paranoia really well (nothing too highly literary but decent).
August 30, 2010
When a person says they are stalked, I can believe them. When a person says they were investigated rigorously by the government, I can believe it. Believe me, I can believe it. We all have stories to tell in this post 1984, post 9/11 age. But when a person tells me that the government has been reading their mind with a computer and a type of satellite, typing in responses to their thoughts in an abusive argument, not only can I not believe it, but it brings into doubt even the rational, reasonable accusations the person made. Given the paranoiac belief that Jews are fueling the attacks against her, reliance that Naylor has genuine understanding of what happened to her is crucial to being able to tolerate this book as much more than an anti-Jewish polemic in which a misunderstood insult in a grocery store can launch the entire force of the Anti-Defamation League in a campaign of terror. But then again, I also think only a True Believer in the utter corruption and complete, almost God-like competence of our government will be able to believe the whole of 1996. Read my entire review here.
January 24, 2018
Wow! Such negative reviews.I read this when it first came out. It is not that unbelievable.If I remember correctly in the back of the book she listed actual accounts of these happening. If you google mind control you will see it. I wonder if anyone reads this now in 2018 if they would feel the same way.Very real and very scary to me.Gloria my friend i've never thought you were crazy. Rest in peace beautiful.
May 28, 2022
Made me insanely paranoid. Really agree with the gist of it but some of the particulars kind of threw me off. Most destabilizing part was the addendum.
January 13, 2021
Although this is quite an old book it demonstrates much of what technology and governments are capable of today.
It is written in the style of a fictional novel and I had some doubt that the story was an autobiography.
It's very easy to read and re- read. Due mainly to Naylor's ability to write only that which is relevant to the unfolding storyline.There is a deceptively simple writing style employed in this book, which makes the book seem shorter than it is.
Its subject matter of Naylor being an enemy of the state due to her potential creative influence is too awful for comprehension as being real. So it is just as well that it reads as a fiction. To soften the blow. But there is left an anticipatory, non culmination in where the story was going and what the ending might mean. It would have nice to have a happy ending but this
story is just the point in itself.
It is disturbing and would make all but the most closed minds examines human behavior and who governs it.
Naylor never wrote another novel after this one.
Makes you wonder. So many novels have an end but this one doesn't.
I think that's the whole point because that exemplifies its touching bitterness, leaving a yearning for the authors story to resolve. Her own little Eden and her perfect mahogany lined study all won through her writing gifts and hard work. Yet her enjoyment of them taken away... why ?
And there it ends, totally in theme!
It is written in the style of a fictional novel and I had some doubt that the story was an autobiography.
It's very easy to read and re- read. Due mainly to Naylor's ability to write only that which is relevant to the unfolding storyline.There is a deceptively simple writing style employed in this book, which makes the book seem shorter than it is.
Its subject matter of Naylor being an enemy of the state due to her potential creative influence is too awful for comprehension as being real. So it is just as well that it reads as a fiction. To soften the blow. But there is left an anticipatory, non culmination in where the story was going and what the ending might mean. It would have nice to have a happy ending but this
story is just the point in itself.
It is disturbing and would make all but the most closed minds examines human behavior and who governs it.
Naylor never wrote another novel after this one.
Makes you wonder. So many novels have an end but this one doesn't.
I think that's the whole point because that exemplifies its touching bitterness, leaving a yearning for the authors story to resolve. Her own little Eden and her perfect mahogany lined study all won through her writing gifts and hard work. Yet her enjoyment of them taken away... why ?
And there it ends, totally in theme!
February 11, 2015
The telling of the story was rather matter-of-fact, which didn't particularly grab me, but at the same time I'm not sure it could have been told any other way. Most paranoiac works seem unbelievable because of the presupposed organization of those allied against the subject, but here they were exactly as bumbling as one would anticipate. Which made it all the more frightening.
EDIT: I sold this book back but then I COULD NOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT so i bought it again. I severely underrated it.
EDIT: I sold this book back but then I COULD NOT STOP THINKING ABOUT IT so i bought it again. I severely underrated it.
August 5, 2021
Recommended by Tao Lin, very lucid account of an accomplished Black author being gangstalked and electronically harassed by the NSA. Sad that many of Gloria's predictions about the books reception came true. It's very hard to have this discussion even now, when it's very clear that the government is capable of not only what occurs in this book, but things much worse that are kept under layers and layers of silence. Naylor does exactly what she set out to do: shine a light on the darkness. It is a cold, harsh, terrifying light, but I believe that it is the truth.
August 23, 2015
Wow, an experience definitely not to be disregarded. I applaud her bravery
February 10, 2014
Let me begin by saying, I hate the part where the little cowardly shits on the voice to skull computer program drive Naylor to a psych doctor. This is NOT schizophrenia but instead an actual brain torture technology like she claims.People will insist it isn't real,but then introduce a mind controlled video game and they believe that.Go figure. This crime is so heinous, and it's perpetrators so mentally ill,obsessive, and cowardly, it is just too miserable for some to accept it happens.Naylor tells most of her story by imagining how her stalking must be occurring,and is eerily similar to what I have thought at times(such as you can't guard all of your things if they know all your tactics to do so)and parts of the book (as a fellow victim) are downright funny. What is unclear is who or even if the harassers are part of any organization and which ones remain a mystery, but the way the story is told is her version. I have identified some of my perps, but no police action has yet to be taken.I def recommend this book to other victims at least for the sake of knowing your thoughts are similar to hers. Others, please remember to keep an open mind, and proven property damages are not paranoia!
December 27, 2018
This fictionalized account of a lone black woman harassed by the National Security Agency is downright chilling. The targeting follows her from South Carolina to New York to Florida and continues indefinitely.
Friends of Gloria Naylor urged her NOT to publish this account but she forged ahead. We readers must ask ourselves, in light of Glenn Greenwald and Bill Binney’s whistleblowing disclosures, is this scenario so unlikely? Given drones, antenna arrays, and acoustic devices, do we doubt that the technology Naylor describes actually exists?
She is an author of unparalleled courage.
Friends of Gloria Naylor urged her NOT to publish this account but she forged ahead. We readers must ask ourselves, in light of Glenn Greenwald and Bill Binney’s whistleblowing disclosures, is this scenario so unlikely? Given drones, antenna arrays, and acoustic devices, do we doubt that the technology Naylor describes actually exists?
She is an author of unparalleled courage.
October 4, 2013
This book reminded me of Michael Crichton's book Next, which cryptically says that the book is a work of fiction, except for the parts that aren't. What parts of this book was I supposed to believe?
And now I'm probably on a government watch list and will be subject to microwave-based mind control, all for reading a poorly written, anti-Semitic book that stands in desperate need of editing.
And now I'm probably on a government watch list and will be subject to microwave-based mind control, all for reading a poorly written, anti-Semitic book that stands in desperate need of editing.
July 27, 2021
This book really messed me up. Gloria Naylor seems awe-inspiring.
March 7, 2021
Imagine being a nationally renowned writer, especially considering her immense beauty in describing the resilience of the black experience, and, of all things, you decide to conclude your career by writing a novel bereft of any value whatsoever that perpetuates anti-Semitisim and conspiracy theory logic that helps absolutely no one and then go even further and just fail in every way to edit or revise beyond a pathetic first draft. Incredible.
August 3, 2024
I have never been interested in government surveillance on civilians or MK Ultra stuff, but I read this as it was in a recommended list of reads by an author I’m intrigued by. I did not enjoy it, as it describes Gloria’s slow torture, and I think that if this story is true, it is extremely unfortunate that Gloria never wrote again after this book was published.
February 5, 2016
Disturbing and interesting......
October 28, 2021
Scared to log this one for fear of the feds hunting me down and shooting radio waves into my brain
December 15, 2025
Weird book about the author either having a mental breakdown or dealing with harassment and surveillance by the National Security Agency. My only knock is it ended abruptly without a clear conclusion.
May 15, 2019
This was a Wild story and totally believable!!
September 27, 2014
This was a very difficult read because although it is categorized as fiction the book is supposed to be based on true events that occurred in the author's life. I found it difficult to believe anyone could garner as much attention from local and federal authorities based on an 1 person accusing them of being anti-Semitic. Even though Ms. Naylor is a great author and there's nothing actually wrong with the writing itself, the story is too unbelievable. One thing I didn't like was the lack of actual chapters. She did include story/character separations but no actual chapters.
September 8, 2013
Read this book in an afternoon. It is VERY disturbing. It was good, but I cannot recommend it. Is it supposed to be a book of fiction or an actual account of something that happened to her. Again, very disturbing. I need a shower after reading it. Completely unexpected.
October 1, 2023
Page turner
February 17, 2025
This book really blew my mind. It was very original and it challenges your thinking about what you know or think you know about our government.
October 11, 2024
First: The addendum makes up 25% of the book's contents, for what is otherwise a "fictionalized" memoir. In my opinion, it should be in the beginning of the book, even with the first Gangstalking lawsuit of its kind being dismissed, in 1991.
As a story "1996" is admittedly not that compelling. It seems like there was much more going on, and the desire to simplify it seemed to disconnect the narrative from as much nuance as is warranted for content of this nature. As a document, it is very much a worthwhile read.
I might have made other choices in terms of portraying the NSA, because I find them to be of the more psychopathic kind, less of the blunders from just taking orders, and more of the calculated confusion they thrust upon their victims. I would liken the villains in their portrayal as more one dimensional Dick Tracy than what the more likely scenario actually was. The view of the antagonist from a fictional point of view sort of diminished the nonfiction that is alleged within the story.
People are not only being followed around and harassed by a wide array of individuals, they also slander people and steal their belongings. And they can sometimes look exactly like your exes or your best friends when they do it.
I can only imagine what that process is like for the NSA, FBI, CIA, or whomever, to go through this much trouble just to harass an innocent bystander, who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Anyone calling "1996" a "conspiracy theory" or "anti-Semitic" is clearly being willfully ignorant.
Even before the auditory harassment begins within the book, the organized harassment or "Gangstalking" that is described early on is only the tip of the iceberg. The addendum covers some of that targeted harassment, but it would be twice as long if it were updated now, at least.
These types of events are very much real, and more and more pervasive as years go on. Lots of disinformation proliferates through any search of these topics, but there are more and more perfectly coherent people popping up who are credible enough and courageous enough to document rigorously. One can only hope that it will lead to a paradigm shift.
One could assume that Gloria Naylor continued to be harassed from 1996, when the events began to transpire, and continued until at least 2005, when the book was published. Surely Naylor would have noted that it stopped, if so. I have yet to find any other info about whether or not the harassment stopped for her at any point prior to her death in 2016.
Apparently the author did not finish another book in her lifetime, which is surprising, but she did continue to lecture and teach. How someone could survive such heinous treatment for 20 years is beyond me. People have no idea what it's like to be robbed of their private moments, on top of their credibility. Incredibly courageous woman.
May she rest in peace.
www.fightgangstalking.com
www.targetedjustice.com
www.mindjustice.org
Another more thorough review that echoes my sentiments:
https://liberatedtexts.com/reviews/on...
As a story "1996" is admittedly not that compelling. It seems like there was much more going on, and the desire to simplify it seemed to disconnect the narrative from as much nuance as is warranted for content of this nature. As a document, it is very much a worthwhile read.
I might have made other choices in terms of portraying the NSA, because I find them to be of the more psychopathic kind, less of the blunders from just taking orders, and more of the calculated confusion they thrust upon their victims. I would liken the villains in their portrayal as more one dimensional Dick Tracy than what the more likely scenario actually was. The view of the antagonist from a fictional point of view sort of diminished the nonfiction that is alleged within the story.
People are not only being followed around and harassed by a wide array of individuals, they also slander people and steal their belongings. And they can sometimes look exactly like your exes or your best friends when they do it.
I can only imagine what that process is like for the NSA, FBI, CIA, or whomever, to go through this much trouble just to harass an innocent bystander, who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Anyone calling "1996" a "conspiracy theory" or "anti-Semitic" is clearly being willfully ignorant.
Even before the auditory harassment begins within the book, the organized harassment or "Gangstalking" that is described early on is only the tip of the iceberg. The addendum covers some of that targeted harassment, but it would be twice as long if it were updated now, at least.
These types of events are very much real, and more and more pervasive as years go on. Lots of disinformation proliferates through any search of these topics, but there are more and more perfectly coherent people popping up who are credible enough and courageous enough to document rigorously. One can only hope that it will lead to a paradigm shift.
One could assume that Gloria Naylor continued to be harassed from 1996, when the events began to transpire, and continued until at least 2005, when the book was published. Surely Naylor would have noted that it stopped, if so. I have yet to find any other info about whether or not the harassment stopped for her at any point prior to her death in 2016.
Apparently the author did not finish another book in her lifetime, which is surprising, but she did continue to lecture and teach. How someone could survive such heinous treatment for 20 years is beyond me. People have no idea what it's like to be robbed of their private moments, on top of their credibility. Incredibly courageous woman.
May she rest in peace.
www.fightgangstalking.com
www.targetedjustice.com
www.mindjustice.org
Another more thorough review that echoes my sentiments:
https://liberatedtexts.com/reviews/on...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 29, 2022
Muddled feelings about this one. I did go into this knowing that it's a fictionalized memoir - I'm not sure what I would have thought if I hadn't known that. While reading, I could see certain plot elements happening - for example, a disagreement between neighbors escalating into a full-blown feud because neither can admit they could have been more accommodating. But the sense that all of these things happened in sequence? That would require a suspension in belief I just can't provide - again, I'm glad I realized I knew this was fictionalized before starting.
One thing I can't quite explain is that even though I know this is a fictionalized memoir, there's something about Naylor the author making Naylor the protagonist that hurts her. Yes, it's fictionalized, and there's a question, in my opinion, of where exactly the fiction begins. But there's just something about the work as a whole where having this center around herself as a character seems to injure Naylor as an actual person. I don't know how to explain why that comes across to me.
Lastly - people have commented about the anti-Semitism in this book, and yeah, it's there. I think it's tied again to this sense that although you could imagine certain individual events happening, the idea that all of these things would happen in sequence is a different story altogether. I also think part of this is a function of how anti-Semitic tropes have been embedded into literature, and media, and pop culture over time. Even if Naylor insisted that her character isn't anti-Semitic, the work still relies on this idea of Jewish people occupying a bunch of government positions and abusing their power - which is an anti-Semitic conspiracy.
Overall, this book was unsettling, and not in an exciting way. I'm a bit disappointed that this is what I'm ending my first reading of Naylor on - it's a rather unpleasant aftertaste.
One thing I can't quite explain is that even though I know this is a fictionalized memoir, there's something about Naylor the author making Naylor the protagonist that hurts her. Yes, it's fictionalized, and there's a question, in my opinion, of where exactly the fiction begins. But there's just something about the work as a whole where having this center around herself as a character seems to injure Naylor as an actual person. I don't know how to explain why that comes across to me.
Lastly - people have commented about the anti-Semitism in this book, and yeah, it's there. I think it's tied again to this sense that although you could imagine certain individual events happening, the idea that all of these things would happen in sequence is a different story altogether. I also think part of this is a function of how anti-Semitic tropes have been embedded into literature, and media, and pop culture over time. Even if Naylor insisted that her character isn't anti-Semitic, the work still relies on this idea of Jewish people occupying a bunch of government positions and abusing their power - which is an anti-Semitic conspiracy.
Overall, this book was unsettling, and not in an exciting way. I'm a bit disappointed that this is what I'm ending my first reading of Naylor on - it's a rather unpleasant aftertaste.
March 29, 2023
absolutely insane read. one can only imagine due to the lack of self-awareness displayed by the author that she genuinely believes she was gang stalked and that it wasn’t just a momentary lapse of judgement (the entire year of 1996). really shows how quickly one can slip into a hole of paranoia, for example when the author declares that she will begin fighting the battle for her mind, she then imagines that the feds are already one step ahead of her. like give yourself a damn break, gloria. also, you totally killed your neighbors cat and this is why this is happening. you are a mess gloria and also wildly antisemitic
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 11, 2025
Read this a few years back. Found it again last night in the midst of rearranging some old book stacks. Picked it up and couldn't put it down because this book reads like a feature film. Gloria's literary imagery leaves no room for dull conveyances. She consistently paints vivid pictures throughout the story, some moments left me feeling like I'd just woken up from a lucid dream, and many others felt feverish(in the way that all good thrillers do). She is a master. I could taste, see and touch everything she described in this book. Awesome read.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews