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Zed
Zed is having a bad day. She’s 12 and there’s someone around who’s killing kids, which she doesn’t have time for. Already today, she’s knifed a rapist, traded with half the drunks and addicts in town, talked to the dead, bargained with a sociopath, and extracted crucial information from a mental patient, and she hasn’t even left the building. Welcome to The Tower, an urban development project no city wants to lay claim to; a place to steer clear of if at all possible, but if you can’t, you’ll fit right in. This vivid, claustrophobic novel is about madness, survival, and crumbling institutions, in the spirit of J.G. Ballard’s High Rise or Iain Banks’ The Wasp Factory .
- GenresDystopia
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2006
60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 3, 2014
Dark and disturbing doesn't quite cover it. I loved the beginning, the middle needed to be a bit tighter, and the ending required an imagination stretch but overall I really, really liked this novel. Zed, the main character, is a tough and fierce young girl I won't forget soon and her fellow "Tower" dwellers range from pathetic to terrifyingly psychotic. Zed was a strange mix of haunting, bizarre, and callously funny. Wow...
November 9, 2012
I wanted to like--no, love--this book. The subject matter--a 12-year-old surviving in a not-so-far-fretched dystopian--is exciting and potentially unnerving; much of the writing is tersely evocative and dryly humorous. But there's something self-indulgent about many of the writer's choices, from plotting to description to character development.
Take the title character, Zed. Tough, orphaned, living by her wits, Zed has numerous predecessors in literature (Pippi Longstocking, Dido Twite, and Deenie Gauthier, to name just three). But whereas those characters were all given a backstory to help explain in part what makes them tick, author McClung doesn't feel the need to do that with Zed. We have no idea how she ended up in the Bosch-like nightmare of a tower block that is her home, how she learned to read somewhat, why Luc (the evil genius-come-Danny Zuko of the building) is so avuncular toward her for most of the book, and how she became the scrounger that she is. We're expected to take McClung's word for all of this, which makes it tough to care too deeply about Zed.
McClung also seems to have decided that there was no need to describe visuals, though she's more generous when it comes to describing odors. Is there a reason we don't know what Zed or Luc look like?
Then there are the plot points and details that aren't true to even the fictional reality. Early on Zed is described as looking younger than 12, largely because she doesn't get three square meals a day. How, then, does she muster up the strength to take down bulky grown men hired as bodyguards/bruisers, let alone survive some brutal torture?
This book angered me in a way few books have--but not because of the subject matter. It angered me because McClung is clearly a talent writer with a fierce imagination, but lax editing (or a lack of an editor altogether) resulted in her strengths being obscured by ther weaknesses.
Take the title character, Zed. Tough, orphaned, living by her wits, Zed has numerous predecessors in literature (Pippi Longstocking, Dido Twite, and Deenie Gauthier, to name just three). But whereas those characters were all given a backstory to help explain in part what makes them tick, author McClung doesn't feel the need to do that with Zed. We have no idea how she ended up in the Bosch-like nightmare of a tower block that is her home, how she learned to read somewhat, why Luc (the evil genius-come-Danny Zuko of the building) is so avuncular toward her for most of the book, and how she became the scrounger that she is. We're expected to take McClung's word for all of this, which makes it tough to care too deeply about Zed.
McClung also seems to have decided that there was no need to describe visuals, though she's more generous when it comes to describing odors. Is there a reason we don't know what Zed or Luc look like?
Then there are the plot points and details that aren't true to even the fictional reality. Early on Zed is described as looking younger than 12, largely because she doesn't get three square meals a day. How, then, does she muster up the strength to take down bulky grown men hired as bodyguards/bruisers, let alone survive some brutal torture?
This book angered me in a way few books have--but not because of the subject matter. It angered me because McClung is clearly a talent writer with a fierce imagination, but lax editing (or a lack of an editor altogether) resulted in her strengths being obscured by ther weaknesses.
June 17, 2011
To be completely honest, I think I picked this book solely on its title, but I've picked books for weirder reasons and never been disappointed.
The story covers a 12 year old girl named Zed with no real past or future, just the present, and she's more than okay with that. After all, where she lives, there's no point in planning for the future -- not when there's child killers about, gangs, rapists, druggies and other assorted folk. She makes a habit of being her own person, not loyal to anyone, but when she starts to act a little bit out of character for herself ... well, that's when it all starts to go downhill.
I really enjoyed this novel. Even while she was having her little existential moments, she still always managed to remain true to herself and her beliefs. There were some disturbing parts, especially when you keep in mind her age, but it was a very well written book with an engaging storyline. I have to admit, I was surprised at where the story went, but pleasantly so. Everything was tied up, as much as a 'slice of life' kind of book can be. I think the only reason it didn't get a five is because once the book is over, it's easy enough to move to another one, without really having to process anything.
The story covers a 12 year old girl named Zed with no real past or future, just the present, and she's more than okay with that. After all, where she lives, there's no point in planning for the future -- not when there's child killers about, gangs, rapists, druggies and other assorted folk. She makes a habit of being her own person, not loyal to anyone, but when she starts to act a little bit out of character for herself ... well, that's when it all starts to go downhill.
I really enjoyed this novel. Even while she was having her little existential moments, she still always managed to remain true to herself and her beliefs. There were some disturbing parts, especially when you keep in mind her age, but it was a very well written book with an engaging storyline. I have to admit, I was surprised at where the story went, but pleasantly so. Everything was tied up, as much as a 'slice of life' kind of book can be. I think the only reason it didn't get a five is because once the book is over, it's easy enough to move to another one, without really having to process anything.
February 11, 2008
This is a dark, dark book in a very surreal way. It manages to simultaneously mess with your head and make you laugh. A dystopian Christ story? It's not for the faint of heart but it will stay with you. Did I mention it's dark?
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews