Utopian and Dystopian Reading Group discussion

Do you like post apocalyptan stories like The Road? Social satire set in a futuristic, oppressive world like 1984? Throwback horror dystopian like Lord of the Flies? Speculative warning like The Handmaid's Tale? Straight up, futuristic dystopian horror like The Hunger Games? Quasi-utopian stories like The Giver? What's your favorite?

So far, most of my experience is with 1984 style novels (funnily enough, I haven't read 1984 itself yet, but I've read We, Fahrenheit 451, and Brave New World) which I've enjoyed quite a bit. I guess I'd say it's my favourite style at the moment, but I can't say I've read enough of any other type to know for sure.

If forced to choose, I would say social satire. However, I think nearly all dystopian fiction contains both "social satire" and "speculative warning".

Another dystopian thread to consider is what Vonnegut did...Cat's Cradle or God Bless You Mr. Rosewater are good places to start if you're already familiar with his better known books like Breakfast of Champions and Slaughterhouse Five.

I love a side dish of philosophical humor with a dystopian steak :)

I'm pretty new to Goodreads, are there any dystopian groups ya'll like? I've found a few, but am still sorting through them.

Happy reading, J.

I do prefer earth-bound dystopias. Within that large group I generally have a liking for those in which the setting is similar to present day eg Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go, Maggie Gee's The Flood.

This year I've really enjoyed City of Bohane by Kevin Barry.These are all within the camp of Speculative Fiction.

I have 25 dystopias on my Dystopian Fiction bookshelf and you'll see my interests are pretty broad in this area. I'll be adding more reviews over the Christmas break.

I like futuristic dystopia! Examples are The Hunger Games and Divergent. I'm really hoping to get to read The Running Man and the Maze Runner soon too!

This wrote: "I like futuristic dystopia! Examples are The Hunger Games and Divergent. I'm really hoping to get to read The Running Man and the Maze Runner soon too!"

I really enjoyed The Running Man! I hope you do too! I don't know if you read The Hunger Games, but there are definitely some parallels and I think the author of Hunger Games was inspired by Running Man for sure.

I guess I am old school in the sense I like 1984, a Brave New World, Animal Farm and The Handmaids Tale... These new dystopians seem to be geared more towards YA. Divergent, The Hunger Games. They are all exciting reads, don't get me wrong.

When I think of a dystopia I think about paranoia, brought on by the idea of big brother. A good dystopian novel makes me look over my shoulder to see if people are following me and I fond myself noticing things like video cameras and police officers more often.

Ok, so maybe I am a bit of paranoid person, but reading 1984 didnt help.

I'm with you - I call them "realistic dystopians." Hunger Games and Divergent were good reads, but the worlds were completely displaced from our own. I like the ones that really make you think about current events, that, yes, maybe make you a little paranoid. ;)

Yeah...I could do without all the awkward love triangles lol.

I'm not sure if I would say I'm not a fan of YA dystopia in general. But my problem has been that the more recent dystopian novels I have read (The Hunger Games trilogy and When She Woke) were completely superficial. To me, it felt like they thought of a good idea (or in both cases they were heavily inspired by existing good ideas), and built a story around it, without feeling the need to go deeper into the circumstances, to deal with the issues more.

A.K. wrote: "Yeah...I could do without all the awkward love triangles lol."

For real! You fall in love with a character then all these damn I love him and him but I have to survive blah blah

No Tween books. Just books that deal with the core ugliness of humanity!

Nicholas wrote: "I guess I am old school in the sense I like 1984, a Brave New World, Animal Farm and The Handmaids Tale... These new dystopians seem to be geared more towards YA. Divergent, The Hunger Games. They ..."

Not a book, but my husband and I just started watching Person of Interest. And since we've been watching it, I have been noticing cameras a lot more. Your comment made me think of that.

I agree with you, also, in that I like the classic dystopians that are more relatable and less hormonal. ;)

Great question. To go with your original language, I like speculative warning (like Handmaid's Tale) and straight up, futuristic dystopian like the Hunger Games.

I do find it interesting that so much of today's dystopian fiction is aimed at the Young Adult market (or is it that that's the most popular of the dystopian?). As a parent, I kind of wish it wasn't. But, I guess that's just me being curmudgeonly.

You know, R.J., maybe it's because young adults care more about the future than we who are no longer so young.

I love dystopian fiction that has well-developed characters, settings and ideologies. I love subtle, non-preachy, emotionally-engaged stories. My favourites are where the threat of loss is constant - maybe not always overpowering and dominant, but there nonetheless. I think The Road is a sublime example of this. As a new author, it is what I aspire to create.