Today I read an article in The Guardian online which discusses why stories of dystopian future societies are so appealing to young adult readers.
This reminded me of a book that I read a few years ago that I don't think gets nearly enough press and credit for the brilliance of the novel. It was nominated for the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year when it was released in 2002 and am surprised that it didn't win. However, having not read Hilary McKay's Saffy's Angel I am somewhat biased and in no position to judge.
Julie Bertagna's Exodus set in the year 2099 follows the story of a young girl called Mara who lives on the island of Wing. The island is getting smaller the sea levels rise due to Global Warming and the melting ice caps. As the island will completely disappear in a few short years the younger citizens of Wing leave in fishing boats to find the city of New Mungo, one of the "sky-cities" built above sea level where the richer citizens of the world live a comfortable life. When they get there they find that New Mungo is not at all a welcoming and inviting place...
In essence the story is of a young girl forced out of her home struggling to survive and come to terms with the harshness of the cruel world around her. Bertagna is not afraid of using dark elements in her novel despite it being essentially a children's book. There is a lot of death and loss that surrounds Mara's tale, but although there are many sad parts to the novel there is also hope, love, Mara's determination to survive and to help others. These counteract the misery of her living condition and the balance of light and dark is beautifully constructed.
It's one of those books that I just couldn't put down. It's fast paced, exciting and in such an oppressive world the characters are realistic and shine especially Mara, with her fiery determination.
It was originally bought for me by a family friend and I was hooked from the first page. I would highly recommend this book to anyone as I feel it speaks to all ages and meany different mediums. Although it is probably classed as Young Adult science fiction the reality of the Global Warming issues in the novel make it not seem so far removed from our society as other science fiction can seem.
The sequel Zenith came out in 2007 and Aurora the third book came out in June of this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment