Welcome to Litsy!

Lalami's writing is sometimes a little obvious in its intentions, but this one plays with nuance a little better than The Other Americans, which I appreciate. It's definitely paranoia-inducing, so if you're reading fiction to avoid doomscrolling or if you don't want to look at your smart devices with suspicion, this might not be your best option. But aside from those caveats, I quite enjoyed this one.

I had a lovely time at the orchid exhibition at the botanic garden yesterday. It was a nice break from national news, unlike the tagged, which I started on audio. It seems pretty good, but I don't know if I'm in the right headspace to cope with the paranoia. (I also played at a piano recital and was so nervous that I pretty much blacked out during my performance, so I might need something lighter to read to help me even out.)

Would you get an implant that would help you sleep? What if it tracked your dreams and rated you on your actions? What if your rating landed you in jail?

I saw somewhere that this is for fans of Minority Report, which I‘d never read, so I decided to do my homework and check out some Philip K. Dick before I read this. Now that that‘s completed, I‘m excited to dive in!

This feels like a story that could happen soon if the tech bros and the government want it to happen. Technology is used to determine if they can stop crime from occurring by tapping into your dreams & thoughts. If you are determined to be a threat, off you go to a facility and at that point you best hope you can get out of there. This book was freaky, unsettling, frustrating and had me hurrying through chores in order to pick it up to finish it.

A well-written book, but a bit too close to home with so much gaslighting.

#DynamicDs Day 28: It is #Difficult to dream differently in this dystopian universe lest you be perceived as dangerous and subsequently detained by an all-knowing government. Looking forward to reading it.

“Freedom isn‘t a blank slate she wants to tell them. Freedom is teaming and complicated and yes risky and it can only be written in the company of others.”

“By definition outliers aren‘t predictable. Which also means that they‘re not profitable. Soon their actions become aberrant. Their ideas peculiar. Their lives transgressive. They are delinquents.”

Is it just me or are these dystopian science fiction stories starting to seem a little too real?! It‘s not much of a leap to see our government detaining those that they believe might commit a crime based on data points they establish and using them for labor or experiments or anything else. Holding them for whatever extraneous reasons they want. It‘s truly terrifying! But you know what also comes of this? Resistance! 🌟🌟🌟🌟