Previous threads that may be of interest:
You might consider *Jennifer Government *by Max Barry, which manages to be both dystopian and funny.
Also *The Children of Men *by P.D. James.
Dhalgren, maybe.
The Postman by David Brin. Book was great, ignore the movie.
My personal favourite dystopian novels:
Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter Miller
Stand on Zanzibar, by John Brunner
Neuromancer, by William Gibson
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Z for Zachariah, by Robert O’Brien
The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick
The Space Merchants, by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth
Midas World, by Frederik Pohl
*Unaccompanied Sonata *by Orson Scott Card is an interesting twist. From the Point of view of the protagonist he’s living in a dystopia that restricts his freedom of artistic expression, with extremely harsh penalties for disobeying the rules. However it is made clear that the society gives a happy and fulfilling life to the vast majority of people.
You can also try the early works of William Gibson
http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/index.asp
His most recent books, Spook Country and Pattern Recognition are not dystopian future but really good btw.
I strongly second this choice. It is rather amazing how much of the dystopian plot he originated, Perhaps having lived in one helps. It also reads quite well. I’ve read quite a few of the dreadful 19th century Utopian novels, but this is much, much better.
By the way, I second Canticle, but not the second Canticle. The sequel recently published is dreadful. Avoid at all costs.
Do not ignore the movie. The movie was excellent. I read the book and I definitely think the movie is better than the book. For me, it’s everything that a good movie should be. It has amazing sets and cinematography. It has excellent acting (Will Patton steals the show; many great character actors including Giovanni Ribisi are also in the cast, as well as a cameo by Tom Petty; Kevin Costner fits the role of the protagonist well.) The plot is interesting. The dialog is clever. It has a good message. The only possible flaw is its length, but that’s not a flaw in my own opinion because I would happily watch six hours of Postman movie.
The “Holnist” Army and General Bethlehem, brought to life in that film by Will Patton’s masterful acting, are way more compelling as antagonists than the vague enemies in the novel.
The novel is just okay, but the movie is a masterpiece.
This Perfect Day by Ira Levin.
While I mostly agree with this, not everyone, even products of the society, were happy. Remember Bernard Marx? He was the Alpha psychologist who was unusually stunted in appearance for his caste, and whom nobody liked except Helmholtz.
Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach.
Or at least I thought it was creepy.
Indeed there were multiple references to exiling social freaks to islands. Since once of these islands was Tahiti, I’m not exactly pegging my outrage meter.
Are you volunteering to serve as one of the Epsilon class?
A society in which your lot in life is decided prebirth and arranged via genetics, chemical tampering with the fetus, and childhood conditioning does not sound like a utopia to me, even if the majority of people are drugged and brainwashed into “happiness”.
Well, once he got famous and everyone loved him, he seemed pretty chill.
Seconding This Perfect Day–another great one.
Sounds like this could generate one or more good GD threads (Which is more important, happiness and welfare of the common good or free will? Which fictional dystopia would you want to live in? Was any dystopia actually a utopia?)
Honestly, for me, if I lived in the Brave New World society, I would be happy as a clam. Who needs freedom when you can have all the sex you want without risk of disease or pregnancy, government-rationed hallucinogens that were entirely safe, and a completely fulfilling career, regardless of what you did? I can’t really agree with you.
John the Savage was disgusted with the engineered society because he wasn’t a product of it. He was resentful of his mother’s promiscuity only because he had seen the other primitives ostracizing her for it. He had grown up reading two books: his mother’s work manual and the complete works of Shakespeare. He had the unique advantage that he was able to see the contrast between a natural society and an engineered one, even before he stepped foot in London.
Nah, I’d end up bucking the system, just like that experiment the book described where they filled an entire island with Alphas and within three years it descended to anarchy.
I assume that had I been born an Epsilon, I’d be happy in that role.
By the way, everyone, thank you for your recommendations. So far I’m very interested in reading We and Never Let Me Go.
And to be fair, the Savage society sounded pretty awful as well. I think that if given a choice, most Dopers would choose the engineered Brave New World over the Savage society. Just think–a life with no birth control/abortions, people yelling at you for having too much sex, few medical advances, ugly people (I keed, I keed). But it just sounds abysmal.
ETA: I’m also reading Never Let Me go right now.