Thursday, July 8, 2010

Review ~ Next by Michael Crichton


TITLE: Next
AUTHOR: Michael Crichton
COPYRIGHT: 2006
TYPE: Fiction
PAGES; 431
SERIES: no

REASON FOR READING: co-worker insisted

Summary (from Goodreads):
Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction--is it worse than the disease? We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps, a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars and to test our spouses for genetic maladies. We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes... Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn. Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and the bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect. The future is closer than you think.

FYI this isn't going to be a traditional Sarai review. Next is one of those books I never would've read if a co-worker had insisted I read it. I don't regret the decision but it is not one I would read normally. First off this book is hard to explain b/c in traditional Crichton fashion there are like 7 stories going all at once that all eventually tie in together but take a while to get you focused on it. I personally have a hard time reading different POVs that switch every 8th paragraph. But I managed to catch on to his flow about about mid-way through I realized who everyone was.

Would I suggest this book? Yeah if you like fiction and don't mind the POV switches. However, it is hard to pin down a plot b/c there are so many other things going.

Is this one of his best? I wouldn't know to be honest this is the first one I've read of his mainly b/c of his style of writing. That being said I do believe I would pick up another if I needed a change of pace or if I was in a reading slump.

Basic gist of the plot: In the future nay slash that right now we do not own our own blood, cells, and or skin once its been removed. Is this ethical? Should this be allowed? And why is it happening? Are the questions that Mr. Crichton presents in this ficitional tell of a man who has cancer then it is discovered that he actually holds the key to curing cancer. So the same company that was helping him fight the cancer has now won the rights to his cells in order to create a vacince against that same type/form of cancer.
Needless to say Mr. Crichton freaked me out with this book and made me start questioning some bills in the Congress going on.
Challenge:
100+ Book Challenge

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