The Program
2013 • 416 pages

Ratings30

Average rating3.5

15

One star for the beginning. The rest of the book bumps it up a bit.

Nothing particularly groundbreaking about this. After reading too many dystopians I was hoping the concept would make this one more interesting, but it's just about breaking rebelling against the system. In series form. Again.

This book suffers from that whole ‘adults are useless' trope. All the parents just willingly go with it and the kids aren't even allowed to mourn anything because it's immediately assumed they're depressed? Like, is this actually America today? If so, I am concerned.

I love memory-wiping and brainwashing books, but the execution of this one made my eyes roll. Is this futuristic or alternate universe? I can't remember, and typing on my phone means I can't scroll up and check. The concept of what they're doing in the book, with the rehabilitation, seems very backwards and hard to believe. Maybe I would have liked the story better if it was told in a less linear way? That may be cliche, but it works in making you want more.

Also, from a scientific point of view, how does drugging and ‘fixing' one generation ensure the safety of the next when the ‘disease' is genetic?