3.5
Random Acts of Senseless Violence
ByPublisher Description
Until recently, Lola Hart's biggest problem was her annoying little sister. Now the twelve-year-old girl's once comfortable life is slowly falling apart. Her mother is a teacher, but she's lost her job. Her father is a writer, but no one is buying his scripts. It's gotten so bad that they can no longer afford their Manhattan apartment or the tuition for Lola's exclusive private school.
They move to a small apartment near Harlem, and Lola enrolls in public school—but the Harts aren't alone in their troubles. Riots, fires, TB outbreaks, roaming gangs, and civil unrest have become commonplace, threatening the very fabric of life in New York. In the pages of her diary, Lola documents her family's attempts to adjust as the city and the country spin out of control.
Jack Womack, a winner of the Philip K. Dick Award, has been compared to both William Gibson and Kurt Vonnegut for his vivid prose and unbridled imagination. In this novel, "Womack's stark vision of the United States's decline is an uncompromising satire that, perhaps even more than it did in the mid-1990s, forces us to confront a world instantly recognizable as our own" (
).
"A heartrending coming-of-age story. Flecked with black humor, this is speculative fiction at its eerie best." —
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesRandom Acts of Senseless Violence Reviews
3.5
“This is the third time, but FIRST time I’ve really read this book. It is so representative to our modern times, albeit to the extreme. But I wouldn’t doubt it comes to this. Amazing story of dystopia and love, with a devastating ending. Blow upon blow upon blow on the poor young woman in this novel. VERY well written.”“Isn't it ironic that Lola: a 12 yo Jewish girl, names her diary "Anne"?
I'd like to assume that Anne was a character, who always listened to Lola without judgement, and would never leave her side until Lola decides to.
The novel begins with their first handshake, and ends with their farewell.
There couldn't be any spoilers for this book because the destination is already set towards anarchy, you should just set tight and enjoy the ride of Lola's family rapid decline from middle class to the slums!
Lola's voice stays very believable for a 12 yo kid, despite how realistic her world view is. We measure her growing maturity by how emotionally expressive she gets, and as the second half kicks in, the street language gives the dairy a playful tone.
It's debatable whether such state of anarchy could escalate that fast, still the cynical projection on human nature is undeniable... Survival for the fittest is displayed in its most brutal forms. Still, regardless how exaggerated this dystopia is, it remains an opportunity for reflection on order and chaos (and that if you have god damn kids, you better be living below your means to save god damn money you mindless breeders!).
---
https://www.meetup.com/infinite-pages/events/290785054”
About Jack Womack
Jack Womack is the author of
,
,
,
,
,
, and
. Womack's short stories, have appeared in anthologies edited by Kathryn Cramer (
, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind"), Ellen Datlow (
"Lifeblood")
, and
"That Old School Tie,"), and Don Keller, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman (
"Audience"); as well as in
("A Kiss, a Wink, a Grassy Knoll"). He has published articles or reviews in
, the
,
,
,
,
, and
(Munich), and was a contributor to
. He is a cowinner of the Philip K. Dick Award, and has taught writing at the Clarion West workshop, in Seattle. He lives in New York City.
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