Customer Reviews

Harmony

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book is far more complex and amazing than the product description makes it sound.

In a world where human life is a precious global resource that must be protected at all costs, everything about a person -- choices, emotions, biochemistry, cell metabolism -- is monitored and assessed by computer systems, 24/7. A variety of complex feedback loops are in place to ensure optimum conservation of that resource, including everything from good old-fashioned peer pressure to mandatory inpatient psychiatric treatment.

The story focuses around Tuan Kirie, and flashes back and forth between her troubled adolescence in a utopian/dystopian Japan and the global crisis she's trying to unravel as an adult working for what is essentially the police and investigation arm of the World Health Organization. Their society conditions everyone to focus on the social welfare of everyone around them, even to the extent of utilizing nanotechnology to trigger internal warnings when your emotions are reaching socially inappropriate levels. Tuan has never fit in, though, and has long sought out ways to harm herself as an act of rebellion, and frequently beats herself up for never having been strong enough to complete suicide.

I don't want to go into much of what actually happens with the plot beyond this set-up, because I don't want to spoil the experience of having it all unfold. I will say that the book does a great job of bringing together technology, philosophy, cognitive science, and sociology, and does so through the lens of a main character that is developed in a very tangible way.

There are a few plot points that irritated me, mostly in the way of unnecessary scientific black boxes. There are a few scenes that seem too neat and contrived. But as a whole, the book pulls together beautifully.

Reason for Reading: I love post-apocalyptic/dystopian novels and at the same time I was very intrigued in reading a Japanese novel in translation. So far my Japanese reading has been confined to manga.

This book won the Japanese Awards: the Seiun Award and the Japan SF Award and is a highly literary piece of work. A brilliant work of dystopia that looks at a future world that is unlike anything I've ever read before and is also completely viable. The publisher's summary does not do justice to the story at all and I was not prepared for the deep philosophical, scientific, ethical, sociological and technological issues that would be covered in this fairly slim volume.

I couldn't even begin to find the words to describe the plot as it is so intricate and multi-layered. Instead, let me describe the world. There has been an apocalypse; bombs have dropped and a large portion of the world's population killed. It is now about 60 years later and the civilized world has no governments, or ruling kingdoms, instead the world is managed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and throughout each country there are thousands of admedistration units catering to small sections of the population. People have been implanted with a medical monitoring device which constantly measures physical and emotional health, sending out modules of medications or enzymes to fix the problem straight away. Thus no one in this world is ever sick, hurts themselves, or becomes mentally unstable. Privacy is the ultimate bad word; one you would whisper and make sure no one else heard you say. Everybody has a health output hovering over their head so all can see how each other is doing, and everyone is kind and thoughtful to others because the most precious resource in this population depleted world is human life. As one walks along in life your implant will shield you from emotional distress, should something come up that would interfere with your specific emotional make-up a filtering process would go into place and you would not even see the offending item: painting, magazine, store, etc. Everyone is in perfect health as your diet is streamlined for your consumption, and the correct foods delivered to your home, within your budget. Menus at restaurants bring up a display telling the nutritional content of the food and what is within your parameters. Food with no nutritional value does not exist anymore. And the list goes on ....

Some people are perfectly content with this Utopian society of perfect health, peace and kindness. Never having to make uncomfortable choices and feeling as though they are truly being a valuable resource of society. Others realize this for the totalitarian society that it is and there are a few countries that have not joined the WHO, mainly Russia and then small scattered countries in Africa and the Middle East, which continue to resist. But there are others on the inside who want out, they've read books and found out what life was like before the Maelstorm and recognize individual freedom is missing from their society. Three teenage girls become a part of this resistance when they realize the only way to hurt the establishment is to hurt the most precious commodity, their human life. So they make a pact to commit suicide together. This is only the beginning, though. What will become at risk is the very essence that makes human beings human.

The book is written in a back and forth flow as the main character tells her story now as she works as an agent and flashes back to her childhood and early adult years as she was one of those girls who promised to commit suicide but obviously failed. The book is also written within a sort of HTML code called "Emotional-in-Text Markup Language" and the text is contained within the coded tags and within the text will be other tags with directions, sort of like a play. It's strange at first, but you get used to it as a reader and when you find out it's purpose on the last page ... well it is stunning.

This book really deserves more publicity on this continent. It is one of the best dystopian novels I've read of late and so very different from the other stuff being written today which often has an environmental political agenda behind its cause of the apocalypse. I think I would put this up there with Brave New World, completely different stories mind, but equal in literary merit and psychological impact and thought.

I would like to mention that the very beginning pages do contain some quite vulgar language (which had me thinking I wouldn't be reading the book much further) but it is mostly contained to those pages. Of course, there are expletives here and there throughout the book but don't let the first pages put you off, if language is of a concern to you.

This book has been out for 10 months and there are only 6 reviews (as when I'm writing this). This book is apparently not being read. I went looking for this because IO9.com said it was one of the best science fiction books of 2010. I'll agree that it's one of the best I've ever read. Several other reviewers have done a good job describing the plot so I won't. I just wanted to get another 5 star review on the record.

This is truly an amazing book. It's a full book, plenty of action, great characters, and a unique style. It's written as though you're experiencing it from a computer in that it is full of HTML and it uses that to its advantage. The reader is given emotions and insight through the tags and this helps to really bring the book to life. I'm sorry I put it off on my TBR pile for so long.

In more ways than one, this book makes a lot of valid points about our society and where its potential lies. It is not hard to see the potential of the WHO of Tuan's world coming to a reality in our not so distant future. I feel I would be like Tuan and break out of society's mold, putting myself out there into potentially dangerous situations for the possibility of securing alcohol or tobacco, vices we take for granted today, just to feel different.

But there is also a part of me that desires what the WHO offers, a way to maintain your existence without having to make all the decisions yourself. The computers tell you what to eat, monitor your vitals, never getting sick, and while that can be good for a while, I wonder if people could really exist like that for any long term period of time. Perhaps if, as Tuan's predecessors experienced, something extremely horrible happens and it is the way found to prevent it happening again.

I suggest you pick this up if you enjoy a good dystopian novel. It is truly amazing and I was looking forward to reading more of the author's work when I finished. Alas, when I read the small blurb at the end about the author, I learned that he passed away a few years ago, and that this was the only book. If nothing else it is a book to read and savor as there will be no more to come. And if that's not enough of a selling point for you, it has received rave reviews and won a number of awards. It's just that good.

Review originally published on my review site: UrbanBachelorette.com

Rarely do I consider fiction prophetic, but this story rings incredibly true to me. This book is not only a great character study, but also excels at shining a mirror back at the modern age while masquerading as a tale of the future. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

A great piece of sure-footed writing from Keikaku Itoh, and a great translation by Alexander O. Smith. Dystopian fiction is alive and well, unlike the author, who succumbed to the cancer he was being treated for as he wrote this story of future health-fascism.

Following a shuffled chronology in the life of Tuan Kirie, a young Japanese woman who works in warzones, beyond the reach of medical monitoring, so she can indulge in sybaritic abuses of her body with prohibited substances like alcohol and tobacco without the WatchMe nano-spies inside her own body reporting her antisocial activites.

It's a new spin on surrendering the self to outside control in the interests of an easier and less complicated life. Handing over your entire body and decisions about how to eat, what to eat and what to feel, in the spirit of 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, but brings it bang up to date with the post-human nanotechnology element.

In Harmony, a Japan SF Award winner, Itoh creates a dystopian (or is it a utopian?) future, approximately one hundred years from now. Most of the world is obsessed with health after the events of the Maelstrom in 2019. It was a nuclear war which left many dead and helpless. The radiation of the nuclear weapons created many new viruses which spread to a population that had no established immunity. Upon the creation of nanotechnology where the body can be monitored and cured of illness within the home, governments turned from capitalism to "medical welfare societies" where the number one concern is health and living. In this world we meet Tuan, a young woman, who finds herself in the middle of a large conspiracy all the while trying to figure out what it means to be alive.

One of the strongest aspects of Harmony is the intricate and well-thought out world Itoh has created. He seemingly devised a whole world where everyone is obsessed with health and cleanliness. Life itself is considered a national resource. He not only creates this different society, he also joins it with countless technologies that I found very clever and also very fitting for this world. Everyone is fitted with nanotechnology, a system called WatchMe, where everything that goes on in your body is outsourced. You are told what to eat (to be most healthy), what you should and shouldn't do to maintain optimal mental health. Others can see how well you do by looking at a public score. Being healthy becomes more than what you want; you are forced to perform well on these scores lest you attract public scorn.

The story is told from Tuan's point of view. We follow her through this world where she meets two friends, Miach and Cian. Out of their friendship brings questions about the turn humanity has taken and also the growing mystery involving massive suicides all over the world. Tuan is a strong female character; she is smart, determined and independent in her views. Through her we see flashbacks into her past where we learn about the character of Miach.

Overall I found this to be a strong science fiction novel. I liked found the translation very easy and smooth. The style is somewhat sparse but I found that it was quick paced and suited to the tension of a mystery. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a good science fiction story that questions what privacy, life, living, and free will really means.

The only shame is this book hasn't gotten more media attention. its a master piece to say the least. Mature readers only

Wow. Just wow. I haven't read a book that gripped me like this did. Being a fan of "1984" and "Brave New World" this hits the nail on the head into bringing it into the near future.

Most of the story takes place in Japan, but it is very easily understood and there isn't much written that didn't translate into English well. The story is fast paced and well detailed. The characters are well developed and the world is very believable.

I can see why this was nominated for this year's Phillip K. Dick award.

Dystopian fiction is one of my favourite genres, and this book really takes the top spot of some of the scariest dystopian fiction that I've ever read. And I've read plenty of it (starting with Huxley's "Brave New World" at age 13).

I'm definitely not going to give spoilers on this one, because I think that everyone should give this book a read. Much in the vein of Otsuichi's writing, Itoh's prose is short and brutal and straight to the point, with the opening of the book much like a punch to the gut. But not in a bad way - that I have to emphasize - but more in the "open your eyes and pay attention, dammit" sort of way. Even though this book takes place in the future (with a slightly alternate past), the echoes with current society are strong and frightening - a portent of what we may become should we continue to be so health-obsessed in global society as a whole.

It's a shame that that we'll never get another book from Itoh (unless they find something else that they haven't already posthumously published) - he had true talent. I can only hope that Viz/Haikasoru goes ahead and translates the rest of his (sadly small) bibliography.

(crossposted to librarything and witchoftheatregoing.wordpress.com)