Make Room! Make Room! [Paperback]

Harry Harrison (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 1, 2008

The world is crowded. Far too crowded. Its starving billions live on lentils, soya beans, and —if they’re lucky—the odd starving rat.

In a New York City groaning under the burden of 35 million inhabitants, detective Andy Rusch is engaged in a desperate and lonely hunt for a killer everyone has forgotten. For even in a world such as this, a policeman can find himself utterly alone….

Acclaimed on its original publication in 1966, Make Room! Make Room! was adapted into the movie Soylent Green in 1973, starring Charlton Heston along with Edward G. Robinson in his last role.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Harrison’s fictions constitute one of the main monuments in modern SF.” —Paul Di Filippo, SciFi.com

About the Author

Harry Harrison, author of innumerable science fiction novels and stories, divides his time between Ireland and California.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Orb Books; 1st edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765318857
• ISBN-13: 978-0765318855
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 4.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Prophetic October 30, 2000

By magellan HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Mass Market Paperback

This book scared the hell out of me when I read it as a young teenager back in the 60's, because it was so believable. I was sure this was what the future of America held. At the time, overpopulation was a big issue, what with books like Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb, The 20th Century Book of the Dead by Gil Elliot, and so on, dramatizing the issue. There seemed no doubt in many people's minds that something similar to the world portrayed in this novel would be the reality in 35 years if nothing were done to halt the population explosion, and since nothing really was being done in that regard, this seemed like a foregone conclusion.

Well, 35 years later the world hasn't quite worked out this way, which still amazes me no end, although David Brin's recent novel, Earth, is an updated reprisal of this theme. Harrison's book is still a great read. Another book on the same theme that came out a few years later was John Brunner's novel, Stand on Zanzibar, which won a Hugo award for that year. So if you enjoyed this book you might also want to try these two novels.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Grim depiction of the future January 19, 2001

By "carolyn5000"

Format:Mass Market Paperback

"Make Room! Make Room!" is an excellent sci-fi novel which envisions our overcrowded future. It is a very entertaining read, with vivid characters and a neat premise. The book will make you realize how much you take simple things like drinking water and living with only your family members rather than strangers. I think this book needs to be reprinted, and am saddened that more books of this nature aren't written today.

25 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Make Room! Make Room! Read it! Read it! August 1, 2000

By James W. Van Scoyoc

Format:Paperback

This book comes from a time when the environmental movement was just getting under way, and Paul Ehrlich's "The Population Bomb" enjoyed pride of place on the bookshelves of environmentalists everywhere. It was also a time when it was easier to discuss overpopulation without drawing charges of racism. In the book (presumably), and in the 1973 movie Soylent Green (definitely), most of the characters and people seen in the street are white, as they would have been in 1966 and 1973. Hence there was no need to discuss issues of immigration and demographic shift, which are closely linked to America's soaring population today. As a result, in both the book and the movie, the issue of overpopulation is completely de-ethnicized, which makes it a universal, human problem. For that reason alone everyone should either read the book or see the movie.