Customer Reviews

Random Acts of Senseless Violence (Jack Womack)

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is one of the finest novels of near-future America ever written. That may sound like a sweeping statement, but Womack's terrifying vision of the final years of a 20th century where an adolescent army exerts a brutal discipline on New York, global warming and pollution have turned summers into poisonous nightmares and the country's economy is disintegrating almost as fast as accepted social values has no sharper, keener rival in contemporary fiction.
I first read this book in 1995 after being sucked into Womack's twisted universe through Elvissey, still one of my favourite sci-fi novels. And though the science fiction genre has broadened vastly since the days of Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke, Random Acts still defies simple categorisation. There's no doubt it has sci-fi elements, but Like Orwell's 1984, I feel that Womack has tried not only to illustrate a nightmare portrayal of the near-future, but grasp the zeitgeist of mid-90s American society and break it down into its basest elements, shaping it and containing it in the most ideal setting in which to maximise its sense of claustrophobia, paranoia and arrogance - Manhattan Island.
The rapid urban decay of a world where presidents are assassinated like flies, police and soldiers wield their power like medieval tyrants, poorer neighbourhoods have reverted to tribal warzones and an inherent culture of hate, fear and anger permeate daily life is presented superbly through the diary of 12-year-old Lola. Womack's keen sense of Lola's pre-adolescent mind coming to terms not only with the crumbling world around her but also deeper, personal issues such as the disintegration of her family network and her own blossoming sexuality always remains evocative and concise. The first-person narrative moves flawlessly, and the decay of the world around Lola is mirrored brilliantly with her descent from conservative, middle-class comfort to an immersion in the angry and violent street life of Manhattan.
The most impressive vehicle Womack uses to describe this descent is the rapidly mutating form of Lola's narrative - in her first diary entries, the language she uses is that of a sheltered and innocent young, white Anglo-Saxon; by the story's end, it has transformed into the bizarre, poetic concoction of Latino, ghetto slang and bastardised English that constitutes gang dialect. Womack further develops his concept of future-speak in Elvissey, Ambient and his other novels with astounding creativity, and his linguistic capabilities are equally as clever as Burgess in A Clockwork Orange or anything by William Gibson.
It's a frightening microcosm that Womack depicts in Random Acts, and only the precursor to a world that grows more warped and hostile through the five other novels that succeed it chronologically. If you've never read Womack's work before, start here, and get ready for the ride of your life.

I work nights at a very dull, low-paying job, so I spend quite a bit of time reading books from my college library. I was beginning to despair of finding a decent, *original* read when I checked out RANDOM.

I am in chills just writing about it.

RANDOM is a story about a young girl, Lola, living in an apocalyptic New York City. Womack's story is like a haunted house; at the entrace you're a bit giddy and excited, but by the time you reach the main staircase you're drooling into your collar and crying for Mommy. The only difference is that the haunted house has an EXIT door. RANDOM ends in a spiral of infinite darkness.

Womack's amazing use of language helps to illustrate the breakdown of Lola's remaining innocence and humanity. She exchanges her teenage babble for the angry, nearly incomprehensible tongue of the anarchy, and by the last page, she has become a stranger to us, and where she leads we cannot follow.

The violence and despair is glaringly evident on every page without lapsing into out-and-out gore, and Lola's foray into physical love with other girls is provocative without being seedy.

Like Margaret Atwood's HANDMAID'S TALE (another terrific futuristic drama), RANDOM presents us with a picture of what could happen to our world if society contiunes on a certain path. Without lecturing or making any overt political statements, Womack shows us the truly evil sides of both the extreme right and the extreme left.

This was my first time reading Womack, and since I hope to keep my dull night job at least until I graduate, I'm sure it won't be the last.

I first read this book back in '95 when I was an employee at Tower books in Seattle. I'd read the back and the inside flap and was skeptical that I'd like it. The format of 1st person and diary form are two things I normally don't care for. I could not have been more wrong. It's 6 years later and I am still raving about this brilliant and horrifying tale, I have a signed 1st edition copy and a reading copy to loan out to everyone I can.The disarming narrative of 12 year old Lola Hart lulls you into her adolescent world of friends and budding sexuality only to turn her world and Manhattan upside down with sadistic entusiasm. This story is not for the faint of heart. The transformation of Lola after her family circumstances turn from prosperous to dire is sheer literary genius in it's insidious simplicity. Not only is Lola's character so compelling but Womack never misses an opportunity to saterize society with sharp painful jabs of scathing observation and wit. This book works on so many LEVELS!!!!
You cannot put it down and after you've read it you will never forget it. The last sentence (and don't you dare skip ahead and read it) knocked the wind out of me. I stared at it for a long time. This book is on par with such classics as Perfume, Johhny Got His Gun, Catcher in the Rye, and A Clockwork Orange. I even named my dog after Lola. Everyone should read this book.

In this amazing novel, Jack Womack creates an unforgettable and heartbreaking character in Lola, a twelve-year-old girl who receives a diary as a gift and in it chronicles her own descent into barbarism as her family moves down the social ladder in some future, hellish version of New York City. While the colorful invented slang is reminiscent of A Clockwork Orange, for me, on another level, the novel brought back memories of Lord of the Flies. As the adults around her try to cope with the chaos and depression in their lives and recede into the background of her life, Lola finds herself increasingly on her own. She and her friends band together in order to survive in a hostile environment, and bit by bit, Lola sacrifices her humanity to her need to make it through another day. In the end, no matter how cultured she is, no matter how well educated she is, she surrenders to the beast within in order to stay alive. This is a tragic novel in the truest sense.

I'd heard the name 'Jack Womack' beaten around as one of those Sci-Fi writers who goes beyond the genre to tell a genuinely good story. So I decided to check him out, but Random Acts of Senseless Violence was the only Womack book [that the local store hadd]. So I read it, despite the fact that it was mid-series.

And I loved it. Sure, there's plenty of dystopia writing out there already, and it's all been said before, and blah blah blah. But it's a good story, so forget the fact that it's probably been said before. It's very engaging, and it feels real enough that it's actually pretty horrifying.

I liked it enough that I'm now working my way through the rest of the Ambient series, chronologically (not that it really seems to matter which order you read them in). They're good, but they're just basic sci-fi (not that I'm knocking that)--techy gadgets, a new dialect (this is one of the funnest dialects I've read), a dirty and crumbly setting, and lots of mean people.

But the basic sci-fi of the rest of the series (so far, anyway--I still haven't finished the whole series) isn't what I would've expected after having started out with Random Acts. Which is disappointing in a way, but oh well. They're still good reads.

I was assigned to read this book in a college writing course. Sometimes I couldn't put it down, other times, I wanted nothing better than to hide it from sight. It's a harsh, depressing novel that presents a deteriorating world in the near future through the eyes of a young girl. The reader experiences the coming of age of the main character, Lola, as she fights to maintain her own identity and struggles with homosexuality. The novel is both disturbing and intriguing, but what I found most difficult to accept was the fact that a male author could write in the perspective of a 12-year-old girl going through puberty. Overall it's a well-written book, but one should be prepared that it'll leave you shuddering at Jack Womack's pessimistic view of the years ahead.

Jack Womack uses the writing form of a diary as a vehicle to get the reader inside the mind of an adolescent girl. Lola begins her story at the age of twelve when she discovers her diary can become her best friend. She names it Anne and commits herself to writing in it everyday. Lola's friendship with Anne is what makes this book so unique. It allows the reader to get involve once they realize that they have become Anne. Lola holds nothing back, from Anne, as she describes her day, feelings and fears. The fact is Lola has no one else to trust, only Anne "You give earwhen everybody deafs and lend me a shoulder constant if tears need dropping." The way she emotionally communicates with Anne helps the reader understand all the pain she is feeling. They are then able to feel compassion and love toward her, to the point were they could allow and excuse her random acts of senseless violence.

This is a great book that show cases Womack's ability to get inside of a character. Also his ability to get me, as the reader, involved in Lola's life. His writing stile makes it really easy to read and understand. It is like reading mail from a very close friend who writes to me everyday. I really enjoyed this book and recommended to people that like to get involved in their books, so go buy it.

While I have only read one other Womack novel (Ambient), reading Random Acts of Senseless Violence was an incredible experience. Not pleasant by any stretch of the imagination, this book dealt with the all to real political, moral and societal decay in the near future. The way in which Womack told his story was beautiful and heartbreaking, through the eyes of a 12 year-old girl. As her environment changed, so did her language and attitudes. Womack truly has a gift for getting inside the minds of his characters, becoming them. His no-holds-barred writing style and commentary is disturbing but he can only be praised for writing with such brilliance.

I had to read this excellent book for a SciFi English/Cultural Studies course I am taking in university. It left me with the feeling that the world Womack creates on the mean streets of poverty strickin New York is a frighting echo from our not to distent future. I was left with the feeling that the harsh realities of Womack's world are a very plausible near-future for not only those in the States, but the world in general. Womack is truly a writer in touch with the darker side of the street and his use of language is a staggering triumph of brillence! I recomend this book to anyone who has ever wondered what the world in the late 90's and early 21 century would be like...This is it!

Womack presents the story of a society's collapse in a very personal way through the diary of Lola, a 12-year-old girl living in New York some time in the very near future. Like any girl her age, Lola is primarily interested in her family, her friends, and her burgeoning sexuality. The economic collapse, political instability, breakdown of law and order, etc... are presented through her eyes in how they affect her personally - in her parents' financial problems, the city's deterioration, the riots and chaos all around her. While Lola takes much of this in stride, the reader gets just enough background information to understand what's really going on.

Womack is not shy about placing the blame for society's ills squarely on the shoulders of Lola's parents, who despite their dire financial straits insist on spending money like there was no tomorrow - even continuing to send their daughters to expensive private schools. They represent the immediate gratification generation, and lack the strength of will required to make even the smallest sacrifices. Tellingly, Lola and her little sister playfully call each other "Boob" and "Booz" - names that evoke a generation's obsession with sex and drugs.

After her family is forced to move to a seedier part of town, Lola makes friends with a group of girls who call themselves the "Death Angels" - Iz, Jude and Weez. Iz still lives with her parents and follows their rules, but she is streetwise in ways that Lola can't fathom. Jude has recently left a desperate home situation and lives alone in an abandoned building, while Weez has grown up wild, dangerously violent, and completely unpredictable. As the story progresses, we see Lola's transformation from naïve child to reckless young woman, and Womack makes a point of showing this regression in her writing style as well. While this technique works thematically, and Lola's New Speak is very entertaining and probably the best part of the book, it's ultimately not very convincing: this reviewer found it hard to believe that her mode of written expression would change so dramatically over so short a time.

Sci-fi fans will notice that the story isn't very science fiction-y - there's some implication that it takes place in the future, but I can't recall anything in this story that couldn't happen today. Womack isn't interested in science or technology, but in how our personal choices affect society at large, and vice versa. Adults should find this cautionary tale easy and fascinating reading, but some pretty strong lesbian overtones make it unsuitable for children.