Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this and was sad when I turned the last page. In Stupid Perfect World, Westerfield has created a society set in the future where the things that we have to ‘endure’ no longer exist. No hunger or disease… travel is simple and easy and sleep isn’t necessary.
Students are required to take a class called Scarcity where they learn about how people lived during the old days. (our present time!) Part of their grade is based on a final project where they are expected to pick something that happened during this time and experience it for two weeks.
Kieran, and Maria are classmates and don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye on things but end up helping each other during the two week period. See, Kieran has chosen to do his project on sleep and Maria has chosen to give up her hormone regulation in order to experience what it was truly like to live as a teenager during this day and age.
First, this is a super short novella but I found myself chuckling at the way Westerfield wrote Maria’s loss of hormone regulation.. the teasing about her need to wear black and write poetry were amusing. Kieran though, had to give up what starts as 3-4 hours a day towards sleep and eventually becomes more.
Through this short story, I wasn’t ever really invested in these characters, but I was entertained. I mean… it’s only just under 50 pages so it’s hard to build that connection. What Westerfield easily did though, was made me think about the benefits and drawbacks to both the future society (think no more sickness, starving people etc etc) and our current life we live in. Makes you really wonder what the future might hold!
If you’re looking for a quick, entertaining read, definitely pick this one up. It’s in the new Harper Teen Impulse line and I’m looking forward to more in this line!
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