Individutopia: A novel set in a neoliberal dystopia

This novel is a modern take on themes already explored by visionary, ahead of their time works such as Orwell's '1984' and Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'. The foreword reads 'This is a not a prophecy. This is a warning'. This tale of warning is set in the year 2084, by which time in which the 'world has changed so much'. Like '1984', it is a thinly veiled critique of a political ideology, in this case Thatcherism and one of its alleged key elements, based around the quote 'There is no such thing as society', which itself led to the so-called Cult of the Individual. The author compares Thatcher to 'a colossus; half-machine, half-human, shoulder pads made of steel and a tongue which could fire off bullets'. Parallels can be seen in the lead character, Renee's appearance, which she had modified with plastic and Botox. As in '1984', the first part of the book is used to describe the strange world which the lead character inhabits. In Renee's case, this is a society in which privatisation and competition replace personal relationships and artificial stimulants and anti-depressants become as necessary to sustenance as food. Which, by the way, is dispensed in pills and bars full of artificial nutrients. Oligarchs prospered and took over ownership of every asset imaginable, tangible and intangible. They created a social system where individuals were ranked on everything from appearance to sleep and calorie intake. Renee, when we first meet her, is living in a 2m long, 1m wide pod, as do all workers. She wears electronic glasses, which edit the information her eyes send to her brain so that people do not have to look at one another. As in '1984', language is used to inform ideology - personal pronouns have fallen out of use and only used to refer to oneself. Renee was abandoned by her parents and raised by a robot. The human race is therefore dying, but Renee, in her pixelated, medicated world, accompanied only by avatars of herself, is unaware of the implications of this. She fills her time by going for job interviews for ultra-short contract work of a pointless nature. The nature of work is taken to the height of pointlessness in describing Renee's jobs. In one, she travels to a former royal palace to smash to pieces works of art and furniture, only to labour to put them together again almost as soon as this is achieved. The parallel with the current day concept of going to work to achieve some abstract-seeming task, in order to make enough money to live near the source of work in an expensive area is all too clear. Likewise, Renee's attempts to improve upon what nature has given her are a farce - she has deformed her eye with self-applied Botox, done the same to one of her cheeks with plastic, and an attempt to put on false eyelashes results in her placing one, ludicrously, halfway down her cheek. She has no human interaction to give her feedback, after all. The book describes Renee's eventual escape, through self-realisation, to a small colony of people living outwith London and her rejection of the romantic advances in favour of yet another farcically unattractive choice. The pathos of her choices is both ridiculous and saddening. Renee's journey is a triumph of basic innate human mortality in the face of hopelessness. The themes this novel raises are familiar yet powerful all the same, in this modern form incorporating elements that threaten society today and raise fears for the future.

I really enjoyed reading Individutopia. It was gripping from the outset. I really liked the historical narrative, which takes current-day policies and trends and carries them through to their logical conclusion 66yrs on. The only thing I found wanting was Renee's character development - and the character development of the narrator. Neither felt entirely plausible, neither was really fully explored. Yet so many elements of the world they inhabited felt very real, and the pace of the story was also convincing, so while I didn't associate strongly with the characters I was committed to the book from the very first few pages. Thanks, Joss Sheldon, for a very enjoyable read and a lot of food for thought. I want to read more books by this author, and of this genre!

Medium book…

This futuristic book is about a girl who lives in a tragic fairy tale. It is a very relevant subject for the individualistic societies, especially for people has to re-revives their predicaments in this superb era! This book has made me rethink-even harder- what is the most important thing to have after all in life. I just wondered if being lonesome is the worse thing to happen to an individual -even though his or her basic needs are being met- or having a fulfilling relationship with others is the biggest power to possess for an individual to have so they could achieve even better if the society let them redirect their Limitless Brainpower among themselves. Just recently, I have some valuable experiences in helping others at both work and private life. The experience made me realize that they found themselves lost a bit how to deal with a genuine help. Should they take advance of it even more as they may notice a helpful action is a bit unfamiliar trend in our recent societies? Dealing with people on a daily basis, I have no doubt that the society we are dealing has been formed algorithmically. The recent book “Individutopia” explains the issues around this so perfectly so I had to reconsider my personal opinion about Individualism as a result. Individualism is being responsible for your own actions but it is not necessarily mean individuals can do what they want to. Most people are recognizing that their expectations have unquestionable limits within their societies. For example; the rich could inspire the poor by using fear and loneliness instead of love and support, which is working perfectly in this book. Making them feel they are in charge of their choices but in reality, those people might end up committing mass suicides. It is a simple fact that an individual doesn’t evolve but the generations do for them. So, what happens next if those generations will be demolished by time? Should we still believe in natural selection? Who would select the human selection to progress in the future? This Individutopia book will make you decide what’s worth to live for.

General interest and teaching adults English. In terms of interest, it was of a good standard,in the way it mirrored current society. The written word was easily approachable. Used in my adult literacy class, the students were interested enough to be persuaded to buy it and to finish it. A success. On a personal level, the ending I found a bit disappointing, it slowed the action down , but I did not really find the relevancy and correlation. The reason I do not say superb is given to the sense of freedom away from individutopia, it doesn’t totally bring this alive. It seems to sink into another cliche’ area.

Good

It was a bit too on the nose, and seemed to be lacking a depth that I was expecting. Once you see it’s message, which is totally clear early on, it doesn’t really have that much more to say.

Great story, informed by a sharply anti-capitalist politics. Highly recommended for anyone beginning to think about these issues. Advanced readers may find the narrative gripping, as I did.

der Beschreibung der Situation, in der sich die Zentralfigur befindet (*****) und die der "Backstory" (*), die dürftig und klischeehaft ist, und mit der Absicht geschrieben zu sein scheint, keiner der in Teil 1 geschilderten Firmen auf den Schlips zu treten. Schade.

What would happen if humanity were condemned to the darkest selfishness? Perhaps we already have all the clues to answer but Joss Sheldon was able to respond in a bold and irreverent way with a delirious but intelligent story demonstrating a great knowledge of the human soul and the problems of modernity. The language is a little too spoken but perhaps it is a deliberate narrative device.