SciFi Review: Mockingbird is an underrated novel that reminds of such classics as Brave New World (1932) and Fahrenheit 451 (1953). Just as with The Man Who Fell to Earth (1963), in Mockingbird Tevis wants to alert us of what aspects of our society will become if taken to a logical but insane conclusion. It's very human, a warning of what may be happening, what we may be doing to ourselves, but also a promise about the possibilities of humanity, at the end providing a scrap of optimism. Along the way the story is an ode to culture, art, music, literature, the good that humankind has produced. We can't imagine what people may be like circa 2467, but the characters here are real enough in the multiple viewpoints presented by the three main characters: a 170-year-old android with emotions, a woman determined to cut through the societal haze around her, and a man slowly learning to become human through the allegory of learning to read. Dystopias fall into two categories, too much government or too little, but in Mockingbird it's both. There's too much government, but a government of distressing incompetence. Walter Tevis (1928-84) is first a storyteller, but a thoughtful one who gives us much to think about while telling an entertaining story. And although enjoyable, it's evident that this story was written by someone who spent much time alone. One oddity in the story is that the android is modeled on a black man, a distinction that eluded me unless it was an observation on involuntary servitude. Tevis wrote six novels, four became successful films, three were classified as science fiction, two were a continuing story. Best known for The Queen's Gambit (1983), Mockingbird is another well worth reading. [4½★]
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