Veronica Roth's Favorite Dystopian Novels

New York Times

4 days ago

I don't know about you, but for me lately it often feels like reality is slowly disintegrating. I don't know if images are real or A.I.-generated; I can't always tell if the accounts interacting with mine online are humans or bots; I watch people in power obfuscate, posture and deceive … and that's just an average Wednesday in America. So it may seem like an odd time to read dystopian fiction. But while it's understandable to crave optimism or escapism in times like these, we also need someone — anyone — to say they're also seeing what we're seeing.
That's what dystopian fiction offers. Each of these visions of the future is, in its own way, an acknowledgment of reality or an exploration of human nature. Some of them showcase our resilience, humor and capacity for love in a crumbling world; others show quite the opposite. Regardless, I drink from the well of dystopian fiction when I am desperate to see myself and my fellow man more clearly. Here are a few of my favorites.
Hum
In a world inundated with technology, a woman gets paid to undergo an experimental procedure to make her face unrecognizable to scanners. She uses the money to buy her family a weekend pass to an offline forest haven — at which point, things take a bit of a turn. Phillips expertly captures the barrage of advertisements and digital noise that has become so normalized, as well as the loneliness and disconnection that our dependence on devices can foster. Her main character's longing for kinship, silence and meaning has never felt more relatable.
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