In a brief prologue written in 1966, the author explains the object of his anticipation: extrapolating population growth and consumption "of raw materials in the world," it can only formulate the question: "what the world will look like-t it? "And try dy respond by starting the action of his novel August 9, 1999, in a crowded New York (" thirty-five million people live in the city of New York to close a few thousand ") and scorching.
Immediately, the main character, Andrew Rusch is presented, and clearly feels at Harrison lon the influence of noir for the type of cop income includes everything but, faced with a job that often surpasses it, but it takes much to do here to try to control a demonstration of "Elders" who quickly turns lémeute. In the second chapter, we meet Billy Chung, the young Chinese man who will commit original, almost by accident, murder of a big shot and throw the entire judicial machine behind him Over the following chapters, we meet other characters (the roommate Rusch Dirt mistress of big buck, Shirl), but is mostly confronted with different realities of the characters, much more complex and rich in detail as the film that for once seems dull, even if its purpose is much more spectacular as the novel, which was concluded by at Eve the year 2000, the government proudly announced that this "BIG COUNTRY ACCOUNT NOW 344 MILLION CITIZENS '
Between the ultra-protected elite and life over the life of the poor, between consciousness qua Sol quun other times existed and almost animal life led by some (Belicher family, infamous) or pre-reading Amageddon quun former priest made events, even between different alternative foods (but not here trace of social cannibalism shown by Fleischer), its all a color that Harrison offers as many variations of the theme dune life made very difficult by the total dependence on the outside the city (eg for water, which you have to fight sometimes literally) and ecological disasters already arrived: a desert area that has crossed the Canadian border, more than three whales identified, in fact the whole world falling apart water party as lexplique Sol:
"If you think you have problems, you should see the type den face. Any lAngleterre is no longer quune immense city, and saw the TV LENDROIT where the last Tory that he was shot while trying to defend the last Wood grouse. Unless you want to go to Russia, perhaps? Or China? It's been fifteen years that they are waging a war of borders, which is a way like another to limit the population dailleurs the age you have to make your service, and they enroll girls there, I doubt whether you like it a lot. Denmark, then maybe. Life is good there for those who manage to get in, at least there they have enough to eat but a concrete wall was erected around the Jutland, and there are guards on the beaches who shoot on sight all starving who still want to reach the Promised Land. "
The reason for all this? The rejection of contraception, which "has nothing to do with the killing of babies. In reality, it might save. What is the greatest crime of letting kids die of disease or starvation, or to ensure that those who desired nétaient not just not come to the world? "We can actually ask the question again, some fifty years after the initial publication of this novel: Harrison had been too alarmist, but this in no nempêche some disasters to point the tip of their nose about it, do you know exactly what consists of food eaten today, since natural resources are overexploited? ...
