Reviews

334 by Thomas M. Disch

vincent1126's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Racial slurs

drgnhrt968's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

octavia_cade's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was great - one of those sci-fi novels that masquerades as general fiction, almost. It's set in a future apartment building (admittedly, the future it's set in is now, but then this was written back in the 1970s, I believe), and the actions of the individuals and families in the building are presented in an almost mosaic form. There's no real overarching plot, and the different chapters, some of which essentially work as short stories, can sometimes be only marginally related to each other. It's also fairly dystopian: one of those imagined futures where rationing (of everything from housing to babies) is one of the cornerstones of society.

That's where most of the genre elements stop, to be honest. The people who inhabit the building are working class people in public housing, and the resulting storylines are highly domestic: kids so bored they're causing mayhem, family arguments over which school to send a particular child to, an elderly lady who develops a crush on her social worker, the practice and refusal of eviction. I think if you had to actually live with any of these people they'd drive you round the bend, but the point is that they're ordinary, so ordinary that driving round the bend is inescapable, and will be so no matter who they (or any of us) live with. As I said, there's not a great deal that actually happens, but the whole of it's still so entertainingly lively that I don't much care. The first chapter, particularly - it's about a feckless young man throwing away opportunity after opportunity because he's lazy and not very clever - is especially well-drawn.

I'm tempted to get a copy of my own once this is back in the library. Or at least find more by this author to read, because this felt fresh and likeable, even if it's fifty years old at this point. 

shane_tiernan's review against another edition

1.0

So I bought this book around 16 years ago when I first moved to Florida. At the time I was a working on a huge tracking project that had the project code 334. This project is what allowed me to move to Florida and keep my job, because no one else was familiar with the project, so my company had to let me work from home. Anyway, I thought the connection was interesting.

Unfortunately, I finally started reading it (long after project 334 had ended and I changed jobs) and didn't like it at all. When I was younger and had a lot more time I might have given it more of a chance, but instead I got to page 35 before giving up because I just didn't understand anything that was going on. There were also some pretty disgusting scenes that seemed gratuitous.

69goose69's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

bibliomaniac2021's review against another edition

challenging dark funny lighthearted sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

sensormellow's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

mcnevinh's review against another edition

5.0

My favorite novel by one of my favorite authors. Brilliantly written, it follows the lives of seemingly unremarkable people living in the city right around now. (This was originally released in 1972.) Disch goes to both heights and to depths one doesn’t see coming. For all his dark imaginings, he also attains an astonishing level of verisimilitude in the midst of the character’s strangest moments. Both funny (uneasily) and, it's worth noting, very bleak.

akemi_666's review against another edition

4.0

there's a scene here, where a mother, evicted from her apartment, sets all her furniture outside on fire, and when she disappears back into the apartment complex, her daughter settles onto a smouldering mattress, to be engulfed by the flames completely

—but then a fireman extinguishes the flames

i don't think i've read a book that captures the lethargic, ecstatic and idiotic feeling of desolation, so sincerely and ironically, at the same time

one time, during a depressive spell, my gp asked me whether i had suicidal ideations, and i replied 'isn't that normal?' she slowly shook her head, with an expression half bemused, half pitying

i dedicate this book to her

librarianguish's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0