Please discuss Ch. 13 - Down on the Farm in this thread.

Did anyone see the political likeness between the country that imprisoned Ai and communism? It seems that the original country of landing was more democratic and made a show of the gem trade and freedom of actions... but the other country was subversive and controlling. The farm camp reminded me of work camps and places to stow away free thinkers who went against political agenda. Perhaps this picture of the political scope of the world was a statement?

I think 'the farm' is clearly political statement, perhaps relating to communist countries (ie - the Gulag), but some resemblance to Guantanomo Bay too. The use of drugs and interrogation of political prisoners was central to the farm. The suppression of the sexual cycle and its outcomes added an extra dehumanization element. Also felt the long trip over the Ice after the escape from the Farm, while it could be taken a just a good narrative, might be taken in the same vein, as travel across an ice age world under life threatening conditions and an impossible distance to reach at least some sort of freedom on the other side.

thanks for your thoughts on this. I am surprised more people didn't have something to say about this book. I read it as fast as I could to get to the discussion and realized there really wasn't much of one.

I honestly didn't think much of the book. I mean, I thought about it a lot while I was reading it and for some time after, but I didn't really enjoy reading it, and after much contemplation, have decided that I didn't really like it. About halfway through, I lost interest and only finished it out of a sense of obligation. I did comment on a few of the other threads in this topic, though, if you wanted to reply to those.

Amusingly, when I first joined BookTalk about a month ago, I was excited to see that this book was up for official discussion because I had read it only a few months before and even though I didn't like it very much, the fact that it was here showed me that this forum is aligned with my tastes, and can handle sci-fi as well as classic/contemporary general fiction. I knew pretty much immediately that this forum was a good fit for me. (Off-topic, but what the hey. )

I've often commented on books long before I have finished them using the chapter breakdown because I usually get the book late, relative to the discussion, and then progress more slowly than others. This works ok for some books but others I really need to finish and think about before I can say much. What is good about the chapter breakdowns is that the discussion can deal with sub-themes of the book.