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Book Review Service Book Reviews by John HEAVEN
Book Review Service Book Reviews by John HEAVEN
Book Review Service Book Reviews by John HEAVEN
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| HEAVEN |
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| Written by John Manhold | |
| Monday, 08 March 2010 | |
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H.E.A.V.E.N., ISBN 9781601457479, BookLocker.com, Paperback, 181 pages, $15.95 by Nan Becklean.
This is an unusual ‘qusai Sci-Fi” novel covering a period of time from August 11 to August 28, 2073. The action is set on a piece of land called Pine Island off the east coast of the United States that would appear to be just east of the city of Savannah, Georgia. It is an area designated by congress for persons to live in after choosing to enroll in a new program offered by the government. Congress had made the program possible by passage of an amendment to the constitution. This ‘Homeland Equitable Amendment for a Victimless Economy and Nation’ (H.E.A.V.E.N) reads, in part, “applies to all persons attaining the age of eighty-five who elect of their own free will to live until the age of ninety-five and no longer. Such persons shall be cared for by the state until the age of ninety-five, or the next weekday following, if said birthday falls on a holiday or carpe diem. At that time, the state will assist them to depart life without pain, and in a state of ecstasy.” The amendment makes further commitments to maintain the enrollees’ health with replacement of parts, and provision of any other requirements, even those providing bodily rejuvenation, until that time.
A later amendment allows yearly election of a maximum of ten ‘Living Treasures’ on January first of every year. These ‘Treasures’ can go on living indefinitely,
Several plots are set forth that involve a number of both residents and their ‘caretakers’, who are both human and robots. One of these later, a friendly robotic crocodile, seems to have had a human element incorporated in some manner that causes him to ‘upgrade’ and assume human-like characteristics that play an important part in the action. Included among the plots are: A retiree, approaching the day of ‘assisted release’ decides instead to attempt to escape. Another involves the unheard of situation of a murder on the island. Both episodes include many of the characters we have come to know.
There is little doubt that my description of this book by this time seems ‘a little
off -the- wall’, and quite frankly, I am not surprised. However, to provide a good description of this book would require far more space than I have available, and would spoil the story for the reader. Let me postulate, however, that this tongue-in-cheek idea, in all probability, has been generated from the horrendous treatment of the recent Health Care debates by the media, and is a most interesting extension of ideas hinted at in this coverage.
So, to summarize my impression of this book, I believe Nan Becklean has set forth a most interesting look at a possible future scenario that our enlightened congress probably will wish to ponder.
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