Book review: This perfect Day by Ira Levin

Genre: Science fiction
My rating: 4.0/5

Very short resumé: The whole world is being controlled by Unicomp. People get daily doses of drugs to prevent them from challenging the "perfect" system. Thanks to the system, people's jobs are chosen for them, the trips they're allowed to make, even the number of kids they can have is predetermined. Chip is different. He's always been different thanks to his single green eye. He begins to question things. Just before his next treatment, he starts to become more and more "alive". Then he finds other members who share the same thoughts. Together they manage to deceive the treatment machines in receiving smaller doses, which enables them to think clearer. No longer under the drugs' influence, they begin to rebel against everything they have been denied by Uni. Their lives have been full of lies. Together, they set out to challenge everything they have come to know and to once and for all destroy Uni.

My mother was the one who enticed me to read this book. An avid reader herself, this book had stayed on her mind over the years and she would often talk to me about the story. Whenever she talks about how Chip (the main character) manages to deceive UniComp and not receive his regular treatment - drugdose - and thus becoming truly alive, I always get this feeling of hope and excitedness. And I'm not usually attracted to science fiction stories.

In fact, This Perfect Day is my first science fiction novel. And I liked it! Almost loved it too, except for the fact that I personally found the last quarter of the book to be rushed. The first part of the story is well-developed, and the characters are well-grounded. Towards the end, the events become rushed (in my opinion) and the reader is given a lot to assimilate in very few pages.

But other than that, I loved the characters, I loved this whole new world (which of course has some basis in reality), and what I loved most of all I think is this feeling of waking up and fighting for what you believe in. Maybe it's Chip's rebellion that attracts me, but it's more than that. It's the hope that emanates from the pages of this book. As these characters struggle to differ from the rest of the population (who are still under the influence of the drugs), they bring hope that all is not lost and that a true fighting spirit exists inside every human being. This kind of story really makes the reader reflect on his or her life... which is a sure sign of a good book.

So to science fiction lovers who haven't read it yet, get on it! And to others, for whom science fiction is not usually your kind of genre, give it a try!