Today I share a review for a book I read for my local book club. Read on to see what I thought of Q by Christina Dalcher.
My Review
I did not like this book, and yet I really enjoyed reading it. It is horrible because I can see the story beginning to unfold in real time, although I hope it never reaches that point. My daughters are similar ages to the children in the novel, and my emotions were well and truly tested. The subject and history of eugenics does interest me, and I have read a bit about it in the past, so I was interested to see where the story took me. This was a book club read and I do recommend it.
About the Book
Elena Fairchild is a teacher at one of the state’s new elite schools. Her daughters are exactly like her: beautiful, ambitious, and perfect. A good thing, since the recent mandate that’s swept the country is all about perfection.
Now everyone must undergo routine tests for their quotient, Q, and any children who don’t measure up are placed into new government schools. Instead, teachers can focus on the gifted.
Elena tells herself it’s not about eugenics, not really, but when one of her daughters scores lower than expected and is taken away, she intentionally fails her own test to go with her.
But what Elena discovers is far more terrifying than she ever imagined…
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This does sound like a good novel. Another one that might interest you, that’s based on a true story from Palo Alto, California is “The Wave” it’s about a history teacher who creates an experimental movement called the Wave. He’s proving to his students that anyone could get caught up in the insane fervor of the Nazis. That any modern movement could take those same ideas and make it sound palatable to people in the 20th century. Unfortunately, the experimental group gets a life of it’s own. I loved how the story ended. Though again, it’s said it actually did happen in a high school in Palo, Alto California
Thanks for the recommendation! I might look that book up but for now I am taking solace in my favourite vampire stories, they are far less scary!
Haha yes