91. Project F

Project F. Jeanne DuPrau. 2023. [October 10] 224 pages. [Source: Review copy]

First sentence: All was going well in our country at the time this story begins, which is several hundred years in the future from the time you're reading it. There were no wars, few wildfires and floods, no famines.

Premise/plot: Looking for a children's book written with a hammer instead of a pen? Not literally, I suppose, since I imagine almost all writers type instead of write by hand. But this may be one of the most heavy-handed books I've read in my life--definitely the most obnoxiously didactic I've read in 2023. So what is the premise? DuPrau has created a perfectly perfect utopia set several hundred years after a terrible/horrible/disastrous fall. No fossil fuels are used at all. At all. And though the world's population is much smaller, civilization less advanced, and technology frozen at a socially-acceptable place, everything is just about perfect--in a self-righteous way. (The characters are so SMUG.)

Keith Arlo, our protagonist, hasn't been paying close enough attention to history lectures about the evilly-evil monsters of the past. So he's gullible and falls prey to adventure. It starts with a train ride. He is going to collect his newly-orphaned cousin, Lulu. But Malcolm, the passenger sitting close to him, is working on Project F. He tells just enough to make Keith super curious. When the two passenger's bags are mixed up--Keith takes Malcolm, Malcolm takes Keith, Keith's fate is nearly-sealed. He MUST return Malcolm's bag; he must explore all the secret documents and drawings; he must read the HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, a book in his suitcase. 

The fate of the world may just rest on Keith's young shoulders and because he's not great at researching the evil-monsters of the past at the library OR great at listening in history class, then utopia is threatened.

So what is Project F? Well, it's MODEL F. F for Freedom? F for Fossil Fuels? F for Fun? Model F stands in opposition to everything this new utopia stands for. And Keith is tempted to have fun and experience freedom. Will the world collapse a second time?

My thoughts: I suppose I blended some of my thoughts in the premise/plot summary. I couldn't help it. It's rare I'm so incredibly disappointed by a book. I would say that City of Ember is one of my all time favorite-favorite-favorite books to reread. I adore that book SO MUCH. It's like one of my go-to books that I love to recommend to anyone/everyone. It's just a fantastic adventure. This book is the complete opposite. The character development is horrible. Unless the goal was to create characters that are so incredibly self-righteous, smug, proud, condescending, that you can't help but to hate them. The story is weak/thin--in my opinion. The writing is horrible. All tell, no show. I think the biggest annoyance was that whole pages of this one are just excerpts from a book HISTORY OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. These excerpts are literally just over-the-top lectures. As if the main narrative thread wasn't didactic enough.

It is my opinion that even GOOD messages (or GREAT messages) can be incredibly annoying if used as a hammer. No opinion is made better by being used as a weapon, a hammer; you can't beat a belief into someone else's head. You can't. You just can't. But you can get it published apparently. 

I don't love disliking a book. I don't. I was super excited to read her newest book. I had high hopes. I even moved it to the top of my list. I was eager to read this. I welcomed this. But I was disappointed.

I also thought some of this one was blasphemous. Yes, I know not every reader will come from a Christian background, a religious background with Christian roots, but this futuristic "update" of sorts to the doxology was horrendous.

Praise Earth from whom all blessings flow.
Praise sky above and sea below.
Praise creatures great and small between.
Praise darkness, light, and holy green.

© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews