Mockingbird

Synopsis

Mockingbird is a 1980 science fiction novel by American writer Walter Tevis. Set chiefly in a depopulated twenty-fifth-century New York City, the novel depicts a society in which robots administer human life, drugs and television pacify the population, and reading has largely disappeared. The story follows Robert Spofforth, a long-lived android who wants to die, and Paul Bentley and Mary Lou Borne, two humans whose rediscovery of reading and personal attachment brings them into conflict with the social order. The novel has been interpreted as a dystopian critique of technological dependence and social isolation, with particular attention to literacy, drug use, privacy, and the status of conscious machines. Contemporary reception was mixed, with reviewers praising Tevis's storytelling and allegorical control while also criticizing the novel's bleakness, derivative elements, and heavy-handed symbolism. Mockingbird was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel. A feature film adaptation was announced by Searchlight Pictures in 2022, with Alma Har'el attached to direct.

Text license: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Details

Type

Book

Release date

January 1, 1980

Genres

science fiction

Created by

Walter Tevis

Countries

United States