Book Review: The Unincorporated Man

The Unincorporated Man, Dani & Eytan Kollin
3.19.11 – 3.20.11
*library

My brother-in-law mentioned this book after we talked about The Wind-Up Girl. He hasn’t read it, but had it recommended to him. The main weakness, I think, is that the book settled definitively on a right and wrong. I think that Bacigalupi’s treatment of his topic was a lot more, if not open-minded, then exploratory.

But I suppose it asks the question—are there concepts, or moments, where having black-and-white definitions of right and wrong are important? The book answered yes, in regards to individual freedom. It declared that freedom and initiative is more important than a successful economic system.

I was also disappointed by the introduction of sentient life apart from humans and the complete failure to do anything with it. That storyline had a very Orson Scott Card-inspired feel, but then after two scenes I think the writers forgot about it. Or maybe they had a whole separate storyline, and then it was chopped in the editing process and they forgot to remove those two scenes. But I guess that’s life.

This book felt, the whole time, like a pilot for a book, rather than a book itself. It had the air of a project that was a little bit forced, and not particularly organic. Or it was as if it was written by people who, as imaginative as they are, are not in the least writers.