Her entry begins:
Right now I'm taking a break from Swamplandia by Karen Russell to read Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. Swamplandia is about a family of alligator wrestlers in Southwest Florida and how they cope with a new theme park vastly fancier than their own. It's a rich and evocative story full of historical detail regarding the dredging of the wetlands. My parents live in that area and I've always been fascinated with the way the land was basically constructed out of swamp, as a kind of technological eruption. When the story began to veer into darker territory, however, I found myself dreading each turn of the page, not because it was badly written (it's wonderful!) but because I feared so much for the characters' fates. Now that I'm halfway through Netherland, I find I'm still wondering whatever became of those characters from Swamplandia, so I'll return to them soon. Ms. Russell had better be...[read on]Among the early praise for Scored:
“A tense and chilling look at a near future that’s all too recognizable. Scored will bring out the rebel in every reader.”Learn more about the book and author at Lauren McLaughlin's website and the Scored Facebook page.
--Scott Westerfeld, author of Goliath
“the most rounded, thought-provoking and pulse-pounding exploration of the surveillance society I’ve yet read.”
--Cory Doctorow
“The bold, aggressive narrative condemns both No Child Left Behind–style testing and current financial policies, cautioning about what could happen to social mobility in the face of stark inequity.”
–Kirkus
“Most dystopian fiction takes place within an established totalitarian regime, but Scored allows readers to witness the very first stages of a changing society.”
–VOYA
“quite honestly, the next ‘1984.’ The writing is stupendous, the characters are flawless, and Miss McLaughlin has certainly made George Orwell very, very proud.”
--Feathered Quill Book Reviews
Writers Read: Lauren McLaughlin.
--Marshal Zeringue
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