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Monday, June 15, 2015

The Program by Suzanne Young 405 pages A YA novel (Gateway nominee 2015-2016)

First, a personal disclosure:  I am not a teenager.  It has been a looong time since I have been a teenager, or even had a teen child. Having said that, you can take my review of this book with a grain of salt.  I found this book dark and disturbing and will NEVER recommend it to a teen.  After I read it, I went back and read reviews to see what it was I missed, but I still do not see why everyone so loves this book...everyone but me!


Picture a future society where there is an epidemic of teen suicides.  So much so that "the Program" has been created.  Now if your teen so much as sheds a tear in public, you can have a handler haul them off to have all their unpleasant memories erased.  They will not remember how their brother died, instead, they will believe any lie you tell them.  They will not remember their boyfriend or their best friend if, by association, it will make them remember something sad.  The teens are constantly being watched and "The Program" has turned some of their friends into such zombies that suicide seems a viable alternative.  Antidepressants are bad, but drugs that erase your memories are good?  This book is the first in a series, but needless to say, I will not be reading any of the others.

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