THIS PERFECT DAY

Rating:
Summary: Long live Chip and Lilac!
Review: I loved this story. The square peg in a round hole world suits me as well, and it was the beginning for Chip too, via his grandfather Jan (imagine: more than four names for boys). I fell in love with Lilac and her physical beauty as well as her determination and adaptibility. Why, oh, why was this never developed into a film!?? I wanted to direct it, or at least play the part of Chip. Hmmmm. Any takers? I'm serious!

Rating:
Summary: My all-time favorite book - I've read it DOZENS of times!
Review: I started reading 'This Perfect Day' when I was 12 years old. I haven't stopped reading it yet! To think that Ira Levin could have such insights into the future in the 1960's! SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE THIS BOOK INTO A MOVIE BEFORE I AM FORCED TO DO IT MYSELF! I swear, I've read this book so many times I could probably quote any scene verbatim! I consider this book to be THE masterpiece of Ira Levin's body of work. Absolutely thrilling. This could be the best action-thriller of the century.

Rating:
Summary: Another Levin Landmark
Review: I've recently been rereading all of Levin's books. This Perfect Day is the one Ira Levin book I hadn't read, so what a treat to be able to discover yet another wonderful book from this master. As usual, a great plot, terrific characters, excellent dialogue all Levin trademarks. Written in 1970, the book is amazingly forward thinking, and effectively predicts laptop computers, Prozac and bar codes

Rating:
Summary: If It's by Ira Levins, You Know It's Going to Be Good
Review: Ira Levins does not disappoint. Every book that I have read that he has written has been wonderful and suspenseful to the very last page. This book is no different.

THIS PERFECT DAY is the story of a society that is controlled by a computer called Uni. People receive treatments on a regular basis to keep them docile. There is no crime, no disease, no want. Uni decides who people will marry and what their occupation will be. The only downside to the existence created by Uni is that people all die at age 62 and you can choose nothing for yourself.

So, what happens if you begin to question this modified existence?

Chip finds a group of people who, like himself, have decided to think for themselves. Their ultimate goal is escape the holds of Uni and maybe oneday destroy it. Utopia is not so blissful after all.

As with most utopian novels, this one does not sing the praises of a utopian society. Instead, it exposes its flaws. The book is predictable but, nevertheless, ejoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Happy to See it's Back in Print
Review: Thank goodness this book is available again. If it wasn't, then there would be something really wrong going on here. For fans of negative utopia novels such as Orwell's 1984 and Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, This Perfect Day is not to be missed as it compares favorably to both works (it exceeds them, in my humble opinion). Although Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil and, I think, even Needle were made into movies, this is Levin's most brilliant novel and one of the most perfectly crafted stories ever written. Some of the other reviewers have said the book should be made into a movie; I disagree. This is a story about subtle ideas and the action is somewhat sedate. I doubt it would be popular with the proletariat. Not all great stories translate to the screen.

Having said that, this book is fiction entertainment at its best. The story is compelling without being preachy and deep without being boring. Though published in 1970, it still accurately holds a mirror to the society we are today and juxtaposes it against Levin's future society of the supercomputer. Find out how Chip Green-Eye finds his destiny in a world where computerization + chemotherapy = no change. Fight Uni!