A.D.

Rating:
Summary: Weapon of Words????
Review: Science fiction isn't usually my first choice when I want to escape between the covers of a good book. With the exception of Octavia Butler and a few other talented writers, people of African decent don't seem to play much of a role in the future as defined by writers of fantasy/speculative fiction. For that reason, I was intrigued when I read the description for A.D. on Amazon and ordered the book.

Although the premise is interesting (an African American man is cryogenically frozen and awakes 400 years later in a racially segregated New World Order) the author, Saab Lofton, lacks the imagination and talent as a writer to make the novel work.

The reader is immediately challeged to suspend their disbelief to the point that he/she will believe that bankrupt Aryan leader Tom Metzger and NOI despot Louis Farrakhan are smart/influencial enough to split up the country according to their racist doctrines.

Sounds far fetched? It is. By tying the events in his novel to these pathetic figures, Lofton not only makes his futurist novel seem "dated" but wholly implausible. He simply lacks the talent to create a future existence that can borrow from the present and exapand it without creating a heavy-handed and choppy diatribe.

The novel's protagonist, Elijah, rarely rises above Lofton's thumbnail sketch of him. Other characters suffer the same fate. In a story as fantastic as this one it is imperative that the characters be fleshed out enough to make the story believable. Lofton simply never accomplishes this.

Lofton (a far left socialist) can't decide if A.D. is really a novel or a flimsy article for the pages of the Socialist Worker. Never content to let the characters and their actions speak for themselves, Lofton continually stiffles the story by interjecting (read:forcefeeding) the reader his own political agenda.

His writing style is overly didactic, never allowing the reader to become absorbed in the "story" itself. In addition to this flaw, the editing of the novel is so bad it's a distraction. Fragmented sentences and other grammatical errors make A.D. a test of the reader's patience.

Aside from these problems the novel itself isn't very original. Lofton heavily borrows storylines from Ayn Rand and George Orwell without taking note of their ear for dialogue and passion for storytelling. Where Orwell builds suspense in 1984, Lofton is predictable.

In the end, A.D. is a forgettable story. I've read reviews in leftist papers that praised the novel for challenging reader perspectives when in all honesty people are more challenged by well-written, thought provocing pieces. This is not that piece and fans of A.D. are probably already in the choir that Lofton is preaching to.

If you must read this book, I implore you to skip the self-congratulatory introduction . In it Lofton goes on his own diatribe against "Trekkies" and whines endlessly about being homeless (though he never slept in a shelter); not being able to handle school at a local community college and full time work (note to Saab: people do it all the time); and waiting for his "inheritance" to kick it. To make things even worse, he refers to himself as "The Mighty Saab Lofton, King of the Impossible"--I wish I were kidding. The prologue isn't much better (a mini-PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE US without the footnotes) and is out of place in a book that is supposedley a sci-fi novel.

Rating:
Summary: Weapon of Words????
Review: Science fiction isn't usually my first choice when I want to escape between the covers of a good book. With the exception of Octavia Butler and a few other talented writers, people of African decent don't seem to play much of a role in the future as defined by writers of fantasy/speculative fiction. For that reason, I was intrigued when I read the description for A.D. on Amazon and ordered the book.

Although the premise is interesting (an African American man is cryogenically frozen and awakes 400 years later in a racially segregated New World Order) the author, Saab Lofton, lacks the imagination and talent as a writer to make the novel work.

The reader is immediately challeged to suspend their disbelief to the point that he/she will believe that bankrupt Aryan leader Tom Metzger and NOI despot Louis Farrakhan are smart/influencial enough to split up the country according to their racist doctrines.

Sounds far fetched? It is. By tying the events in his novel to these pathetic figures, Lofton not only makes his futurist novel seem "dated" but wholly implausible. He simply lacks the talent to create a future existence that can borrow from the present and exapand it without creating a heavy-handed and choppy diatribe.

The novel's protagonist, Elijah, rarely rises above Lofton's thumbnail sketch of him. Other characters suffer the same fate. In a story as fantastic as this one it is imperative that the characters be fleshed out enough to make the story believable. Lofton simply never accomplishes this.

Lofton (a far left socialist) can't decide if A.D. is really a novel or a flimsy article for the pages of the Socialist Worker. Never content to let the characters and their actions speak for themselves, Lofton continually stiffles the story by interjecting (read:forcefeeding) the reader his own political agenda.

His writing style is overly didactic, never allowing the reader to become absorbed in the "story" itself. In addition to this flaw, the editing of the novel is so bad it's a distraction. Fragmented sentences and other grammatical errors make A.D. a test of the reader's patience.

Aside from these problems the novel itself isn't very original. Lofton heavily borrows storylines from Ayn Rand and George Orwell without taking note of their ear for dialogue and passion for storytelling. Where Orwell builds suspense in 1984, Lofton is predictable.

In the end, A.D. is a forgettable story. I've read reviews in leftist papers that praised the novel for challenging reader perspectives when in all honesty people are more challenged by well-written, thought provocing pieces. This is not that piece and fans of A.D. are probably already in the choir that Lofton is preaching to.

If you must read this book, I implore you to skip the self-congratulatory introduction . In it Lofton goes on his own diatribe against "Trekkies" and whines endlessly about being homeless (though he never slept in a shelter); not being able to handle school at a local community college and full time work (note to Saab: people do it all the time); and waiting for his "inheritance" to kick it. To make things even worse, he refers to himself as "The Mighty Saab Lofton, King of the Impossible"--I wish I were kidding. The prologue isn't much better (a mini-PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE US without the footnotes) and is out of place in a book that is supposedley a sci-fi novel.

Rating:
Summary: A good beginning
Review: The book has an impressive introduction with a very interesting analasys of the extreme right; both black and white. However, the author makes it clear from the beginning that he is an extreme socialist, therefore his ideas have to be taken with a grain of salt.

The first part of the book, with the description of a utopian society ruled by the Nation of Islam, strongly resembles an Orwellian type of society. It is well written and presents interesting ideas.

The second part of the book however leaves something to be desired. It seems that the author has departed from his original attention to detail and social-political analasys and has transformed the book into a banal story, unworthy of being attached to the first part of the book.

Overall, this is a book worthy of being read, with interesting ideas, and a good writing style.

Rating:
Summary: A good beginning
Review: The book has an impressive introduction with a very interesting analasys of the extreme right; both black and white. However, the author makes it clear from the beginning that he is an extreme socialist, therefore his ideas have to be taken with a grain of salt.

The first part of the book, with the description of a utopian society ruled by the Nation of Islam, strongly resembles an Orwellian type of society. It is well written and presents interesting ideas.

The second part of the book however leaves something to be desired. It seems that the author has departed from his original attention to detail and social-political analasys and has transformed the book into a banal story, unworthy of being attached to the first part of the book.

Overall, this is a book worthy of being read, with interesting ideas, and a good writing style.

Rating:
Summary: Very powerful first part
Review: The book is a page-turner and a powerful political pamphlet. The thing I deplored about it is the run-of-the-mill 400-year hybernation scenario and the ensuing 400-year gap in human history where nothing seems to have happened since the late 20th century. Saab should rewrite the second part of the damn novel to make it a masterpiece.