Next

A Novel

Hardcover, 431 pages

English language

Published Aug. 19, 2006 by HarperCollins Publishers.

ISBN:
978-0-06-087298-4
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OCLC Number:
875276890

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3 stars (6 reviews)

Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why an adult human being resembles a chimp fetus? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction --- is it worse than the disease?

We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps; a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars; test our spouses for genetic maladies and even frame someone for a genetic crime.

We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes ...

Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless …

30 editions

Muddled but important

3 stars

Doesn't feel like a story at all, more a bunch of thoughts about genetic engineering bundled together. It's like the writer had too many ideas and couldn't choose one to stick to. My main problem with this is that there are just way too many characters, some are important to remember for later and some exist in one chapter and are never heard from again. All characters are unlikeable except for Gerald the parrot. On the positive side, I found this an easy read despite the structure. All his ideas both interesting and horrifyingly possible. Many chapters start with a real-world news article about genetic engineering and at the end of the book is a well thought out list of the real worries about the science and what laws could be changed for the better. In the beginning of the book a man is constantly being given blood tests, he …

Review of 'Next' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

A collection of loosely related short stories clumsily cobbled together.

Good:
Raises valid concerns about genetic engineering and US patent law.

Bad:
Most characters appear morally wrong for no good reason. It detracts from valid criticism of corporate wrongdoers if all characters are adulterers & chauvinists.
Ending is unbelievable.
There's almost no narrative structure to the novel.
* It should have been an essay.

avatar for dht6000

rated it

4 stars
avatar for DigitalRob

rated it

3 stars

Subjects

  • Genetics -- Fiction
  • Mutation (Biology) -- Fiction