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Title details for Pills and Starships by Lydia Millet - Available

Pills and Starships

by Lydia Millet
Mozhan Marno
Audiobook
3 of 3 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
3 of 3 copies available
Publisher Marketing: "Fascinating and thought provoking! "Pills and Starships" is a chilling look at an ecologically damaged future where big business and the government have not only seized control of the surviving population through drugs, but have taken charge of death itself. Lydia Millet has raised questions that will resonate with readers for years to come." —Joelle Charbonneau, author of "The Testing" "One of the most acclaimed novelists of her generation." —"Los Angeles Times" In this richly imagined dystopic future brought by global warming, mass human migrations are constant, water and food are scarce, new babies are illegal, and the disintegrating society is run by corporates who feed the people a steady diet of "pharma" to keep them happy. Usually, seventeen-year-old Nat doesn't let it get her down too much: this, after all, is the life she's used to; and though she is nostalgic for the ancient world she's heard about, she's also realistic, cheerful, and tough. But now her family—her parents and her hacker brother Sam—have come by ship to the Big Island of Hawaii for their parents' Final Week. The few Americans who still live well also live long—so long that older adults bow out not by natural means but by buying death contracts. Nat's family is spending their pharma-guided last week at a luxury resort complex called the Twilight Island Acropolis, where their parents have bought a "vacation contract." Counting down the days till her parents are scheduled to die, Nat keeps a record of everything her family does in the company-supplied diary that came in the hotel's care package. When Sam rebels against the corporates his parents have hired to handle their last days, Nat has to choose a side. Does she let her parents go gently into that good night, or does she turn against the system and try to break them out? This page-turning first YA novel by critically acclaimed author Lydia Millet is stylish and dark and yet deeply hopeful, bringing Millet's characteristic humor and style to a new generation of young readers. Biographical Note: Lydia Millet is the author of seven novels for adults as well as a story collection called "Love in Infant Monkeys" (2009), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her first book for middle-grade readers, "The Fires Beneath the Sea," was one of "Kirkus"' Best Children's Books of 2011, as well as a Junior Library Guild selection. Millet works as an editor and writer at a nonprofit in Tucson, Arizona, where she lives with her two young children.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    June 10, 2014

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781490619354
      • File size: 222007 KB
      • Duration: 07:42:30

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 920
    • Text Difficulty: 4-5

  • Reviews

    • School Library Journal

      December 1, 2014

      Gr 7 Up-Global warming has turned the outside air toxic, and the ozone layer is nonexistant. Even the birth of children is a thing of the past. It is in this world, run by corporations instead of governments, that Nat lives with her brother, Sam, and her parents, who are more than 100 years old. Her parents are desperate to leave the dying world, preferring the corp-assisted ritual of the Final Week to dying a natural death. As Nat tries to process the emotions of losing her parents to a voluntary death, she reveals through her journal entries her discoveries that there is more to the Final Week than what the corporations feel like sharing. With a hurricane bearing down on them, Nat must discover the truth about her world if she hopes to survive. Millet's novel combines elegant prose with themes of global warming and governmental machinations. The lingo does take getting used to but is similar enough to present-day jargon to give only momentary pause. As proficient as Millet is with managing tension in the first half of the book, the climax does not maintain that intensity. The last few chapters seem almost an afterthought. Fans of dystopian fiction will certainly embrace the tale, up to a point, but may feel the same dissatisfaction once they have finished listening. Mozhan Marno expertly narrates. Suggest for students who have read everything else on the shelf.-Michaela Schied, Indian River Middle School, Philadelphia, NY

      Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:920
  • Text Difficulty:4-5

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