Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
What would happen if birth control had not been so readily accepted in the 1960s? What if, alongside the continuous increase of births, there was a continuous betterment in medicine?
In 1966 Harry Harrison envisaged such a future and set his novel Make Room! Make Room! in an overcrowded, underfed New York in 1999. The novel follows Andy Rusch, a hard-working police detective struggling with the pressures of keeping such a heavily peopled city in order.With the never ending protests, riots, organised crime and theft of resources, Andy feels as though he isn’t making much of a difference in a barbaric city plagued with a severe case of overpopulation. Control is never truly upheld, and gruesome murders are ignored daily due to the sheer number of them that occur.
However, one murder in particular grabs the attention of the police chief; the stabbing of ‘Big Mike’, a powerful racketeer killed in his apartment after a presumed break in. Evidence accumulates and it seems as though a well-known criminal mastermind from Chicago may be involved, forcing Andy to spend more time on the killing than he deems necessary. The stress of working in a city saturated with life builds as he battles with his morals, with his corrupt superiors and with the harsh reality of existing in an environment ravaged of its resources. How much longer can he, or anyone for that matter, survive in such unnatural circumstances?
Harrison is more than successful in putting across the difficulties faced with overpopulation. The claustrophobic living quarters described and the exhaustive clambering for survival really sets the panicked tone required for such a story. He also manages to put across strong, ethical opinions without appearing cold, unfeeling or harsh, such as when the character Sol (a transparent spokesperson for Harrison’s opinions yet still an intriguing figure in the book) states:
“We got death control – we got to match it with birth control.”
This passionate novel is an incredibly important tool when considering the future of our planet as it clearly demonstrates how we have surpassed nature in becoming too successful as a species. Harrison emphasises the integral act of limiting birth in order to increase quality in life, but unfortunately beyond this political statement the book merely acts as a weak platform for the author’s rants.
I personally agree with every argument put forward in Make Room! Make Room! which may slightly cloud my judgement when reviewing the plot overall, but I am still able to note its quite blatant flaws. Although an incredibly well-written and tense build up, the plot peters out near the conclusion and is really unsatisfying. The characters are fairly interesting but appear to have strong cliches as their foundations and are ultimately pawns for Harrison’s statements on overpopulation. It was an entertaining read and inspired further thought on the subject matter – which was obviously the intention – but I couldn’t help but feel that the book let me down fictionally. Too much emphasis was placed on the outcome in relation to reality rather than the outcome in relation to Andy Rusch and the rest of Harrison’s fictional world.
A great piece of dystopian fiction but not a great story, Make Room! Make Room! is preaching to the already converted and would fail to grab the attention of anyone else.
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