« The caw of Belle Copenhagen drowned »

How does a death sentence feel?

Tags: Danish Me Review Science fiction

Review of Last chance (Sidste chance) by Mogens Wenzel Andreasen.

Outline: Arne visits Copenhagen with his 9th grade from Funen, but he can't quite keep things orderly. It doesn't help that they are locked into the ruins under Christiansborg.

Is it science fiction? It turns out the accident is caused by Copenhagen being enveloped in a cloud of radioactive gas. And luckily that hasn't happened in real life yet. At the same time it qualifies as an SF-theme, so, yes.

Themes: There are many themes in this book. The relationship between teacher and class. How youth in 9th grade is. Before we learn what happened, there's uncertainty and fear. And when the mystery is solved, and words like "evacuation" and "death sentence" are mentioned, the feelings do not get smaller, of course. The young people run amok in the empty city. Finally there's a hint, that the government doesn't run things as well as you were first led to believe.

Is it good? I like this study of how a 9th grade would think, feel and act, put into this situation. It's not really the disaster, but the reaction of these yougsters. Good book.

Created: 28 July, 2009 - Last changed: 28 July, 2009 - Comments (0)