Scythe Gets Gleaned at DDM

Here are DDM's thoughts on Scythe vs. The Smell of Other People's Houses:

Renae: Based on all of the blog posts I read that raved about Scythe and its big ideas that "make you think," I was expecting big things. After the first 50 pages or so, the book seemed to deliver.  It presented an intriguing view of what our world could become (a sentient cloud that knows everything and solved all the world's problems, living forever but giving up meaningful life as a human) and I was interested in seeing where the book would go with these topics. 

Sadly, it turned out to be pretty boring. When I was around halfway through, I just kept wishing it was over and couldn't believe how much of the story was left. Rather than tackle any of the moral dilemmas presented in the opening of the novel, it instead focused on the (pointless) romance between the two main characters and their goal to avoid having to glean one another at the end of the novel. Yeah, I was happy all the bad guys died in the end, but who cares? What I really wanted to know was, if overpopulation was such a problem and the Thunderhead can apparently just fix everything, why didn't it fix that by allowing natural deaths to continue? Why do the Scythes even exist? Did I miss something?? Maybe these questions will be answered in the next book. However, I am not interested enough to spend time reading the sequel. 

Brandy Lee: I agree. I usually like Shusterman's work, but this seemed a bit too contrived, I guess. It took a really long time for me to get into the story and I didn't connect with the characters. They have this unrequited love thing, but it didn't compel me to care about how it actually worked out in the end.

Renae: I know Smell isn't the overall winner of the year. I get that it has some pretty cliche things and wraps up really nice and neat in the end. However, I actually cared about the characters. It was a nice story and even though it may sometimes be far fetched, I liked it when different plot lines began to weave into one another and all come together in the end. I wish there was a few more chapters to either go deeper into the backgrounds of certain characters (like Gran). I think my students would think it lacks action and probably wouldn't be into it very much, but it was a quick read on a sunny spring break afternoon. I vote for this one. 

Brandy Lee: At first I thought I wouldn't like the other book, but I grew to like the narrators, even though some were more developed than others. Excellent imagery in the writing - felt like I could picture myself there. There was a bit of cliche "you can choose your own family by forming an unbreakable bond with friends", but I felt for the characters, so I could look past it.

Our votes go to The Smell of Other People's Houses!