Review: Spoilers within.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 11 19, 2011
For me, I think the story tried to cover too much with too little space. Had I purchased this story, I would have attempted to return it due to the brevity. Yes, the reader is told it is a 6,000 word story but it includes sample content from five other short stories. I didn't see this until reading the story.After the first few pages, it put me in mind of the movie SOLYENT GREEN starring Charlton Heston.  The idea is unique and overall I liked the concept. However, I had problems following the story when it would switch from present day to past, as well as understanding the time line and had to reread the story to figure out portions of Richards' (and all 120 year olds) death procedures, ie at what age he received the notifications and their purpose. I would have like to have seen more details within the story. For example, how are the replacements chosen and are they alive, where/how are they living? What happens if someone dies in an accident? What is the purpose of the 20 year warning? How did it come about? How does the grandson deal with the Geriatric Unit agents coming to take his grandfather?  When are children told of this? What made Julia act the way she did when the GU agents came to get Richard, but especially her mom. How many children are married couples allowed??  How does the person die-injection, gas, medications by mouth? Since the dying person can have everything provided by the govt, what happens to his personal property? What is the reason, we didn't colonize the moon, space travel etc.One of the things I did like was that the story tells of Richard being strong and clear minded to the extent that he is able to escape for a time from the GU agents, because most are too weak to do anything. Too many times we conclude that because someone is older they are not playing with a full deck or unable to do anything.