Read Time: 3 Minutes
I’m a little disappointed with this one. I’ve enjoyed a few of Claire North‘s other works, but this one really didn’t do it for me. I think in general, the idea was good, but the execution was lacking. I feel like North was experimenting with a writing style, and while I applaud attempts at originality and trying something new, this just didn’t land for me.
The dystopian society of 84K feels like a precursor society for Nineteen Eighty-Four, though more capitalism taken to an extreme rather than totalitarianism. The dehumanisation of people is a strong theme in this, where you and your actions are reduced to a dollar (or pound, I guess being set in England) amount. Everything has a value, from what you do and what you might become through to the various crimes that can be committed.
Essentially, a world where everything is legal if you’re rich enough. Oh, I guess maybe not that different from some parts of society now? In 84K, everything is quantifiable. Murder, assault, rape, property damage, emotional distress… everything can be tallied, and if you can afford it, you can even get all record of the crime expunged from your record.
Society has been divided generally in two. Those that can’t afford to pay their debts get sent beyond the fences and walls to their own enclaves where they can try to survive. Some may get a small reprieve working the lowest of the low jobs or conscripted into the ranks of “The Company” that runs the country. The government outsourced virtually everything to private enterprise, and companies have to make money.
So, an interesting if rather bleak and depressing look into what a future society could look like with unchecked extreme capitalism and greed running the country. Modern-day slavery for the most part if I were to put it another way.
The writing is what let this story down for me. So much of it feel disjointed and fragmented. Staccato dialogue where people only talk in part sentences, all rapid-fire one after another a lot of the time. I guess it cuts down on the need to write dialogue and pack in more story, but it’s incredibly annoying. In my notes I took while listening, I literally wrote: “finish a damn sentence PLEASE!!!” and underlined it a few times when the thought came up again, to give you an idea of my frustration.
The narration by Peter Kenny was good with no production or quality problems. Quality was better than Harry August so that’s always a good thing. Probably a personal peeve more than anything, but his pronunciation of “ate” as “et” annoys me. Yes, both are acceptable with one just being “old fashioned”, but it still bugged me.
So overall, an interesting thought experiment of what could happen if unchecked capitalism and bureaucratic indifference were allowed to dominate society, stripping away the value of human life and reducing justice to a matter of price. The style is what let this one down for me. There are a couple of others in Claire North’s back catalogue that I want to get to, so I’m hoping this experimental form of storytelling is left behind.