3/5 stars
What's it about? In a future where death by disease has been eradicated, Katherine Mortenhoe learns that she has a terminal case of sensory overload. While Katherine tries to reckon with her impending death, the showrunner behind the Human Destiny program secretly captures it all with the help of one special journalist. How real is Katherine’s experience? How do we judge our lives in the context of an ugly world? A novel that asks important questions for readers in 2025.
How’d I find it? When I want to treat myself, this is what I do: I stroll into Powell’s after lunch and scan the new arrivals, then wander through the shelves of my favorite sections (poetry, mid-grade fiction, foreign language, and horror). I find something (on this particular day, The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe) and sit myself down in the attached café for a cider and reading sesh.
Who will enjoy this book? Fans of the show UnREAL and Black Mirror should pick this one up.
What stood out? Compton did an eerie job of describing a society in which suffering is entertainment. Though written in 1974, the themes of surveillance and privacy feel timely for our present, in which we’re constantly bombarded with content and reality TV shows like The Bachelor are under scrutiny for their producing practices. Compton includes a dash of poignancy with a Citizen Kane “rosebud” moment that nods to the bigger questions of existence. The Continuous Katherine Mortenhoe may be a quieter book than The Hunger Games or Chain-Gang All-Stars, but it has something to say.
Which line made me feel something? “…she’d crawled out of antediluvian mud on the legs of curiosity, and descended from ancient trees in search of something more than survival.”