By: Harry Harrison Publisher: Orb Books Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Orb Books Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 288 Publication Date: April 01, 2008 Release Date: April 01, 2008
The world is crowded. Far too crowded. Its starving billions live on lentils, soya beans, and —if they’re lucky—the odd starving rat.
In a New York City groaning under the burden of 35 million inhabitants, detective Andy Rusch is engaged in a desperate and lonely hunt for a killer everyone has forgotten. For even in a world such as this, a policeman can find himself utterly alone….
Acclaimed on its original publication in 1966, Make Room! Make Room! was adapted into the movie Soylent Green in 1973, starring Charlton Heston along with Edward G. Robinson in his last role.
A good read I like this book , I like the movie Soylent Green, too -- which tells a very different story. They complement one another, but they are by no means the same.
Harrison gives us a gritty tour through a believable overcrowded New York in a run-down world that could have been. Still could be.....
I bought the Orb edition currently on sale at Amazon. Funny thing - the plot turns on a murder that happens somewhere between pages 64 and 97. Those pages are missing from my book, and 97-123 are printed twice. And the book was still compelling enough to hold my interest. That's good writing. So I recommend it...but maybe you want to wait for the second edition from this publisher.
Get to the point, please! I read this book after seeing "Soylent Green" because it was the basis for the movie. The book is very different and I preferred the movie. While Harry Harrison is an excellent writer, the book dragged on and on. Where was the drama? Rather it was a love story set in the dirty overpopulated future NYC. And the ending left me with the bitter feeling of why did I spend my time reading this for it to end like that? I spent a considerable amount of time locating this book and I have buyers remorse.
Well written and exciting In 1999, New York City suffers from overpopulation as 35 million people live there. The country as a whole is also struggling with population issues. In that environs Chinese American Billy Chung lives in the floating slums of New York Harbor. During a food riot, Billy escapes with meat that he sells so that he can fund his effort to become a telegram delivery person. During a delivery, he finds an apartment that looks easy to break into, which he does. However the occupant is home and Billy kills "Big" Mike O'Brien.
Since O'Brien was connected, the overworked NYPD assigns Andrew Rusch to solve the case immediately just in case this was a professional hit. However, clues lead Andrew to believe Billy killed the victim. Meanwhile Andrew meets O'Brien's girlfriend Shirl and soon she moves in with him and his roommate Sol. Billy flees to Brooklyn, where he finds sanctuary with Peter, a religious fanatic. Andrew finds and kills tracks Billy. Shirl is gone and the brass punishes him over the O'Brien case as their intended solution changed and he failed to keep up with that.
Apparently this novel was the basis for the movie Soylent Green. MAKE ROOM! MAKE ROOM! is an interesting reprinting of a 1966 cautionary tale that using theories of Malthus and Ehrlich ("The Population Bomb") which warned of the impact of overpopulation on the food supply and the environment. The story line stars everyday people trying to survive in a dying world with no hope for the future; in fact the only person with aspirations beyond his next meal is the young thief. Well written and exciting, part of the fun is to see how close Harry Harrison was in predicting the world of 1999.
Harriet Klausner
Rumination on Overpopulation In the 1970s, many science fiction writers (Asimov included) were concerned about overpopulation, and it's effects on the planet. Make Room Make Room is Harry Harrison's take on this world gone amuck. The book is Science Fiction at it's best - not just technology as a background, but science as a premise. Outstanding reading by one of the grand masters of the genre. Perhaps the book received it's audience from the movie Soylent Green, but this reader has not seen the movie to compare. Value the book on it's own!
surprisingly, better than the movie I love the movie Soylent Green, which is based on this book, and had heard that the book was substantially different than the movie. Many of my favorite ideas from the movie - the whole 'soylent green is people' concept, Sol's poignant suicide scene - are not present in the book; the plot lines are substantially different. Instead, the book develops a sensitive and beautiful relationship between the cop, Rusch, and the girl from the apartment, Shirl. These characters are exactly as they are in the movie, as are Sol and the police chief, but are more fully explored in the book. The background is the same dystopian vision of an overcrowded future. In the book I found this interesting backdrop used to tell a very realistic and somewhat bittersweet love story. Highly recommended.
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