Monday, January 30, 2012

Candor by Pam Bachorz

Music is always playing in the ideal suburbs of Candor.  The kicker is that the music is riddled with subliminal messages that tell the people of Candor how to behave perfectly.  Nobody is ever late or rude or delinquent.  Oscar is the son of the man who runs Candor, and he has long ago caught on to the subliminal messages.  While he maintains the façade of being the perfect citizen of Candor, he helps others escape if they come to him before the messages take effect and they have enough money.  The latest client that he decides to help is a girl named Nia.  We all know what happens in any book when the protagonist and somebody new of the opposite gender get anywhere within the general vicinity of each other.

Throughout the first half of the book, it's very creepy how he sees Nia.  He cannot go an entire chapter without imagining her naked.  His imagination consists solely of a naked Nia against varying backdrops: Nia naked at the sprinklers, Nia naked at the pool, Nia naked at his house... the list goes on and on.  Then he lies to her about the messages.  For some reason that is never explained, he doesn't tell her that the messages exist.  He's even willing to get Sherman, who Oscar hates because Sherman is fat, completely mind-wiped and horribly damaged just so Nia won't hear about the messages.  Why is he withholding this information in the first place?  The world may never know.  Don't worry.  That horrible fat Sherman gets his mind wiped for a different reason that is entirely Oscar's fault.

Despite this, Candor is a really good book.  Nia especially is  incredible as a character.  Oscar's creepy lust eventually develops into genuine care.  The city of Candor is a marvelous dystopia.  It's actually based on a real city in Florida, designed by Disney, that planned many aspects of people's lives!  Obviously, the real city was nowhere near as controlling or sneaky as Candor.

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