Story: 5 / 10
Characters: 5
Setting: 5
Prose: 3

A strong concept, but with a poorly balanced plot. Half the book was spent setting up the story, leaving little space for a proper pace. In the end, the concept is the only thing to take away from this one...

Memory triggers: TV eyes, eternal public protests, reality TV ( )

D.G. Compton’s 1974 novel, also known as The Unsleeping Eye, is both eerily prophetic and very dated. It presents a world where medicine has advanced to such a degree that old age and accidents are virtually the only cause of death. When Katherine Mortenhoe, a workaholic editor in her forties, is told by her doctor that she’s one of the rare few to have developed a terminal condition, her imminent death makes her a celebrity. The vulpine TV producer Vincent Ferriman knows that Katherine’s situation will make her perfect for his show Human Destiny, in which the tragedies of the few are played out for the edification (and salivation) of the comfortable masses. Her husband Harry is game to sign the lucrative contract; but Katherine herself won’t so easily be made a victim. Yet she hasn’t reckoned with Vincent’s masterstroke, in the form of very special reporter Roddie Patterson. The high concept, which foreshadows our own age of reality TV shows and constant status updates, is intriguing, but Compton’s novel is dragged down by the fact that his future still looks, and feels, an awful lot like the 1970s...

For the full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2019/07/27/the-continuous-katherine-mortenhoe-d-g-compt... ( )

Ugh. What a slog. I gave up more than 50% of the way through because, fundamentally, I was not enjoying this book (and, at more than 50% of the way through, I felt it still had not begun, quite ... if it were a 600 page opus, that might be acceptable for the same page count (100ish pages of set-up) but not in a 200 page book.

On the front flap, in an effort to drum up interest in the book, it describes plot events that still have not happened, despite my being more than 50% of the way through. No, just no.

I love the title (when am I going to learn that books only sometimes live up to their title!) but the characters were dull and uninteresting, the plot was dull and uninteresting, the future setting was scarcely described and unevocative, and I imagine, if it weren't for the "reality tv" aspect of it (basically unexplored, at least to the point I got to in the book, and with every indication that they were never going to explore it) I'm sure this would be a dusty forgotten tome.

I will be reading Jack Vance's Lyonesse next instead! Life's too short, and (if I live to my father's age) I only have another 26 years of reading left, and (at current rates, though I hope to pick up speed in retirement) that's only about 3,000 books. They better all be good ones!

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). ( )