The back cover of this book compares "In the Garden of Dead Cars" with "1984" and "The Handmaid's Tale." I agree -- it is a portrait of a future that could be ours. I look at our society and wonder at what point have we taken steps toward a future that is beyond our belief? Is there a line between now and then?

Lots of interesting ideas to pursue in this book:
*Going from being the everyday person to become a "carnal".
*Is being a carnal better/freer than those who conform to the system?
*Is Emma freer? Or is she equally trapped when she becomes a carnal
*Sexual attraction does not always bring compatible people together -- perhaps it is what the Comedians say it is.
*Is there symbolism surrounding the killing of those who rebel by wrapping them in a plastic sheet/film? I think of the advise given years ago of meeting your husband at the door wearing only saran wrap. Were the rebels killed by their sexual desires?

I could go on.

Definitely worth reading. ( )

In the Garden of Dead Cars by Sybil Claiborne is an excellent, powerful, interesting, dystopian story set in a near-future world several decades after the AIDs virus has mutated and killed a large percentage of the population. The surviving society in America has strict rules about sexual contact. Rules prohibiting any type of sexual relationships are enforced by the comedians, who have replaced cops on the theory that people need to learn how to laugh again (and bullets were too expensive anyway). Dissidents disappear or are "wrapped" in punishment.

Emma is coming of age in this society and is torn between the morals of her radical Mother and those of her friends and colleagues, who just want to get by and get ahead. Emma doesn't care much about politics, but begins to question society when her partner at work disappears and everyone pretends that he never existed. Emma is a sympathetic character, and seeing the world through the eyes of someone who's never known a normal family relationship and accepts society's twisted mores as commonplace is very interesting. Well written and compelling. ( )