Because I don’t yet know them well enough to know them enough to care. While this is a perfectly reasonable approach to writing, in this case, more attention seems to be focused on the world than the characters, and that is a problem. Which is fine given the structure of the story, but by the end of the first day/section, I still don’t have a good feel for either of the two characters or what they want their motivations are still mostly hidden from the reader. The actual forward-moving narrative is limited, and the interactions between the main characters is extremely limited. The first section of the novel spends so much time telling the reader about the world that the characters reside in, and so much time in backstory, that the forward momentum of the story is stilted. That said, unlike those two series, 5 to 1 has some unfortunate narrative issues it must contend with. This novel follows this trope and, I suppose, by adding the Indian flavoring to it it’s unique, but–and maybe it’s just me–I really think it’s time for Walled Dystopian Society stories to go the way of Vampires and Zombies. Problem 2 With 5 to 1: Tired Tropeĭystopian fiction–from The Hunger Games to Divergent–uses the walled community as a premise. Narratively and culturally speaking, that’s a problem. But then, Bodger revealed in an interview that since she was always interested in India, she decided to set her story there. One basic premise of this book is that a community was formed in response to the one-child only law. culturally, girl babies were less desired, India decided to ban ultrasounds to prevent people from selective abortions. Problem 1 With 5 to 1: India Is Not ChinaĬhina and India are not interchangeable. However, I’m afraid that my enjoyment of the piece was hindered by several shortcomings that I ultimately could not ignore. And as a fan of dystopian fiction, I was eager to read it. The voices were distinct and, for the most part, clear and to the point.Ĭonceptually, as a twisted take on arranged marriage, and as a thought exercise on what might go wrong if a particular utopia did exist (the definition of dystopia), this book is certainly intriguing.

This story was written in two points of view–prose poetry for Sudasa and narrative prose for Kiran. The system is corrupt and Sudasa finds herself unwilling to simply go along with it. Only, the game is far from random it rewards the wealthy. Once a girl turns seventeen, five boys are selected “randomly” to compete for her hand in marriage. In a dystopian future, a subset of Indian women–in an effort to counter the fiercely sexist views of a society that mandates that families may only have one child (which leads to selective abortions or elimination of girl children)–created a separate country-within-a-country called Koyanagar that aims to favor girls.

5 to 1 by Holly Bodger