Things Could Be Worse: 12 Dystopian Novels

Dozens of states on the brink of bankruptcy. Congress in upheaval. Half a dozen countries in the Middle East on the brink of revolution and unemployment stuck at about 9%.

Nonetheless, if you think things are bad in our reality, take a look at these 12 dystopian novels pulled together by Flashlight Worthy contributor Anne Charnock. Many will be familiar... some will be unknown to you... but all are all but guaranteed to make you feel better about the current state of things.

(And if these books don't work, I've got hundreds more for you at Flashlight Worthy -- everything from Book Club Recommendations to Graphic Novels. )

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We We is the diary of mathematician D-503 who discovers love for another human being -- an emotion long-forgotten within the world of One State. Beyond the glass wall boundary of One State lies the "irrational, chaotic world of trees, birds, animals" and looking out one day into this green ocean, D-503 sees a savage. It was in this scene that I was struck by the following lines: "But a thought swarmed in me; what if he -- this yellow-eyed being-in his ridiculous, dirty bundle of trees, in his uncalculated life -- is happier than us?"

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We

We is the diary of mathematician D-503 who discovers love for another human being -- an emotion long-forgotten within the world of One State. Beyond the glass wall boundary of One State lies the "irrational, chaotic world of trees, birds, animals" and looking out one day into this green ocean, D-503 sees a savage. It was in this scene that I was struck by the following lines: "But a thought swarmed in me; what if he -- this yellow-eyed being-in his ridiculous, dirty bundle of trees, in his uncalculated life -- is happier than us?"

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