'Wool' by Hugh Howey

Wool, Hugh Howey (4)

Hugh Howey is a hero to all self-published authors. What began as a series of self-published short stories became a NYT best seller due to great word of mouth reviews. The book (make sure to get the one with all 5 sections together) deserves the praise – interesting story, fast paced writing style, and somewhat new concepts for a dystopian future. I say ‘somewhat’ as I found it reminded me of ‘City of Ember’, though since it’s targeted for adults ‘Wool’ is more well rounded. The society of the book is completely contained in a 130+ floor silo, buried underground. We don’t know why all of society is in this structure – but the clues are there from the start. As one can imagine- if you know you are buried underground, the view aboveground becomes very important. Citizens who break the law are sent ‘out’ to clean the lenses that allow everyone to see the devastated land above. Unfortunately, the suits they wear to do the cleaning are not robust enough to withstand the elements and the lawbreakers also die outside. In addition to the mystery surrounding this odd crime deterrent, Mr. Howey touches on many other issues with this society such as the hierarchy of those who live on the higher floors, versus those mid-level and those ‘down deep’; and the power of various professions – IT versus Mechanical. While some of the clues seem far too obvious (i.e. how come they couldn’t build a decent suit that allows people to clean the lenses and return to the silo?), there are plenty of surprises to enjoy. It did not surprise me to find out that Ridley Scott has already optioned this book for a film.