Y by Bonnie Rozanski - A Book Review (Duet)

Title: Y
Author: Bonnie Rozanski
Pages: 231 (e-book)
Published: August 29th, 2010
Read: November 21st, 2010

Synopsis: The year is 2011, the place, New York City. A mysterious microbe has begun to infect women of child-bearing age. Though the medical establishment writes it off as a simple flu, and the epidemic appears to be dying out, a young New York obstetrician confronts a conundrum. In the past year, the ratio of boys to girls born in her practice has declined precipitously. Dr. Deborah Kruger suspects the truth: that infected women are no longer able to give birth to male children.

With the help of her husband Larry, a computer analyst, Deborah tracks the epicenter to New York City, from which the infection is already bursting forth. And, as years pass, despite hundreds of laboratories at work on it, the microbe continues to overrun borders and envelop the Earth. With Science unable to stop it, and the contagion rippling worldwide in an AIDS-like pandemic, how will society cope in an increasingly female world?(from Goodreads.com)

So this particular review will be a duet between me and the lovely Black Disaster Fairy.

As you can see from the summary above, this is a science fiction novel of epic proportion. Because seriously, what could be more epic than the major loss of the male species. Yes, yes, I may complain about Hubby, but it would be terribly sad if they died out. I mean, so much less to stare at *wink wink*


Luckily we do have authors who have a special knack for creating the most drool worthy fictional boyfriends for those of us who do not have a Hubby! LOL! However, it would be sad to lose the whole male species but I do quite nicely without them.

This book was amazing. It was like a science book on crack for me. I do love science and my wheels were turning around every problem that presented itself in the book. But I must say that the science aspect is broken down nicely so if you don't know anything about chromosomes or microbes then no worries!!

When I started this book, I really had no idea what to expect. I mean, yeah, I knew the background of the story, but I had never read anything by Bonnie Rozanski. And after the prologue, I was even more nervous. But, turns out that the first chapter starts off magnificently and the rest of the book lives up to it.

The whole book was a lovely display of science in action and not only did it hold my attention, I kept thinking about it whenever I wasn't reading it. I mean, there was crazy ideas stuck in my head of cloning and the death of the male species and all sorts of other things, I even dreamed about it. (yeah, I may have issues).

My love Jen hits some very good points. I had no clue what this book was about. But I'm like that with most every book because if you know me I do not read the synopsis of a story before I decide to read. *gasps* Yeah I know, I do end up with some stinky ones.

The prologue was horrible. It made me want to turn off the e-book and knit! If it was a book I would of threw it a few times before starting chapter one. Even after finishing the book and rereading the prologue I still hated it!!

Take out the prologue the story was beautiful. It unfolded in the most wonderful way and the characters had this way of making the twists wrap and intertwine into beautiful circles. Sometimes you knew where the author was going and well, sometimes she shocked the Fairy right out of me.

Which brings us to our character portion of this review! This book follows several different families throughout the ordeal. My 2 favorite characters were Deborah and Larry who happen to also be husband and wife. Deborah is an OBGYN (for all those who don't know what that means, it's a woman's doctor) and Larry is a database analyst. Deborah was smart and strong and didn't give up on her ideas and Larry was like the ultimate genius who was also an awesome husband...even if he might have been stuck at his computer for days...*big grin* A little later on, we also have their son, Stephen.

Deborah was great, though that is my mothers name so no matter how she wrote her I pictured my mother through the whole book. Which surprisingly didn't turn me off but made me like her even more, especially with the idea that my mom knows anything about science. Yeah, right! Larry was great but he was too ideal of a man.

Oh my!! I loved Sam... he was interesting and well he shocked the Fairy tremendously later on in the book. It was great to get that jolt of excitement. However, I cannot lie when I say he got what was coming to him or not.

Then there was Bill, what an a$$!! He is a man that will make you barf all over John the other a$$ of the book.

Agreed!!! Bill was so overly sexist, I wanted to murder him. John, the cheating slug, deserved to be kicked in the lower extremities. For me, there was also Victoria, John's spouse (*clears throat* X-Spouse) who was self-absorbed and vindictive, and in the end Willa. Although, Willa was a very complex character to me. I mean, I felt beyond bad for her and what she had to go through during her teen years (I think there was gagging involved on my part), but what happens at the end of the book had me up in arms. I'm not going to tell you, so if you want to know you'll read the book. *mwah ha ha ha*


Well, look at that you also do not approve of Bill and John! The Fairy is so not shocked about that. But what would be a book without characters we love and hate?? They work so well together making the story work in that crazy wonderful way.

I know exactly what you mean. What would a good book be without an exciting cast of the good, the bad and the ugly, a thrilling scientific plot of genes, cloning and the Y chromosome, a take over by woman everywhere in addition to crazy actresses, bombings and nature at it's best, you won't be disappointed with this book. So, all those who are looking for something that makes you think, pick up Bonnie Rozanski's "Y".

I loved this book so much! (minus that darn prologue). If you want to read about a world going to the female population and what happens to the people in it, the process of scientific research, & personal development then this book has it all. Really a Scientific Fiction novel smashed into a dystopian book makes the Fairy really happy.


Quotes:

She looked around her at the pulsing, coursing flow of people, and thought, it's like one giant bloodstream, all of us feeding the same organism, New York City. - pg 5

Anyway, figure out how many females the average male can reproduce with, - let's say 40 times... "40?" Steven repeated incredulously. - pg 214

Recommended for those who like: Adult Science Fiction, Gene Therapy, Genetics, Cloning, Futuristic Societies

Rating: 4/5

We received this ebook free of charge from the author, Bonnie Rozanski, in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected our review or opinion of this book.