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"334" is basically a collection of loosely connected short stories and novellas tenuously strung together as a novel. And as a result of that the reader must be prepared for a very disjointed ride. Just as you start to get a handle on the characters and situations the rug is pulled from underneath your feet and you are back to square one with a new story and new characters.
This chop and change feeling never really settles well until the last novella, "334" where at least vague attempts are made to connect the plots. It is also in novella "334" where Disch delves deepest into character development and beautifully plots the downward spiral of a dysfunctional family.
But of all the stories, "Bodies" I feel shines the most. The central character Ab Holt's attempts to conceal his necrophilic dealings is handled with great humour and insight. Here Disch makes a crushing dig at capitalism; where in the future America even human bodies are a commodity, even if only on the black market.
Disch touches upon many issues here that still resonate today, remember his prediction of limiting pregnancy is several years before China's 1979 one family, one child law.
"334" as a novel is worth persevering with, try not to let the nonlinear narrative and future setting distract from what is a well constructed social commentary.
1. It is billed as a novel, but it is more a collage or mosaic novel, constructed out of a series of connected stories and novellas that Disch published around 1971-72. Publication was mostly in _New Worlds Quarterly_ and Samuel R. Delany's _Quark_, original anthologies geared towards New Wave fiction that did not receive incredibly widespread distribution.
2. The long section originally published as the novella "334" is written in a decidedly non-linear style--the narrative jumps back and forth in time. This can be a little unsettling if not read with care and attention. As a whole, the work is fairly "literary" (for the tastes of science fiction readers, anyway).
3. The story is at times fairly down beat, if not actually depressing. This isn't a "pink-and-white bunny rabbit" story. :-)
So it's not a conventional novel. Still, looked at as a collection of stories, this book is great. The stories "Angouleme," "Bodies," "Emancipation," and "334" are each among Disch's finest work at this length. Highly recommended for those with a taste for this sort of thing.
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