Read It, Love It

I finished reading Tony Vigorito's Just a Couple of Days about a week ago. It's taken me that long to really digest all of the things it made me contemplate. The overall theme is one that I think is especially timely: when you strip away society and the modes of definition, we are all the same.

Using a slightly frightening tale of bio-warfare gone terribly wrong, Vigorito demonstrates what life would become without the use of words. Instead of being a post-apocalyptic nightmare, it twists and delivers a smack to the human race that is desperately needed. Without words to communicate, humans evolve to a level of understanding and unity that we otherwise would not be able to achieve.

Is it plausible? Probably not, but it drives one to think that maybe something of this nature happening would drive us as a species to accept the fact that we are not so different from one another. The main thing separating us is lack of understanding. If you could clearly communicate your message to everyone else on the planet without having to worry about language or tone or misunderstanding, think of the things that could be accomplished.

The prose flows forth in a beautiful symphony of description and narrative, and there is a lot of irony contained in this story. Overall a great read with short scenes making it great for bedtime reading (you can quickly end a chapter as soon as you start to feel sleepy). A must read if you like fantastical what-ifs.