Rating: 
Summary: 334- A Look Into the Future
Review: 334 is a science fiction novel written by Thomas Disch. The book 334 looks into how lives may possibly be in the near future. It describes the lives of several living individuals in New York City, in the 2020's, and who all live in the same building number 334. The reading goes back and forth between different characters lives. I found it a little bit confusing sometimes switching from one characters life to another, but on the otherhand it kept me interested in the reading. I thought that this novel took the idea of government control to the extreme. It described a type of rating system that decided if an individual or couple scored high enough to be allowed to have children. The government had hired officials that would counsel people and give them advice on ways they could raise their score so they would be allowed to have children. Another interesting thought I got from reading this novel was how open people seemed to be about their sexuality. Everyone seemed to be accepting of homosexuality and bisexuality. I most certainly thought that this novel should be considered as science fiction. It seems very out of the ordinary to me that the government in the United States will someday regulate who can and who can't have children. I found it interesting that Disch was trying to envision how drastically lives may change in the future and how a country based on freedom may not be in the future.
Rating:
Summary: 334- A Look Into the Future
Review: 334 is a science fiction novel written by Thomas Disch. The book 334 looks into how lives may possibly be in the near future. It describes the lives of several living individuals in New York City, in the 2020's, and who all live in the same building number 334. The reading goes back and forth between different characters lives. I found it a little bit confusing sometimes switching from one characters life to another, but on the otherhand it kept me interested in the reading. I thought that this novel took the idea of government control to the extreme. It described a type of rating system that decided if an individual or couple scored high enough to be allowed to have children. The government had hired officials that would counsel people and give them advice on ways they could raise their score so they would be allowed to have children. Another interesting thought I got from reading this novel was how open people seemed to be about their sexuality. Everyone seemed to be accepting of homosexuality and bisexuality. I most certainly thought that this novel should be considered as science fiction. It seems very out of the ordinary to me that the government in the United States will someday regulate who can and who can't have children. I found it interesting that Disch was trying to envision how drastically lives may change in the future and how a country based on freedom may not be in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Hyperfiction circa 1974
Review: A novel that has forces us to examine our world by scaring us with what it might become. Although that sentence can be used to describe any novel in the dystopian theme, 334 is a work that stands out with its seductive realism that dares us to find a way this isn't plausible. Disch is one of the few lyrical novelists writing sci-fi, and or that we are blessed. 334 is disjointed almost to absurdity in the post-modernist fashion, but Disch does not idly throw his readers through time and space. This is, debatably, the first work that uses this style for more than an attention-getter, suspense tool, or bookend. Disch fleshes his characters to the reader with a logic and style that would only be hampered by linearity. A superb read-and-think.
Rating:
Summary: Hyperfiction circa 1974
Review: A novel that has forces us to examine our world by scaring us with what it might become. Although that sentence can be used to describe any novel in the dystopian theme, 334 is a work that stands out with its seductive realism that dares us to find a way this isn't plausible. Disch is one of the few lyrical novelists writing sci-fi, and or that we are blessed. 334 is disjointed almost to absurdity in the post-modernist fashion, but Disch does not idly throw his readers through time and space. This is, debatably, the first work that uses this style for more than an attention-getter, suspense tool, or bookend. Disch fleshes his characters to the reader with a logic and style that would only be hampered by linearity. A superb read-and-think.
Rating: 
Summary: 3.34 stars out of 5
Review: After reading "On Wings of Song" I was thoroughly impressed and motivated to investigate more of Thomas M. Disch's work, so I went on to try "334". I had no idea that I was headed for such a tough read. Like "On Wings of Song", "334" deals with a near future America that is divided and somewhat autocratic."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.
Rating:
Summary: The future, darkly
Review: As futures go, this one isn't particularly pleasant to read about, and doubtless some of this follows from Disch's choice to portray the mercilessly-oppressed lower-class citizens of New York City's Lower East Side. They're not particularly likable, lovable, or interesting, and you'll be moved to moments of frank disgust as you contemplate what they're missing. The interest, then, must lie elsewhere. For this reviewer, it was found in the web of inferences about Disch's proposed future society - if Milly the airline stewardess/high school sex counselor makes her husband bear her child, what does it say about her philosophies and priorities and the way they are shaped by economic necessities? This seems to be Disch's point, sometimes; other times, especially during the contrived sex scenes, it's not clear at all what he's getting at. And he's hardly a master wordsmith, or even more than a barely-competent prose-stylist, so you have to fight through some rather barren language to get at these things. However, the heart of SF is idea. So if you care to travel for a moment into a carefully-imagined future world and experience the sense of a time-traveler displaced from your habitual norms, this book will bring you the ideas you need!
Rating:
Summary: Once again-Extraordinary
Review: Disch is truly a master. This may be his best work, better even than his better-known Camp Concentration. David Pringle was right when he selected this as one of the 100 best science fiction novels, and he was right again when he said it was Disch's masterpiece, a novel of the forgotten people, and a moving work. This one will keep on the edge of your seat, but that's not all. Ursula K. LeGuin said this about Camp Concentration but I think it is better applied to Disch's most acclaimed novel. "If you read it, you will be changed."
Rating:
Summary: Not the best Disch on the table, but tasty in its own way...
Review: Disch takes us through the lives of several people living at 334 11th Street, an apartment complex contolled by MODICOM; a modern day welfare system of social case workers.
The time frame jumps between 2020 and 2026, and especially in Part III the time frames jump from chapter to chapter, even with the same characters. It got a little frustrating when something would happen to one of them, and suddenly you are back in a time frame with this same character that you read about already, 50 pages ago. Some of Disch's characters are fully formed and multi-dimensional, but unfortunatly those are not the ones we get to see the most of.
Mainly, the story follows the Hansen's and the people they know and come in contact with in 334. Despite not being the best story Disch has written, the prose and poetry of his writing is still very much present, and at only 250 pages this is still a good addition to your reading pile.
Rating:
Summary: Thank God It's Back In Print
Review: I read this book years ago, and loved it. It's not for the faint of heart, or for anyone looking for a fun summer book, but WOW! Bring along your brain to read this one, it'll pay off. It's really 6 closely interconnected stories about New York if the future goes well. People have a place to live and food to eat, but the society in deteriorating socially, intellectually, and individually. 334 is possibly the finest Science-Fiction novel to come out of the 70s, and one of the finest novels period. It's been out of print for more than a decade. Thank God it's coming back.
Rating:
Summary: A well-observed sci-fi book..
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Even tough sometimes pretentious, this book is really vivid in the description of the desperate lives of a bunch of humans in the future...
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