Imagine: 35,000,000 people living in New York City. Imagine: water is so scarce in the city that it is rationed, and needs to be collected and carried home in containers. Imagine a home that may be one shared room, or a place on the stairs, or a seat in an abandoned car. This is the world imagined by Harry Harrison in his 1966 book, Make Room! Make Room!
While Harrison's dystopian novel may be considered a classic by some, it is however remembered mostly for being the foundation of a classic dystopian movie: Soylent Green. As a matter of fact, I'd never heard of the novel until I rewatched Soylent Green. When I read the book, I saw the relationship with the movie, but the perspective on the consequences of overpopulation differs between the two. Soylent Green carries the logical implications of scarcity to a more extreme outcome.
The starting point for both movie and novel is overpopulation. Each paints a grim picture of a world in which there are more people than resources to support them. Where the film diverges from the book is the extremes to which authority goes in order to deal with the population pressure. (Film review to come shortly. Right now I will focus on the book.)
The story begins in a cramped, New York City living space. Detective Rusch wakes to a city baking in a heat wave. In one paragraph the circumstance of Rusch's life is established. He has lived in the same room for seven years. His bed sheets are dirty ("gritty"). He keeps time with a scratched wristwatch. The watch is on a chair, not a table, so furniture is sparse. He hears his roommate, Sol--separated by a thin partition--pedaling on a stationary bike, which serves as a generator.
As the day progresses we realize that Rusch and Sol have it good. They have a room, crackers, a refrigerator (fueled by Sol's generator/bicycle), and a weird margarine that has apparently 'turned'. They have these things because Rusch is employed. While his job involves investigating crimes, a large part of his time is spent in crowd control.
Riots and protests are common. When the rationed water is shut off, people riot. When the manufactured food product known as soylent green is unavailable, people riot. Everything is rationed. Everyone has a ration card.
Soon we meet another character, Billy Chung, who will, in a sense, drive the plot of the novel forward. Billy Chung manages to steal a box of soylent steaks during a riot. He exchanges the solyent steaks for ten dollars and with that he bribes his way into being a messenger.
His first assignment takes him to the apartment of a powerful, rich, figure, Mike. Billy is tempted by the riches he sees. He returns to the apartment to steal, but ends up killing Mike. The basic plot elements of the story are in place now.
Rusch must investigate Mike's murder. Billy has to run away. As Rusch investigates the crime, powerful politicians are drawn into the investigation because of the possible implications of Mike's death.
This is the broad outline of the story, though there are subplots. Shirl, for example, is the woman who lives with Mike. She lives as a paid escort. Whenever she goes out, she is protected from the crowds and criminals by Tab, Mike's bodyguard.
These two secondary characters serve to reinforce the book's message that everyone is scrambling to survive.
Rusch must keep his job or he and Sol will find themselves without a place to live. Billy Chung turns to thievery because he and his family cannot live on the meager resources available to them. Shirl and Tab are desperate to keep their positions or they too will be out on the street.
It is a grasping miserable existence that everyone in the city must endure, except the few privileged who ride around in pedicabs and who live in sleek high rises.
What happens? Does Billy get away? Does Tab find a new job? Does Rusch solve the crime? It almost doesn't matter. What matters is what each of these characters does to make way for themselves in a city where making way involves basic survival skills.
*Harry Harrison at the 2005 Worldcon in Glasgow. Photo credit:Szymon Sokó. Used under [CC 3.0 license](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harry_Harrison_2005.jpg).*Harry Harrison, the author, is not shy about promoting his agenda. Birth control is essential. Without it, the world is looking at a future that resembles the scene in Make Room! Make Room! Harrison also indirectly addresses the issues of climate change and the environment.
There are droughts, water shortages, farmers blowing up reservoirs that supply the cities because they need that water to irrigate their crops. Nobody is sure what goes into the manufactured food products sold as 'soylent orange' 'soylent yellow' and 'soylent green'. The yellow and orange are supposed to be derived from some sort of vegetation. Soylent green is the only source of protein. It is said to be made from plankton.
People are starving. Birth control is not supported by the government, and yet a common illness for children is kwashiorkor, a nutritional disease caused by a diet profoundly deficient in protein. It is common for a woman to bear ten children and have several die in infancy. In the book one woman carries her infant around and declares his soft belly is due to "kwash", which she recognizes. The government gives her one dollop of peanut butter every day. This, the peanut butter, she gives away to her husband.
At some point in the book the child does not appear anymore. The suggestion is that he has succumbed to malnutrition.
Make Room! Make Room! is not a feel good book, but it is brilliantly written. Maybe because I watched the film first, I did have the sense that the story could have been streamlined...which is what happens in the film. I guess every character does serve a purpose in delivering the author's message, but I did feel the story would have had more punch with less digressions.
A startling aspect of the book is that the year given for the events that occur is 1999. Harrison apparently envisioned such a rapid decline in the quality of life and such a population explosion that he felt comfortable offering 1999 as a temporal setting. He suggests at the beginning of the book that by the turn of the century the world would have 8 billion people. Today the estimated population is actually 8.3 billion, and climbing.
Harrison also estimated that New York City would have 35,000,000 people. It is estimated to have approximately 8,585,000 (July of 2025). The Coalition for the Homeless estimates that upwards of 350,000 people in the city are without homes--this number includes those who have to double up with family or others in order to be sheltered.
Was Harry Harrison prescient when he wrote Make Room! Make Room!? If I look around I'd have to say he had insight, but he missed the mark by at least a decade.
I do recommend this book. It is certainly thought provoking and this author knows how to tell a good story. That's the best recommendation I can make about any author.
The book is available at Amazon as a paperback for $12.44 and as a Kindle for $7.99. It is also probably available at a local library, because it is considered a classic.
I adapted the image from a photo by luthfi alfarizi on Unsplash
Thank you for reading. Hive on!
