review
This entertaining dystopian novel gets readers thinking about the perils of a world that privileges technological solutions over human autonomy – a world that is alarmingly close at hand.
The year is 2052 in the Federal Republic of Europe. The ‘optimal wellbeing economy’ ensures that everyone has a job that offers them maximum satisfaction and provides the greatest benefit to society. Robots are replacing humans in many areas of life and technological surveillance is increasing. Samson Freitag is a life coach whose job is to analyse applicants and match them with their perfect job within this highly organised society. An officious man, Samson is obsessed with collecting enough ‘social points’ to secure a promotion. He is also famous among the life coaches for determining that Ercan Böser – now leader of the up-and-coming Optimiser Party – should become a politician. But Freitag is about to discover that his perfect society might not be so perfect after all.
The Optimisers takes popular themes of dystopian fiction and weaves a story that is fresh and exciting, full of unexpected insights about the future ramifications of technological progress and state interference in individual lives.
All recommendations from Spring 2018