Outlaw School

by Rebecca Ore

Nominated for the 2000 James Tiptree Jr. Memorial AwardIn as gray, industro-technical future of protective shackles and slowed ideas, Jayne wants to be respectable and conform. But conformity means... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0380792508
• ISBN13: 9780380792504
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Harper Voyager
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A future you can almost see coming these days . . .

Consider an American society a couple generations from now in which teachers must be licensed to teach only a prescribed curriculum, and in which unlicensed teachers are jailed. A society in which ideas are copyrighted and media content is carefully controlled for the socioeconomic class it's directed at, enforced by the Gestapo-like News Agency (don't want to make the lower classes unhappy with their lot in life, after all). A society in which you inherit your parents' social standing, which also determines your allowed education level and career choices, in which prostitution is licensed as a social safety valve, in which most black people have apparently been "resettled," in which cadets from the Citadel in Charleston are allowed to kill prostitutes for professional practice, in which you can be implanted with an electronic movement-restriction monitor for offenses ranging from multiple traffic tickets to justifiable homicide, and where the only successful candidates for national office are carefully tailored data constructs ("meat" candidates only run for local office, where personal contact is still useful). Where euthanasia is readily available to the retarded or convicted and lower-class fetuses are aborted "for their own good," and creativity and innovation are allowed only when it's to the benefit of corporate shareholders. That's the thoroughly depressing background of this story of the life of Jayne, from childhood with a mother who encourages her to at least attempt suicide to atone for being bad, to getting pregnant as a teenager in an attempt to get off "school drugs" (just another way to control rebellious students, and the drugs also damage the genes to prevent troublemakers from breeding) which she was forced to take because of her uncontrolled curiosity and desire to learn class-inappropriate things. Her teenage sister joins the Judicious (or "Judas") Girls, who have given up an eye, replaced by a spy camera in order to monitor those around them and also (they hope) to ensure their own safety and help them be "good" girls (and they have to take an oath of virginity, but a hymen can be reconstructed surgically if necessary). She goes on to a lifetime of illegal teaching (improved English and computer skills) of those who want to "test up" to a better job license, to being busted for it and finally to old age as a prison parolee in a world that seems to have improved a bit -- and in which she has become something of a folk hero to the young. This isn't really the sort of novel you can "enjoy" but it makes a great impression. The theme is quite different from Ore's earlier "Becoming Alien" trilogy but her simple narrative style pulls you in and makes you pay attention. The message, too, is clear: Too much safety is dangerous. And if in doubt, defy authority!

If You Like To Question Society, This Is The Book for You

Ore's Outlaw School is an intricately woven blanket following the life of Jayne, a woman living in a world where lies are passed as truth and the "real" truth is hidden at all costs. This book is very enjoyable for its quickly-changing environment and its strong development of its characters. There is a strong contrast between the straightforwardness of Jayne's character (even her problems are clean-cut, with one good and one bad choice; she never faces the gray choice) and the complexity of other characters. For example, Jayne's continually fighting a battle between the presented truth and the "real" truth. Once Mick, her teenage lover, tells Jayne that she can't be monitored when purchasing a pregnancy test (which was a threat, according to her society), she continually sees the lies which are presented as truths to herself. She no longer seems to be confused by facts; if they were presented to her by society, they were wrong. Society, according to her, never told the truth; everyone deserves to be told the truth.However, other characters do not agree with this, creating a gray area which Jayne avoids. They are happy living in lies, and once they know they are being lied to, they are unhappy.Jayne also fights a continual battle in which she must decide whether to volunteer for suicide or continue living. However, in her mind, she could never commit suicide. She insists that she will never commit suicide, that she will survive no matter what. However, Suzanne throws herself into situations where she is likely to die; in the end, she never really desires death. She lives her life in the gray, complicating herself with dreams of ending her life as a dominatrix and her desire to continue living. Suzanne also lives in the gray because while she is a dominatrix in sexual positions, she has very little control over her own life. She is not always strong, while Jayne is always sure of her choices, showing a certain amount of personal strength. She is one of the more ambiguous characters that presents herself in Jayne's black-and-white world.Ore's distopian view of the future, where the hero is an outlaw, is akin to that of Shockwave Rider and Neuromancer. However, while technology is a strong theme and Jayne fights a battle against technology, Outlaw School's main focus is not on technology, making it different from the average cyberpunk novel. Most of the text focuses on characterization. Ore's strongpoint is her ability to create realistic characters with intricate personalities. For example, Jayne is presented as someone with a troubled, haunting past that will never leave her. Throughout the book, different aspects of her past continually mix with her present. No matter how far she travels from home, the past still haunts her; she can never leave it behind. For example, when she moves to South Carolina, she goes to a funhouse with Suzanne and relives the painful experience that changed her life forever. She relives it over and

What happens when education becomes a crime?

Have you ever wondered about a world where just looking up a concept on the Internet could get you arrested? Or that sharing information with others would make you a criminal? The most interesting concept in Ore's book is the way she shows how society enforces its own unjust laws, perpetuating the system so that the system doesn't have to put forth any effort-- we do it to ourselves (through the Judas girls, especially). At the end, we get just enough hope to feel okay, but not so much it feels like a fairy-tale come true. This is a world that "could be" our own, with a few tweaks here and there "For our own protection." The writing is good, the characters round and well-drawn. I can't decide whether this is a feminist utopia or dystopia-- and maybe, since nowhere is it so black-and-white that it's easy, that is the best way for it to be.

Clever and well-written

Ore presents her version of a not-too-implausible future. All information and knowledge is under strict copyright and how much one has access to is determined by their authorized social rank. Computer programs run against "meat" polliticians. Society gives out medication and even surgery like candy to children with undesirable traits. The book's heroine is Jayne, a middle class kid with unconcerned parents. Alienated at school and showing a thirst for knowledge undesirable for her class, her school prescribes her mind-bending, behavior-modifying drugs. To get off them, she allows herself to be impregnated, which causes even more rejection and disapproval from her society until she is institutionalized. Bitter and enraged by her conformist society, an older Jayne joins an outlawed teacher syndicate, teaching such banned information as the psychology and computer systems to all of society's bottom feeders in the hopes that they can improve their lives through the education society feels it best they not have. This book is a perfect mix of the Bell Jar and 1984. Ore merges a surreal backdrop and many very believable characters, easy to be concerned about. The previously mentioned concept about computer programs running against people for government positions is particularly clever. If we are accepting of our leaders being so obviously coached for public appeal and conformed to the establishment of parties, why not vote for a machine? The situations faced in this book are not only faced by denizens of the early twenty-second century but by all whom hear the first period bell Monday morning. It's honestly the best new book I have read in many, many moths.

A bleak look at the future earth

Middle class Jayne knows what is expected of her by society. Conformity is the name of the game for girls like Jayne if she wants a "happy" life one-day with an all seeing spouse. Her legal alternative is state control drugs to keep her from thinking. Her other option is becoming a Judas girl. However, instead Jayne becomes pregnant and is sent to a rehabilitation center where wayward girls are mentally placed in Cyberia. Jayne wants nothing to do with legal society and escapes into the OUTLAW SCHOOL, where teaching occurs without a state-sanctioned license. If caught by the News Agency wing of the government, Jayne and ilk will need rehabilitation for committing such a terrible crime against the state. If OUTLAW SCHOOL seems like the heir apparent to Huxley's 1984, it is. The story line is grim as society is totally class bound with no hope for non-elite talented risk takers. Jayne is a fabulous protagonist who dares to dream. The alumni, staff, and students of the OUTLAW SCHOOL add to the overall harsh depressing landscape by acting as a counterpoint to the acceptable norms of society. Not for everyone because the plot is somber gray, Rebecca Ore paints a hellish technological future with upper class big brother in full control.Harriet Klausner