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Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
01/06/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: TOR/Forge. 284 page enlarged paperback. Price: $14.95 (US), $16.95 (CAN). ISBN: 978-0-7653-1885-7. Buy Make Room! Make Room! in the USA - or Buy Make Room! Make Room! in the UK  check out website:www.tor-forge.com
If you ever wanted a book to read that will make you feel as muggy as a hot summer day and be grateful that you live in this reality, try Harry Harrison's 'Make Room! Make Room!' Overcrowded. Underfed. Lack of electrical power. Water only available through a communal street pipe. Regular riots. Under-staffed under-paid over-worked unappreciated police. Scrimping to survive. No, this isn't Baghdad but New York at the turn of the last century.
This is the reality Harrison conceived in 1966 for this classic SF novel just re-released and is required reading for anyone who hasn't read it. The film 'Soylent Green' was based on this book but other than getting the flavour of the scenario opted to go with something that was only mentioned but not described how it was made. It's a shame that no one has thought to do a remake and stay closer to the book. Having said that, if you do compare the two then actors Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson fitted the two key roles to a 'T' no matter which way it went.
The novel shows the life mixed in with the murder of Big Mike O'Brian, a rich city council organiser. Detective Andy Rusch being told to solve it, mostly in his own time, when double duty elsewhere keeps him busy. Normally, if investigations aren't solved in a couple weeks it would have been dropped but pressure from City Hall has Rusch working on it for several months. He takes home Shirl Greene, O'Brian's paid mistress, when she is due to be turfed out. Rusch lives in a small apartment with the elderly Solomon Kahn.
This book is highly atmospheric and the kind of place you would think Frank Miller would have used as a template for his 'Sin City' stories. It's not a world you would choose to live in but as with all things, you learn to get by. Things might be bad today but the worst is always around the corner waiting to kick you in the teeth just in case you don't stay down the first time.
If you only know Harry Harrison from his lighter 'Stainless Steel Rat' books then you're missing a true SF writer's ability when it comes to writing more serious material. It's definitely required reading as it emotionally brings characters to life. Highly recommended.
GF Willmetts
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