The Last Book in the Universe

The Last Book in the Universe (2000) is a science fiction novel by Rodman Philbrick. Set in a cyberpunk dystopia, its protagonist and narrator is a teenage boy named Spaz who suffers from epilepsy.

Plot summary

The story is set in a post-disaster, dystopia future city, called The Urb, which has been disturbed by an earthquake known as "The Big Shake". The Urb is plagued by poverty, thieves, gang warfare, and the use of mind probes(such as sexbos,trendies,and Eden life), which are analogous to hard drugs and which enable users to temporarily escape their harsh lives through images. Books are a thing of the past and reading and writing are lost arts which the vast majority of the population ignores. Genetically improved people, called "proovs," live across the world in a city called Eden, with a beautiful society, food and water. Spaz is a 15-year-old boy who can't use mindprobes because of his epilepsy and whose adoptive family has abandoned him because they feared the symptoms of his epilepsy. Spaz runs errands for Billy Bizmo, the leader/boss of his "gang", in a section of The Urb. On one of his errands, Spaz is sent to rob Ryter, a very old man who possesses the lost arts of literature. Spaz soon meets Little Face, a five year old orphan with no one to care for him and throughout the book only says the word "Chox" because he doesn't know how to speak, and Lanaya, a proov who charitably gives out food. At first, Spaz is very hostile towards Ryter, but Ryter understands Spaz's situation and does his best to help him, offering no resistance when Spaz arrives to steal Ryter's meager possessions . Eventually Spaz learns that Bean, his beloved stepsister, is dying of a sickness. Ryter and Little Face accompany Spaz on a journey to find Bean. The trio starts by traveling through a large, broken water pipe that leads to other latches. Along the way, they pass through latches controlled by various other bosses, having adventures along the way. At one of the latches which is ruled by the Monkey Boys gang, they find that the leader Mongo the Magnificent is dying and Ryter convinces the Tek boss to take his place. At the next latch the group sees the entire latch burning and find Lanaya being attacked. She is rescued by Spaz and Ryter and she joins them on their journey. They start traveling towards the latch where Bean lives. Eventually the story's heroes find Bean, who is dying of leukemia. Lanaya decides to take Bean to Eden, along with Spaz, Ryter, and Little Face, and soon they arrive at Lanaya's contributors', or parents', house. At this point in the novel, it is shown that Lanaya is a special proov who has been bred to eventually lead Eden, and so she has rights and privileges that other proovs do not. They take Bean to a proov hospital and she is cured of her sickness using genetic surgery. Ryter and Spaz, and Little Face enjoy the paradise of Eden, being unfamiliar with grass, a blue sky, fish in a stream, and apples, among other things. Some time later Ryter, Spaz, and Bean are thrown out of Eden because the elders who rule over Eden decide they are unacceptable, even though Bean is extremely smart, having beaten one of Lanaya's contributors in chess. The elders of Eden refuse to accept that someone from the Urb could naturally be better than a proov in any way. Little Face is secretly adopted by Lanaya's contributors. Lanaya reveals to the elders that the mindprobes, which cause so much damage to the people who use them, come from Eden, and so all the mindprobes throughout The Urb are deactivated, causing rioting and anarchy outside Eden. Bean is deposited at her home, and Ryter and Spaz are returned to theirs. Back at Spaz's home latch Ryter is blamed for the deactivation of the mindprobes and is Wheeled and killed, while Spaz has an epileptic seizure. Before his death, Ryter tells Spaz that he is the last book in the universe. Billy Bizmo, the leader of Spaz's latch, tells him that he is his father and that his mother died at his birth.

The story ends with Lanaya sending Spaz a message about how it's getting better in Eden and how she believes they can fix it all in time. Spaz takes on the name Ryter, continuing his work, writing the last book in the universe using a device that writes while he talks. The book was denied use in a California school because the area had been having gang problems.

Characters

Spaz-The Narrator,He is a teenager who along with the help of RYTER, LITTLE FACE, and LANAYA goes through an adventure braking many laws to save her baby sister, he may have feelings for Lanaya.

Ryter(secondary character)- He is a gummie who writes his adventures down and helps Spaz save his little sister, BEAN.

Little Face (secondary character)-He is a 5 year old that lives in the stackbox alone and survives by himself. He helps SPAZ get BEAN and can't say anything but chox.

Lanaya(secondary character)- She is a proov that helps Spaz save Bean for the pure feeling of adventure.

Bean-She is a little girl that is really sick and is about to die so Spaz, Ryter and Lanaya go to see her. The daughter of Kay and Charley.

Lotti Getts-Leader-Boss of the vandals latch.

Kay-She is Bean's real mom and Spaz's adoptive mom.

Chode-He is Bean's real dad and Spaz's apotive dad. bean, dousche.

Dictionary

Gummy- Old person.

Chox Bar- Type of candy.

Proov- Genetically improved human.

Latch- A place ruled by a group of people.

Big Shake- Earthquake that destroyed all technology in Urb, leaving it dark, gray, and gloomy.

Tek- a technical security guard

Stunstik- a weapon that delivers an electric shock

The pipe- Tunnel system used to travel water

Latches

Vandals Latch-Ruled by Lotti Getts.

Bangers Latch- Ruled by Billy Bizmo.

Monkey Boys -Ruled by Mongo the Magnificant. and then ruled by Gorm the Great

Latch runners-someone who illegally travels from latch to latch by the pipe(see above)to deliver messages, probes,Etc,Etc.