Intensive Care (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Janet Frame
- First Published: 1970
- Type of Work: Social criticism/science fiction
- Time of Work: The twentieth century and the unspecified future
- Setting: New Zealand, London, and Melbourne
- Principal Characters: Tom Livingstone, Cissy Everest, Naomi Whyborn, Pearl Torrance, Leonard Livingstone, Peggy Warren, Colin Torrance, Lorna Kimberly, Colin Monk, Milly Galbraith
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism, Science fiction
- Subjects: Family or family life, Politics, Twentieth century, Future, Dreams, Law or legislation, Cancer, War, Death or dying, London, Hell, Letters, Fire, Nuclear warfare or weapons, Animals, Australia or Australians, New Zealand or New Zealanders
- Locales: London, England, Australia, New Zealand, Melbourne, Australia
The Novel
Intensive Care, though divided into three official parts, actually consists of two stories which occur years apart and which are tenuously connected only by a pear tree on Tom Livingstone’s property in Waipori City, New Zealand. The first story, encompassing parts I and 2, chronicles the events experienced by three generations of the Livingstone family; the second part, which occurs sometime after a nuclear war (it is set during King Charles’s reign perhaps it is the not-so-distant future), describes the implementation of the Human Delineation Act, which...
[The entire page is 2162 words long]
