"Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang" by Kate Wilhelm (Science Fiction, minor spoilers)

This novel won the best novel Hugo award in 1977. It is a story that is post-apocalyptic, in which a lot of humanity has been wiped out, due to pollution and disease.

The novel follows what happens to a small group of people living in a valley, and their struggle to survive. This community, deliberately set up for such a purpose, encounters a number of problems, and have to resort to cloning to produce enough people to continue as a viable civilization.

But these clones aren't perfect. Each group of clones feels a strong attachment to his 'brothers' or 'sisters.' This connection is difficult for them to live without. Being separated from their group for any significant amount of time results in emotional trauma, and it proves difficult to undo the damage in some cases.

A lot of these cloned people have an incredible capacity to learn and remember information. But, this ability to absorb and recall information as given isn't all they might need. They have a marked lack of ability to be creative, or improvise when the unexpected occurs.

The society that develops shows a strong bias towards group thinking, and members of the community view individuals as less important than society as a whole.

But, it turns out that one boy, born and raised outside the mainstream of this society, may be the one person who can save this civilization. Mark is, in fact, an individual, and he does have creativity, and can do things like survive on his own outside of the valley.

Attempts to make Mark a part of the community prove troublesome, he plays pranks that cause a lot of consternation. But he proves to be very valuable, because the people need resources they know they'll only find outside the valley. To explore, they'll need Mark's abilities.

This illustrates what seemed, to me, an important theme in this novel. It seemed as if the author was commenting on the conflict between society versus the individual. I also find it curious that these clones, who you could regard as 'mass produced' humans, lack creativity. This is true of other things, like art. 'Mass produced' art is easier to produce than something new and fresh - how many movies are remakes? How much music is repackaging of the same old hits by established bands? But a unique individual can bring creativity and rejuvenate people's thinking in a certain area. Mass production only produces sameness and a kind of by-rote repetition.

Despite Mark's problems, and the conflicts he has with other characters, the novel does end on a note of hope. I don't want to give away too much about the ending, though, because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else.

Some readers have criticized this novel for some scientific implausibility. Wilhelm's description of what happens outside the valley makes it seem unlikely that it would develop as depicted, since she says so much animal life supposedly died out. If that were the case, whole ecosystems including plant life would die out, because of the interdependence of living things. While some of these comments may be true, I don't think they're a serious problem here. The main characters and themes are still well written.

The tone of the book is at times gentle, but often rather sharp; a number of characters go through emotionally difficult events. It's a good read, and a nice example of a book with a strong theme that succeeds in showing it, without ever becoming preachy. The action and dialogue all flow well, and as theme-driven as much of the story is, it never seems intrusive in the narrative.