1996 Paperback – March 1, 2007

I have always liked reading Gloria Naylor's work, so about a year after 1996 was published, I got a copy. I have since bought a replacement copy. From the first page to the last, I was captivated; however, like her other works, such as Linden Hills, this is a novel that can be read on many different levels. Firstly, the narrator is named "Gloria Naylor" and, at times, it is tempting to confuse the narrator and the author, but you must resist this urge. Secondly, it is a novel that is rich in literary and cultural allusions from George Orwell's iconic novel, 1984, (a cat that the narrator kills is named "Orwell"), to conspiracy theorists of every stripe, like those we might meet in a Philip K. Dick story, to the National Security Agency spying on American citizens, and the author's own works. This further blurs the line between fact and fiction; nevertheless, Naylor's novel, 1996 is far too carefully crafted to be a poorly veiled autobiography. If you like a novel that you might read during a boring airport layover or one that you would gladly reread a couple of times a year to discover something new with each reading, then Gloria Naylor's 1996 is a novel for you.

I could not put this book down. This is the first book by Gloria Naylor I've read -- may she R.I.P. I hope it is not the stalking that brought her to an early death last year. Having been put in this program in 1985, I can attest the V2K technology was used on me and my experience was similar to Ms. Naylor's. The voices occurred only when I was in my apartment kitchen. So I intuitively knew I wasn't crazy, although I felt I was going crazy. I moved to another apartment, and the voices stopped.Like Ms. Naylor, I also was put in this program out of vengeance...at first. It is the betrayal by friends, family and people you would not expect, such as employers, landlords, church leaders and members, doctors and dentists, that is the most heartbreaking about being a target of this crime against humanity. No one expects they will reach adulthood and then experience they are not allowed to live their life left alone and to pursue their own happiness without hurting others. But, rather, are spied on, stalked, gossiped about, ostracized, smear campaigned, photographed in public (and perhaps in private), property vandalized and/or stolen, vehicle sabotaged, and your conversations and activities reported on 24/7 365.People who participate in gang stalking are the lowest of the low. They are cowards, weak, with no moral backbone. Google the Milgram experiment that was conducted at Yale University in 1961 if you are not familiar with it. 60% of the participants in the experiment would bend over for "authority."Today many gang stalking victims, or "targeted individuals," are coming out with their stories on the internet and youtube. I believe Ms. Naylor's book is the first published on the subject from first-hand experience as a target. What I find disturbing about some of the self-proclaimed experts on gangstalking and mind control is they have stolen Naylor's ideas and taken them as their own without giving her credit. This only serves to discredit targeted individuals who deal with this torture daily. We don't need liars speaking on our behalf. We have had enough lying already.I ask those who are self-proclaimed experts in the field of gangstalking, by their own research, or gangstalking experience to please give credit where credit is due. Don't take others' ideas to make them your own. There are a couple of experts today who are repeating Ms. Naylor's conclusions and pretending they are their ideas.I highly recommend this book if you are a victim of gangstalking and mind control, or know someone who says they are a victim. This program is very real and is reaching epic proportions. I can't say I'm all that shocked that the number of targets is growing yearly.This hideous, disgusting, low-life program is also being conducted by public-private contractors, corporations, as well as the FBI and former military. It's not only the NSA. By having more cooks in the kitchen so-to-speak, it's more difficult to find the culprits. I believe this is planned that way -- to confuse and obfuscate.The more facts are brought to light, the better our society will be. But as it stands, people are being dehumanized -- both the targets AND the perpetrators. Wake up, perps! We don't all live forever. What is going to be waiting for you when your life comes to its inevitable end?

I completely believe Gloria Naylor's account and do not suspect she had some episodic break with reality. This book clearly demonstrates the abuse of power than can happen when weak, undeserving and unscrupulous persons are given extra-judicial authority to interfere with the lives of law-abiding Americans.

Government Mind Control Experimentation is real and here is something you should check out besides Ms Naylor's book:Goto [...]This is the website to the US Library of Congress. Goto the column marked Legislation and click on the link for Search Bills and Resolutions. In the Simple Search box, make sure the radio buttons for Full texts of Bills and Resolutions and Bill Number are selected. In the Column marked Select Congress select (107th 2001-2002). In the line under Enter Search enter HR2977 and click search.What comes up is a bill that was intended to ban certain weapons in space. Read the listing of the weapons meant to be banned...especially this portion here:II) through the use of land-based, sea-based, or space-based systems using radiation, electromagnetic, psychotronic, sonic, laser, or other energies directed at individual persons or targeted populations for the purpose of information war, mood management, or mind control of such persons or populations; or(III) by expelling chemical or biological agents in the vicinity of a person.The bill passed but was so watered down after it did that it lost all original meaning.And Cheryl Welsh who writes a passage in this book is a MC victim's advocate, a victim herself, and an expert on non-lethal weapon's for the United Nations. Want proof? This is what you do. Go to the website for the United Nations Institute for Disarmament research here: [...]Then Clink on the link that says Launch of the 2002 Media Guide to Disarmament in Geneva. Click on the link that says Media Guide (you will need acrobat reader to view). Goto page 25 of the Media Guide and you will see Cheryl's name listed as one of several experts.The UN recognizes this phenomenon, it's not conspiracy theory it's fact.Many of us are suffering from this crap and the government covers it all up. We're human beings, not conspiracy theories, and not garbage to be left to die.

This is a good book but I feel it's a bit over priced.

2009 was my year of reading everything by Gloria Naylor that I hadn't read before (unfortunately I have not been able to track down any short stories but maybe in time). "1996" is probably the weirdest of her novels (let's just call it one). I am torn between admiring Gloria Naylor for her strength battling against all attempts to control her mind or questioning her reliability. It almost feels as if she wants it to be the latter - the way her point of view and that of her perpetrators frequently are just too confirmative of each other. Naylor is a spectacular writer - "Mama Day" is among my all-time favorites - so I suspect that if she wanted to sell this book as unshakable truth, she would not have portrayed herself as someone who heroically sees through everything but would have allowed some space for discrepancies. In any case, "1996" has very intense moments, indeed moments that leave you wondering who really would do what is being done to Naylor in the novel. It is certainly not my favorite of her books but it is certainly worth checking out.