Reviews

The Scarlet Plague by Jack London

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maggiebook's review against another edition

3.0

The amazing aspect of the book is that it was written over 100 years ago and the author pretty much nailed what a plague in 2013 would do to the world. Told 60 years after the plague it paints a depressing but believable result.

melinha91's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? N/A

3.0

luna545's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

jackgray's review against another edition

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5.0

“All the world is topsy-turvy, and it has been topsy-turvy ever since the plague.”

badseedgirl's review against another edition

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4.0

I read this novella free courtesy of the Gutenberg Project. It is available here:

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21970/21970-h/21970-h.htm

I have never read [b:The Call of the Wild|1852|The Call of the Wild|Jack London|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1452291694l/1852._SY75_.jpg|3252320]. I have never really felt the urge, but I stumbled upon this book while cruising the Gutenberg Project and I thought "Why not?"

Every time I read a story from this time period (Jack London wrote this story in 1910, and it was first published in 1912) was that it is easy to see why communism, socialism, and other political beliefs adherent to capitalism started to flourish. The working class was described as brutal, sloven, drunkenly, barbaric, undeserving of respect or human dignity. And this was the highest achievement of mankind, the protagonist discussed it when he meets people again, after years of hiding, thinking he was the last man on earth. In the following passage he describes meeting the Bill Chauffeur and his "wife" Vesta Van Warden.

“And so I say to you that you cannot understand the awfulness of the situation. The Chauffeur was a servant, understand, a servant. And he cringed, with bowed head, to such as she. She was a lord of life, both by birth and by marriage. The destinies of millions, such as he, she carried in the hollow of her pink-white hand. And, in the days before the plague, the slightest contact with such as he would have been pollution. Oh, I have seen it. Once, I remember, there was Mrs. Goldwin, wife of one of the great magnates. It was on a landing stage, just as she was embarking in her private dirigible, that she dropped her parasol. A servant picked it up and made the mistake of handing it to her—to her, one of the greatest royal ladies of the land! She shrank back, as though he were a leper, and indicated her secretary to receive it. Also, she ordered her secretary to ascertain the creature's name and to see that he was immediately discharged from service. And such a woman was Vesta Van Warden."

Now I am nor saying Bill Chauffer was a prince, in fact he beat Vesta, and possibly killed her according to our protagonist. But if I had spent my life beaten down and fearful of retribution for the act of handing a dropped object to someone of a higher station, I might be tempted to "get a little back" given the opportunity. I found the protagonist, Professor James Howard Smith to be as unlikable character as the rest of the characters in the story for this reason.

I have to wonder if society would be so diminished in the event of catastrophic plague. In the 60 years since, Professor Smith's grandchildren barely speak in any language, are dressed in fur, and have lost the ability to read or write. I'm not really blaming these kids for being awful people, I blame their parents and grandparents. There would have been books and literature on how to rebuild basics like steam powered machines and farming and husbandry techniques. The domesticated animals were there for re-domestication. This is like the "worst case scenario" if everyone left was too stupid to try and rebuild.

At first I thought "well, you did not feel this way about the movie Threads when you saw it." but I do not think it is an accurate comparison, because everything is still just sitting around. A more apt comparison would be to Stephen King's novel [b:The Stand|149267|The Stand|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1213131305l/149267._SX50_.jpg|1742269].

Apparently this story had a resurgence in popularity in 2020 due to COVID (Of course, what else. Everything in 2020 was because of COVID.)
https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/op-ed/bs-ed-op-0414-london-plague-20200413-zyfseceqkvcljl6v674uqw5dny-story.html
And as usual, I am late to the game.

The story itself was interesting because it tried to tie in the modern scientific theories according to what was known at the time it was written, and discussed the psychological and post traumatic aspect of seeing 99.99% of the population die in a pretty horrifying way. It also ends on a bit of a bummer note, because the narrator sees a future where humanity rebuilds, but will ultimately be destroyed by its own nature.

geekwayne's review against another edition

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4.0

'The Scarlet Plague' by Jack London is a book I was unfamiliar with until Dover brought it out in there Dover Doomsday Classics Series. I found it a really fun read.

Originally written in 1912, the book takes place 60 years after the great plague has wiped out humanity in the distant year of 2013. An old man, called Granser, tells his unruly (and mostly unlearned) grandsons the story of what happened. Apparently Granser was a college professor, but he can't communicate ideas like math or longer vocabulary words with his grandsons because they simply can't or won't comprehend them. We learn that sometimes when the plague comes, the people who take power are the ones we consider to be the least among us, as we see in the cruel and barbaric Chauffeur.

It was fun to see the vision of our present from 100 years ago. The setting is the bay area, where cities are now very far apart, and the remains of civilization are all around, or buried in the shallow sands of the beach. I've read Jack London, but I've never heard of this short novella. I think it holds up pretty well considering when it was written and I recommend it to any fan of dystopian fiction.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Dover Publications and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.