Scan barcode
emilyf's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Racism, and Ableism
Moderate: Death
Minor: Child abuse
marquettelaree's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
adammuly's review against another edition
4.0
This a really interesting take on the apocalyptic novel. It was strange and ironic reading it during the corona virus pandemic uproar, especially since the book is about a sickness wiping out most of the population.
It is a little slow at first. However, if you get past chapter 6 or 7 the book really picks up and gives some great commentary on society and humanity. In some ways it is a love letter to the earth. It is well worth it! It’s not quite like any other pandemic story I’ve read or watched. I enjoyed it.
It is a little slow at first. However, if you get past chapter 6 or 7 the book really picks up and gives some great commentary on society and humanity. In some ways it is a love letter to the earth. It is well worth it! It’s not quite like any other pandemic story I’ve read or watched. I enjoyed it.
mssunnyskies's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
subparcupcake's review against another edition
1.0
I did not like this, Dawn I am.
Boring. Antiquated. Boring. Asshole character. Boring. Did I mention boring?
Nothing happens. Plot goes no where. Everyone dies on page one... And that's pretty much it. I have no idea what the point of the rest of the pages was.
Main character, Ich, was a pompous douche. I get that it's partially a matter of the time period the book takes place in, but it's also partially a matter of him being a know it all full of himself dick.
And honestly.. The way he was portrayed.. He's around 20 (I think) when the disaster happens. By the end of the book he's an elderly man. His personality? Exactly the same as when he was 20. Meaning? The 20 year old version of Ich is written as a partially senile old man. Considering the fact that Stewart was 65 when he wrote the book, it doesn't surprise me.. I don't think he knew how to write a young man and so Ich came across seeming like he was 50 or 60 rather than 20.
Regardless, this is all beside my point. My point is that I didn't like this book, it was ridiculously boring, and it fills me with rage. So glad to be done with it!
Boring. Antiquated. Boring. Asshole character. Boring. Did I mention boring?
Nothing happens. Plot goes no where. Everyone dies on page one... And that's pretty much it. I have no idea what the point of the rest of the pages was.
Main character, Ich, was a pompous douche. I get that it's partially a matter of the time period the book takes place in, but it's also partially a matter of him being a know it all full of himself dick.
And honestly.. The way he was portrayed.. He's around 20 (I think) when the disaster happens. By the end of the book he's an elderly man. His personality? Exactly the same as when he was 20. Meaning? The 20 year old version of Ich is written as a partially senile old man. Considering the fact that Stewart was 65 when he wrote the book, it doesn't surprise me.. I don't think he knew how to write a young man and so Ich came across seeming like he was 50 or 60 rather than 20.
Regardless, this is all beside my point. My point is that I didn't like this book, it was ridiculously boring, and it fills me with rage. So glad to be done with it!
waynediane's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting in plague destroys mankind on earth. (Book written 1949!) A man survives find others propagates has generations and goes from guns to bow and arrows. Realizes that water is not abundant and plentiful over 40 years. Tribes and going back to the land. Education? The hammer a symbol of power- idol?
lamentconfiguration's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
It wasn't easy to read this book, not at first. Ish annoyed me -- not as much as he might have annoyed other readers in my age group or younger, judging by some of the reviews I've seen, but there were definitely moments -- and I hadn't fully bought into the Great Disaster as a concept, but over time I grew to understand this less as a scientifically- and mechanically-sound study of a post-apocalyptic Earth, but more as a study of Isherwood Williams. A blustery, self-absorbed windbag of a young man who eventually grows into a slightly less blustery, self-absorbed windbag of an old man, much as he would have done whether the world had ended or not. I speak in fondness, now, because I like Ish. He is not particularly "a loveable character", especially now after certain shifts in the collective consciousness, but I like him.
I had a moment of wishing there was a story about the Black family he'd encountered in the South instead of this so-called "intellectual" who briefly imagined himself lording over them (christ), but I realise that that story probably does exist now; it isn't 1949 anymore, and plenty of remarkable science fiction from the perspectives of people of colour is but a google search away. This is a time-capsule of a book, and is honest in its presentation. That will chafe, certainly, but I don't think it takes away from the value of this story, and the questions that turn over and over in Ish's mind. It was interesting to muse on whether I -- as far removed from Ish's experience as another American could be -- would suffer the same shortsightedness he did, or whether some other kind of shortsightedness would befall me, or whether I would even survive at all.
I am fond of this book, in the same way I am fond of movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I don't fully understand these kinds of protagonists -- again, being far removed from their experience, a spectator to their internal worlds -- and sometimes they seem dusty and eye-rollingly obtuse from my perspective, but they're all right.
I had a moment of wishing there was a story about the Black family he'd encountered in the South instead of this so-called "intellectual" who briefly imagined himself lording over them (christ), but I realise that that story probably does exist now; it isn't 1949 anymore, and plenty of remarkable science fiction from the perspectives of people of colour is but a google search away. This is a time-capsule of a book, and is honest in its presentation. That will chafe, certainly, but I don't think it takes away from the value of this story, and the questions that turn over and over in Ish's mind. It was interesting to muse on whether I -- as far removed from Ish's experience as another American could be -- would suffer the same shortsightedness he did, or whether some other kind of shortsightedness would befall me, or whether I would even survive at all.
I am fond of this book, in the same way I am fond of movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I don't fully understand these kinds of protagonists -- again, being far removed from their experience, a spectator to their internal worlds -- and sometimes they seem dusty and eye-rollingly obtuse from my perspective, but they're all right.
jacqw8's review against another edition
5.0
I liked reading a book that focused more on the long-term aftermath of an apocalypse, rather than the apocalypse itself or the short-term effects. Very thought provoking and raised interesting questions about how humanity would recover from a devastating event, and if we are equipped to.
frathousereads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Incredibly dull, briefly interesting, and then a meandering stroll to another boring vista.
cmrogers03's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0