Take a photo of a barcode or cover
108 reviews for:
The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States
Jeffrey Lewis
4.19 AVERAGE
108 reviews for:
The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the United States
Jeffrey Lewis
4.19 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Any time the author strays from rote description of a timeline of events, for example direct quotes from survivors or imagined tweets from Donald Trump, the results are laughably horrible. Here's what a witness to and survivor of a nuclear attack in Virginia had to say:
The houses on both sides of the railroad were burning. I thought I was going to die there. It was such an awful experience.
If this topic interests you, go with Nuclear War: A Scenario.
The houses on both sides of the railroad were burning. I thought I was going to die there. It was such an awful experience.
If this topic interests you, go with Nuclear War: A Scenario.
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Frightening in its possibility. How I hope that some of the governmental antics are not true, but fear that they are. A well written speculative story. His incorporation of real survivor voices keeps it shockingly real and touching.
dark
tense
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
No
The frame story of "The 2020 Commission Report" is the eponymous title: a dry congressional report on the fictional North Korean attacks. But within the monotonous report are deeply human stories of people experiencing immense pain and suffering. At least that's the idea.
What we get is the worst of both worlds, a sense of humanity that is out of place and lacks focus. The characters should be the fulcrum of any speculative fiction, but the only character I can even remember is Donald Trump. And that's only because he was different. There are a lot of good ideas, but the chapters are way too short, and the framing is far too clunky.
What we get is the worst of both worlds, a sense of humanity that is out of place and lacks focus. The characters should be the fulcrum of any speculative fiction, but the only character I can even remember is Donald Trump. And that's only because he was different. There are a lot of good ideas, but the chapters are way too short, and the framing is far too clunky.
I really enjoyed this, a lot more than I thought I would. It can be a bit dry at the beginning until you get in the swing of things, but it's wildly interesting and surprisingly well researched and cited. The author carefully considered real sources and current information we have when forming his conclusions and building this fictional but plausible scenario so this almost doesn't feel like speculative fiction. The only qualms I have are that occasionally lines were repeated, almost verbatim, which read weird and the last 'statement' from the fictionalized Trump may come across as a bit heavy-handed. Otherwise an engrossing and weirdly entertaining read.