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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
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:
Complicated
http://www.lovelylittleshelf.com/2010/06/02/review-world-made-by-hand/
It's been a while since I've read a post-apocalypse novel. I actually ended up enjoying this quite a bit - with a lot of books like this I feel like I'm just rooting for the protagonists to work it all out and fix the world, but with Union Grove it feels more like wanting people to find a new way to live. The ending is a little bit of a disappointment but overall I really enjoyed this.
I talked about this book on Portable Elsewheres:
http://portable-elsewheres.blogspot.com/2014/02/world-made-by-hand-by-james-howard.html
http://portable-elsewheres.blogspot.com/2014/02/world-made-by-hand-by-james-howard.html
loved the book. a interesting spin on how our world may evolve. thanks laura for the recommendation.
I love me some dystopian fiction, even when it drives me crazy with its sentimentality for the "old ways" and forced social structure. World Made By Hand is guilty of both these points at different moments in the book, but is overall a successful piece of speculative fiction about how one small town would cope after the grid goes down and the community becomes an actual community again. Not nearly as jingoistic as One Second After, though some sections of exposition near the beginning bored me to tears with all the irrelevant name dropping of the fake politicians.
What I liked most about Kunstler's approach was the incorporation of a roving religious group with renewed prominence in light of the tragedies and disarray that resulted from society's collapse. I appreciate that he created a complex relationship between the New Faithers and the town instead of pitting them squarely against each other. The villain was a little flat and two dimensional, but I guess in this sort of setting, you have to make some one the outright bad guy. Kunstler's style isn't bland, but it lacks embellishment. His narrator tells the story in a straightfoward manner, without much panache. It suits the novel, though.
Overall, I'd recommend this as an interesting and little more light-hearted look at what our collective future could be.
What I liked most about Kunstler's approach was the incorporation of a roving religious group with renewed prominence in light of the tragedies and disarray that resulted from society's collapse. I appreciate that he created a complex relationship between the New Faithers and the town instead of pitting them squarely against each other. The villain was a little flat and two dimensional, but I guess in this sort of setting, you have to make some one the outright bad guy. Kunstler's style isn't bland, but it lacks embellishment. His narrator tells the story in a straightfoward manner, without much panache. It suits the novel, though.
Overall, I'd recommend this as an interesting and little more light-hearted look at what our collective future could be.
First, the good:
The exploration into the social dynamics of this particular dystopian world was interesting and for the most part seemed believable.
The practical elements of the world- how people survived, what the hazards of a world without government or technology were and how certain hurdles could be overcome was also well done.
I liked the understated but full realized personality of the main character. The secondary characters were not as well done, but I had no complaints.
I found the book well-written and though I didn't find it a quick read, as there was a lot of detail to take in, I also didn't feel like I was plodding through an unending book.
Now, for the bad:
The last fifth of the book took a sudden odd turn, bringing elements into the established world that felt discordant with the rest of the storyline and far too fanciful. The storyline and characters took abrupt turns in odd directions. I almost felt like I was reading a different book...or that the author had finished the book while suffering a hallucinatory fever.
That said, I enjoyed the book even with the weirdness towards the end. Solid 4 Stars UNTIL the last fifth of the book, then maybe a 3-3.5.
The exploration into the social dynamics of this particular dystopian world was interesting and for the most part seemed believable.
The practical elements of the world- how people survived, what the hazards of a world without government or technology were and how certain hurdles could be overcome was also well done.
I liked the understated but full realized personality of the main character. The secondary characters were not as well done, but I had no complaints.
I found the book well-written and though I didn't find it a quick read, as there was a lot of detail to take in, I also didn't feel like I was plodding through an unending book.
Now, for the bad:
The last fifth of the book took a sudden odd turn, bringing elements into the established world that felt discordant with the rest of the storyline and far too fanciful. The storyline and characters took abrupt turns in odd directions. I almost felt like I was reading a different book...or that the author had finished the book while suffering a hallucinatory fever.
That said, I enjoyed the book even with the weirdness towards the end. Solid 4 Stars UNTIL the last fifth of the book, then maybe a 3-3.5.
Gave off some serious misogynistic vibes. Female characters were only there to please/serve the men in the story. Add in lots of hand waving and grumbling about how modern technology makes us weak, and it's a big "no thanks" from me.
Lost a star because the author is a misogynist dick and you can tell from his writing. Otherwise I loved it, even if the ending does veer off in a weird direction.
Kind of boring for the first 50 pages or so. Would’ve been more interesting if the book started with the catastrophes that caused the end of the technology era. I noticed lots of errors where people are asking questions with no question mark.
Told from the perspective of an old man (Robert). There are almost no women or young people in the town (before the New Faithers come), explained by a flu that killed most of them. Almost every character seems to be 50+, with a few under 8. Don’t think it’s realistic that a flu would spare all those old people while killing all the people ages 10-50. All of the women seem to wear dresses or skirts and spend all their time cooking. I can understand women taking a more passive role in society when agriculture becomes the lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean women would want to be dressing like it’s the 1950s. Makes me wonder if the world the author envisions is his fantasy more than his prediction.
Even though things of value are hard to come by in this new world, there seems to be no shortage of alcohol. The single protagonist even has a woman (Jane Ann) coming to him once a week for sex—no fee, no strings attached. Sounds like every man’s fantasy. Most women don’t want to be having sex without pay or commitment, especially women who are as old as her (50s). The author makes it sound like this woman just comes to him because of her own craving for sex. It’d be more realistic if the man was the one making the effort to come and get some. And then another much younger woman (maybe the only one in town) pressures him to let her live with him, and even WANTS to clean up his house—for no pay, no marriage, no commitment! And her cooking is “first rate”! A man’s dream for sure! And she uses “it’s unsafe to be living alone with a child” as an excuse to stay with him, but then says “my daughter and I can stay at your house while you’re gone,” making her alone with her child either way!
And Jane Ann is so sure that Britney will get in Robert’s bed soon, even though they’ve only been living together a couple days. The reason Jane Ann gives is “Women are not moral animals” (219). Ha! The reality is that men want sex way more than women do, that’s why prostitutes exist for MEN’S pleasure! I certainly wouldn’t be jumping in some old man’s bed even if my husband died! But hey, maybe I’m just the most moral human on the planet!
I enjoyed the author’s nonfiction book, “Too Much Magic” much more than this fiction one.
Told from the perspective of an old man (Robert). There are almost no women or young people in the town (before the New Faithers come), explained by a flu that killed most of them. Almost every character seems to be 50+, with a few under 8. Don’t think it’s realistic that a flu would spare all those old people while killing all the people ages 10-50. All of the women seem to wear dresses or skirts and spend all their time cooking. I can understand women taking a more passive role in society when agriculture becomes the lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean women would want to be dressing like it’s the 1950s. Makes me wonder if the world the author envisions is his fantasy more than his prediction.
Even though things of value are hard to come by in this new world, there seems to be no shortage of alcohol. The single protagonist even has a woman (Jane Ann) coming to him once a week for sex—no fee, no strings attached. Sounds like every man’s fantasy. Most women don’t want to be having sex without pay or commitment, especially women who are as old as her (50s). The author makes it sound like this woman just comes to him because of her own craving for sex. It’d be more realistic if the man was the one making the effort to come and get some. And then another much younger woman (maybe the only one in town) pressures him to let her live with him, and even WANTS to clean up his house—for no pay, no marriage, no commitment! And her cooking is “first rate”! A man’s dream for sure! And she uses “it’s unsafe to be living alone with a child” as an excuse to stay with him, but then says “my daughter and I can stay at your house while you’re gone,” making her alone with her child either way!
And Jane Ann is so sure that Britney will get in Robert’s bed soon, even though they’ve only been living together a couple days. The reason Jane Ann gives is “Women are not moral animals” (219). Ha! The reality is that men want sex way more than women do, that’s why prostitutes exist for MEN’S pleasure! I certainly wouldn’t be jumping in some old man’s bed even if my husband died! But hey, maybe I’m just the most moral human on the planet!
I enjoyed the author’s nonfiction book, “Too Much Magic” much more than this fiction one.