Reviews

Kızıl Veba by Jack London

shan_wot's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

monica_r_jae's review against another edition

4.0

I read this book fairly quickly over the course of a day. Jack London is one of my faves in a cadre of widely varying authors, and the fact that he, in 1912, wrote a post-apocalyptic book set in 2013 is wild. And that I just discovered this is even wilder. It's so interesting to see how he captures the overarching theme explored even now in TV shows like Revolution and The Walking Dead: the breakdown of our moral code in the face of survival. Many of the scenes in the story, I felt, are reminiscent of scenes in these shows. Clearly, the writer was a man before his time.

betty_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

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

2.5

n_gul's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

salo1996's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

rzgr_kc's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

noonebuthappy's review against another edition

3.0

An interesting read. Probably the oldest human extinction story I've read yet. It kept my interest for the short time it takes to read it, but didn't touch me deeply or anything.

discover's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

beetific's review against another edition

3.0

Super quick read (does this qualify as a novella?) and interestingly enough, my first foray into Jack London (I'm not sure how I've made it this long without getting through The Call of the Wild). I think my rating reflects the fact that there's just so much apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic fiction nowadays that this novel doesn't really present anything "new". I thought the almost total regression of civilization part was really interesting (although not entirely believable that we would have completely descended into caveman-like behavior/speech within three generations) as was the discussion of the biology of the plague. I wasn't really sure what the point of the story was, however, because it felt like the old man was simply recounting his experience of the plague without an end goal- his grandsons didn't really seem to have any intention of taking any nuggets of wisdom from his tale?

It's really cool that Jack London almost exactly predicted the population of the world today almost a hundred years ago, though!!

laura_npeace's review against another edition

5.0

Intriguing and pesimistic.
But someday our civilization is going to fall