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neina's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-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? It's complicated
5.0
milos_booknook's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
Despite the intriguing plot, the class-obsessed, condescending, insufferable narrator made this an unenjoyable read. The writing is decent, I enjoyed reading the descriptions of the rural English village along with interesting facts about chicken breeding. One thing Sheriff does really well is capturing the tension building up to the ‘cataclysm’. However, the way the narrator constantly looks down on the working class was infuriating.
jakesheppard's review against another edition
5.0
In this, perhaps more obscure novel, given the large, dyanmic and vibrant wider canon of dystopian fiction, Sherriff imagines a world that is existentially threatened by the Moon; it has been mysteriously knocked from its orbit and the threat of it crashing into Earth, with apocalyptic consequences, looms large.
This book, perhaps from the first ten pages, establishes itself as a 5-star text. The prologue states that the eponymous Manuscript has been recovered from the ruins of Notting Hill by the Royal Abyssinian Society; evidently, the locus of intellectual progress has shifted to the Global South. This subtle way of reflecting the total and absolute inversion of global networks of capital and international relations is an absolutely foundational tenet of future dystopian/sci-fi novels - one of which, The World in Winter by John Christopher, is excellent and innovative in and of itself.
The Hopkins Manuscript is unusually and extremely prescient. It envisions a world where a looming existential threat is met with indifference, apathy and ignorance, only for the ramifications of such a disaster to challenge humanity in a much more egocentric and sophisticated way. In this sense, the reader pulls many allegories from the layered, rich text that flows seemlessly through the pages of the Manuscript. The first allegory that comes to mind is climate change. The Moon's eventual crash-landing into the Atlantic displaces large amounts of water into the low-lying areas of Southern England, and the overcoming of this intial trauma is threatened by the recalibration of both England's ecology and human relations; this is a challenge that is overcome, but only in the narrator's narrow milieu of Beadle and Mulcaster. In the opening sentences of the Manuscript, we learn that only c.700 people remain in London. They live introverted and solipsistic lives because their conceptions of space and time have been shattered.
The second allegory is to war; Hopkins experienced WWI and this contemporaneously was known as The War to End All Wars. Hopkins observed the rise of fascism in continental Europe and the inadequacies of social democracy in challenging it, both internally and internationally. The eventual conflict between the European states over the Moon's resource-rich surface, now accessible as a form of proto-continent, *established* in media the cliche that humans are the real enemy in the wake of existential disaster. In this way, it could be argued that the The Hopkins Manuscript presages what would become the genre of zombie horror. Nearly all forms of apocalyptic zombie media frame other, functional groups of humans as obstacles to the success of human nature over the elements.
The third parallel that springs to mind is Brexit and polarisation of politics. The incumbent Tory government of the United Kingdom, throughout the Brexit process, has evidenced that they see "fairness" and "compromise" as equivolent to national "humiliation", much in the same way the revolutionary English government does towards the end of the novel (p. 282). So long as humans operate, some thriving, in the same networks of relations, power, capital, and force, we continue to be our own obstacle to spiritual and civilisational ascendancy.
This book, perhaps from the first ten pages, establishes itself as a 5-star text. The prologue states that the eponymous Manuscript has been recovered from the ruins of Notting Hill by the Royal Abyssinian Society; evidently, the locus of intellectual progress has shifted to the Global South. This subtle way of reflecting the total and absolute inversion of global networks of capital and international relations is an absolutely foundational tenet of future dystopian/sci-fi novels - one of which, The World in Winter by John Christopher, is excellent and innovative in and of itself.
The Hopkins Manuscript is unusually and extremely prescient. It envisions a world where a looming existential threat is met with indifference, apathy and ignorance, only for the ramifications of such a disaster to challenge humanity in a much more egocentric and sophisticated way. In this sense, the reader pulls many allegories from the layered, rich text that flows seemlessly through the pages of the Manuscript. The first allegory that comes to mind is climate change. The Moon's eventual crash-landing into the Atlantic displaces large amounts of water into the low-lying areas of Southern England, and the overcoming of this intial trauma is threatened by the recalibration of both England's ecology and human relations; this is a challenge that is overcome, but only in the narrator's narrow milieu of Beadle and Mulcaster. In the opening sentences of the Manuscript, we learn that only c.700 people remain in London. They live introverted and solipsistic lives because their conceptions of space and time have been shattered.
The second allegory is to war; Hopkins experienced WWI and this contemporaneously was known as The War to End All Wars. Hopkins observed the rise of fascism in continental Europe and the inadequacies of social democracy in challenging it, both internally and internationally. The eventual conflict between the European states over the Moon's resource-rich surface, now accessible as a form of proto-continent, *established* in media the cliche that humans are the real enemy in the wake of existential disaster. In this way, it could be argued that the The Hopkins Manuscript presages what would become the genre of zombie horror. Nearly all forms of apocalyptic zombie media frame other, functional groups of humans as obstacles to the success of human nature over the elements.
The third parallel that springs to mind is Brexit and polarisation of politics. The incumbent Tory government of the United Kingdom, throughout the Brexit process, has evidenced that they see "fairness" and "compromise" as equivolent to national "humiliation", much in the same way the revolutionary English government does towards the end of the novel (p. 282). So long as humans operate, some thriving, in the same networks of relations, power, capital, and force, we continue to be our own obstacle to spiritual and civilisational ascendancy.
elsie07's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jen_d's review against another edition
5.0
This was a long awaited read for me. I first heard of The Hopkins Manuscript last year but unfortunately it was out of print. I was so happy to finally find a copy on my visit to Persephone Books last week.
I loved the writing style of R.C. Sheriff and was pleasantly surprised by the hilarious humour in the book.
The reader should not expect scientific fact from this book, it is more of a social statement. The story was very entertaining and definitely my favourite Persephone book so far.
I loved the writing style of R.C. Sheriff and was pleasantly surprised by the hilarious humour in the book.
The reader should not expect scientific fact from this book, it is more of a social statement. The story was very entertaining and definitely my favourite Persephone book so far.
vg2's review against another edition
5.0
Clever, funny and wonderfully written, ‘The Hopkins Manuscript’ has quickly become a new favourite sci-fi novel for me. Edgar Hopkins, our pompous and slightly pathetic protagonist, recounts the final months of the Earth before a collision with the moon, and a span of years afterwards. We know from the first page that Western civilisation eventually collapses entirely, and the causes will surprise no-one will a healthy cynicism regarding the behaviour of humans. What makes the story so successful is that the key characters are not leaders, heroes, scientists or explorers; the setting is not (for the most part) a major city. Instead, it concerns an ordinary person, who remains ordinary, in a tiny village, imagining that he is doing his patriotic duty at all times. The small absurdities are only absurd until you realise that they could well happen, and whilst much has changed since the setting of the 1940s, much has not.
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