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yuis's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
badseedgirl's review
5.0
Have you ever hand to work so hard to find a book, that when you do find it you expected to be the greatest book you have ever read. This is how I felt about Pat Murphy’s novel The City, Not Long After. I chose her as one of my WOGF authors, but my local library did not have a copy, and when I looked on line the book was out of print. I was intrigued by the plotline of this story and felt an unreasonable desire to find a copy of this novel for some reason. I eventually found and audio copy on my libraries E book accounts. After listening to this book, I must say I was not disappointed.
In the prologue, we are first introduced to a woman who is running away from San Francisco days after the plague. She is about to have a baby. Alone and scared she starts to “hallucinate” an angel. The woman promises the angel that it can name her child. This child grows up on a farm outside a small farming community led by a man called ”Four Star”. This self-appointed leader’s mission is to bring back the United States of America, by any means possible including force. Through his actions, the girl’s mother dies, but before she does she sends the girl to San Francisco to warn the people there that Four Star is coming to invade.
The story starts 16 years after a mysterious plague has wiped out most of the population of the world. Small pockets of humanity survived and created what can only be described as a series of city states where the population survives through production of necessities and through foraging through the pre plague leftovers. Each area of, in this case, California seems to have created its own form of government according to the needs of the people. But what happens when one man decides that he is way is the only way?
The 100 or so residents of San Francisco are predominately artists and form a sort of artist colony. There is magic in this city, although it is subtle, it runs throughout the novel, the city is a living being, able to guide and protect its people. The clash between the “artists” and Four Star make up the remainder of the story.
Pat Murphy creates a visual wonderland with her descriptions of the beautiful and sometime macabre art created throughout the city. I was drawn into the world of San Francisco as Ms. Murphy sees it, a magical and wonderful land. Her beautiful and haunting descriptions are surpassed only by the cast of interesting and memorable characters. Once I started listening to this novel, I could not stop. Although very heavy on descriptives, it does not become bogged down by them. The plot moves along at a steady and inevitable climax, like a faucet dripping and dripping into a bowl until that last drop crashes down and the bowl over flows. There is easiness about the residents of San Francisco, but this easiness is denied the reader.
I cannot recommend this book more strongly and cannot wait to read more from this amazing author. Thank You WOGF for introducing me to an amazing storyteller!
5 of 5 stars
In the prologue, we are first introduced to a woman who is running away from San Francisco days after the plague. She is about to have a baby. Alone and scared she starts to “hallucinate” an angel. The woman promises the angel that it can name her child. This child grows up on a farm outside a small farming community led by a man called ”Four Star”. This self-appointed leader’s mission is to bring back the United States of America, by any means possible including force. Through his actions, the girl’s mother dies, but before she does she sends the girl to San Francisco to warn the people there that Four Star is coming to invade.
The story starts 16 years after a mysterious plague has wiped out most of the population of the world. Small pockets of humanity survived and created what can only be described as a series of city states where the population survives through production of necessities and through foraging through the pre plague leftovers. Each area of, in this case, California seems to have created its own form of government according to the needs of the people. But what happens when one man decides that he is way is the only way?
The 100 or so residents of San Francisco are predominately artists and form a sort of artist colony. There is magic in this city, although it is subtle, it runs throughout the novel, the city is a living being, able to guide and protect its people. The clash between the “artists” and Four Star make up the remainder of the story.
Pat Murphy creates a visual wonderland with her descriptions of the beautiful and sometime macabre art created throughout the city. I was drawn into the world of San Francisco as Ms. Murphy sees it, a magical and wonderful land. Her beautiful and haunting descriptions are surpassed only by the cast of interesting and memorable characters. Once I started listening to this novel, I could not stop. Although very heavy on descriptives, it does not become bogged down by them. The plot moves along at a steady and inevitable climax, like a faucet dripping and dripping into a bowl until that last drop crashes down and the bowl over flows. There is easiness about the residents of San Francisco, but this easiness is denied the reader.
I cannot recommend this book more strongly and cannot wait to read more from this amazing author. Thank You WOGF for introducing me to an amazing storyteller!
5 of 5 stars
embereye's review
4.0
This was a definitely enjoyable story. It was written in 1989 but somehow was rather timeless. Definitely a post-apocalyptic story but some of the imagery in it is absolutely gorgeous. Artists of various kinds inhabit San Francisco after a plague has killed most of the population of the US and other major countries. The changes these artists make to the city are interesting and their various projects are really inspirational. There's also conflict, and the dilemmas of how to deal with that conflict are interesting. A pretty good read that also had a lot to say without being overly preachy.
erika_is_reading's review
4.0
This is a love letter to the city of San Francisco. And the most interesting character in the book is the city itself, which is magically alive.
A few years after a plague wipes out most of the human race, a girl walks into San Francisco from the countryside where she has been living with her mother, and she joins the people in the city. I wrote "the survivors" in the city, but that's not really right. They are thrivers. I identified most with the character now named Books, who eats (stale) Danish cookies from tins out of Macy's and spends most of his time deep in study. But everyone is memorable, and each has -- in the full embrace of the city -- become more and truly who s/he was all along. And happier for it. They are all artists -- poets, paintors, sculptors, gardeners . . . completely and utterly free to create, and the city helps. The city and its ghosts and animals.
The story itself? Our young girl, Danny-boy, and the others, face a more militarized group from outside the city led by someone our characters call "Fourstar" (not his chosen name) and intent on taking over San Francisco -- for the resources and also as part of a longer strategy to rebuild America. Of course the question is: why do this? Perhaps what's going on in San Francisco is better. Happier. More peaceful. And our city community fights back, in its own way. Its own way.
And so the author muses for us about the nature of war and conflict, as well as the nature and price of peace. We learn early -- though the details are not clear until much later -- that the plague was connected to a peace movement. The book appears to some as mostly a celebration of the 60s ethos in California, but the author's added enough more to make it both a satisfying story in its own right (though admittedly not a complex one) and a lovely setting with lovely touches. And loving touches. Because, as I said, to me this mostly reads as a love letter to the city.
A few years after a plague wipes out most of the human race, a girl walks into San Francisco from the countryside where she has been living with her mother, and she joins the people in the city. I wrote "the survivors" in the city, but that's not really right. They are thrivers. I identified most with the character now named Books, who eats (stale) Danish cookies from tins out of Macy's and spends most of his time deep in study. But everyone is memorable, and each has -- in the full embrace of the city -- become more and truly who s/he was all along. And happier for it. They are all artists -- poets, paintors, sculptors, gardeners . . . completely and utterly free to create, and the city helps. The city and its ghosts and animals.
The story itself? Our young girl, Danny-boy, and the others, face a more militarized group from outside the city led by someone our characters call "Fourstar" (not his chosen name) and intent on taking over San Francisco -- for the resources and also as part of a longer strategy to rebuild America. Of course the question is: why do this? Perhaps what's going on in San Francisco is better. Happier. More peaceful. And our city community fights back, in its own way. Its own way.
And so the author muses for us about the nature of war and conflict, as well as the nature and price of peace. We learn early -- though the details are not clear until much later -- that the plague was connected to a peace movement. The book appears to some as mostly a celebration of the 60s ethos in California, but the author's added enough more to make it both a satisfying story in its own right (though admittedly not a complex one) and a lovely setting with lovely touches. And loving touches. Because, as I said, to me this mostly reads as a love letter to the city.
shane_tiernan's review
2.0
This is my first novel from Pat Murphy. Not sure I'm really that excited about reading more from her. I thought it was okay at first, then I thought it was really bad, then the last 3rd got interesting. Overall it felt really dated. There were supernatural elements that seemed extremely out of place in a post holocaust world. At first I couldn't tell if they were events that were actually happening or if they were somehow metaphorical. When it started raining flowers I thought I had missed something and that maybe it was someone dropping flowers on to the main character from above but later I realized it was literally raining flowers. The best part was the creative way that the San Franciscans "fought" the war.
So if you're looking for post apocalyptic sci-fi, I would suggest -Blood Music- from Greg Bear or -The Postman- from David Brin.
So if you're looking for post apocalyptic sci-fi, I would suggest -Blood Music- from Greg Bear or -The Postman- from David Brin.
mireiaaaaaa3's review against another edition
4.0
Tot i que en alguns moments he sentit que hi havia coses que s’havien d’explorar i desenvolupar més, i algunes altres no acabaven de tenir massa sentit, m’ha agradat. Crec que planteja coses molt interessants.
kelseywish's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
jupiterjens666's review
5.0
We need to reconsider the role of the apocalypse. I read this in the plague year - or Plague Year One, anyway - as giant climate-change fires raged all over the nation and the smoke blanketed the city. In this fictional apocalypse from 1989, a plague has depopulated the earth, and that's bad, sure, but their ecosystem still functions! San Francisco is a nice place to live, rather than a rapidly emptying wasteland under a hell-red sky! So the function of post-apocalyptic fiction here is probably quite the reverse of what was intended. It's pleasant escapism! I would love to live in this world rather than Actually Existing 2020! Hahaha!
Anyway it is a beautiful and profound meditation on nonviolence and art with endearing characters, elegantly written. I loved it and now I'm gonna read all her other books.
Anyway it is a beautiful and profound meditation on nonviolence and art with endearing characters, elegantly written. I loved it and now I'm gonna read all her other books.