Earth Abides
George R. Stewart
In one of my favorite genres, that of post-apocalyptic social re-building,
Earth Abides focuses on the survival of a small, diverse band of ordinary
people in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1959, Nevil Shute wrote On the
Beach, a graceful farewell of mankind after World War III. In 1959, Pat
Frank countered with the defiant Alas Babylon allowing mankind to survive
WWIII, although in a much-reduced way. Stephen King, in 1978 gave us
The Stand where the near-end of mankind comes thanks to a man-made
plague. All of these were preceded by Earth Abides in 1949.
A disease of unparalleled destructive force has sprung up almost
simultaneously in every corner of the globe, all but destroying the human
race. One survivor, strangely immune to the effects of the epidemic,
ventures forward to experience a world without man. What he ultimately
discovers will prove far more astonishing than anything he'd either dreaded
or hoped for. The group becomes led by the reluctant hero with the unlikely
name of Isherwood Williams. Ish is an introspective, intellectual loner who
is prone to rumination. He ends up surrounded by a group of good,
ordinary people, who have to figure out how to live in the slowly-decaying
ruins of a suddenly-lost civilization.
Whereas On the Beach is a graceful farewell and Alas Babylon is a
defiance of annihilation and The Stand sees the subtotal extinction of Man
as a pruning in preparation for a showdown by Good and Evil, Earth
Abides is a well-written, character-deep lament for the death of civilization.
Is this a good, or even a great, book? It is well-written and, while it is nearly
60 years old (no cellular telephones, no computers, etc.), overall, Earth
Abides is quietly powerful and unforgettable. It is great, and it overwhelmed
me.
/tdw/
George R. Stewart
In one of my favorite genres, that of post-apocalyptic social re-building,
Earth Abides focuses on the survival of a small, diverse band of ordinary
people in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1959, Nevil Shute wrote On the
Beach, a graceful farewell of mankind after World War III. In 1959, Pat
Frank countered with the defiant Alas Babylon allowing mankind to survive
WWIII, although in a much-reduced way. Stephen King, in 1978 gave us
The Stand where the near-end of mankind comes thanks to a man-made
plague. All of these were preceded by Earth Abides in 1949.
A disease of unparalleled destructive force has sprung up almost
simultaneously in every corner of the globe, all but destroying the human
race. One survivor, strangely immune to the effects of the epidemic,
ventures forward to experience a world without man. What he ultimately
discovers will prove far more astonishing than anything he'd either dreaded
or hoped for. The group becomes led by the reluctant hero with the unlikely
name of Isherwood Williams. Ish is an introspective, intellectual loner who
is prone to rumination. He ends up surrounded by a group of good,
ordinary people, who have to figure out how to live in the slowly-decaying
ruins of a suddenly-lost civilization.
Whereas On the Beach is a graceful farewell and Alas Babylon is a
defiance of annihilation and The Stand sees the subtotal extinction of Man
as a pruning in preparation for a showdown by Good and Evil, Earth
Abides is a well-written, character-deep lament for the death of civilization.
Is this a good, or even a great, book? It is well-written and, while it is nearly
60 years old (no cellular telephones, no computers, etc.), overall, Earth
Abides is quietly powerful and unforgettable. It is great, and it overwhelmed
me.
/tdw/
| Thom's Review Earth Abides |
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