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Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction

Sapa

By Sapa
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neoELITE

neoELITE

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Just finished this and really enjoyed it excellent stuff.

Moved onto Autumn as recommended above and it's really not comparing well. I'm struggling to keep reading it, completely UNengaging in every way. Bland writing , bland characters.

It's not that good but, in the genre, the treatment of the undead is a bit different to other books - I won't spoil it but, if you finish it, you'll understand why I think it's an interesting 'different' take. It's mundane for a reason.

I'm reading Gibson's Necromancer - it's post-apocalyptic sci-fi (of a kind) - not engaging me at all. It just leaps right in to a future-scape with no introduction.

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BossSaru

BossSaru

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Based on earlier recommendations in this thread I have suggested On The Beach to my book club, which they chose and will now read. The cover art really sold it to me, and the blurb on the back suggests a different slant on the post-apocalypse genre, focusing on characters facing an imminent death rather than fighting gangs for survival.

Well that was simultaneously one of the most harrowing and uplifting books I have read in a long time. In some parts it was similar to Ghibli's Grave of the Fireflies, but there were a lot of light moments in the book which made the story more one of enjoying what time one has left as opposed to the bleakness of an inescapable fate.

I was impressed that an angle so varied from the norms we accept, that the end of the world will not be met by social breakdown but by grim acceptance and a continuation of order, felt both believable and familiar.

The subject matter, how to deal with the knowledge of one's inevitable death, was handled really tastefully and from the perspectives of several different characters. Naturally, the suburban housewife's story is the most tragic. Denial of the reality about to unfold and an unwillingness to contemplate ending the suffering of her child when it does. The sub commander's self-deceit in not accepting the deaths of his family and acting as per military regulations in a world where conflict has ceased were very sad also, showing the character to be one who felt he had no place in the dying world and should have died when the war finished. I particularly enjoyed the characters who saw the situation as an opportunity to live the lives they would never have dared to, with motor races between amateur drivers becoming suicidal affairs and characters downing bottles of vintage wine in the knowledge that their doctors' fears about their livers are somewhat irrelevant.

The reactions of all the characters to their circumstances felt natural, and that makes the book both tragic and believeable. Some lie to themselves that death will never come, some drink to hide from the sobering reality. Others quietly accept the approaching death as part of the inevitable of their lives, making sure that they get their affairs in order before they die fully aware of the irony that there will be nobody to care about their accounts or garden maintenance in a short time. The most poignant point in the book for me was the sailor who escaped from the submarine in his hometown, making the choice to die in a few days relaxing in familiar surroundings rather than several months later in a foreign country.

The ending of the book is something which will stay with me; each character choosing how to spend their final moments and in doing so defining what has made their lives worthwhile.

On the downside the book had more than a touch of misogyny about it, although as a book written in the 1950s one can hardly be critical of it not having gender roles which are normal half a century later.

Whilst we do not live in persistent fear of nuclear armageddon the theme of the book still feels very fresh today. Potential global risks (peak oil, global warming, fast-spreading illnesses, etc) could easily disrupt the delicate systems on which we rely and create conditions where we would be unable to avoid a similar creeping death. And that is ignoring the fact that superpowers now have arsenals which could comfortably destroy the planet many times over. But what stays with me the most is that, even with the knowledge that our mortality is imminent, one can choose how to spend the time remaining and maintain one's values as it approaches.

It will be interesting to see what my book club make of it. They did eventually forgive me after the Blood Meridian month, so hopefully they should be all right with this.

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Harsin

Harsin

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I stand by my post about On The Beach on the first page of this thread.

It's incredibly depressing, even by the metric of a genre that is inherently depressing. For some reason I found people facing the end of the world with a stiff upper lip more affecting than the modern takes where everybody is more likely to start raping and turn into cannibals.

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idiwa

idiwa

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Finished The Twelve at the weekend (being the 2nd book in the Passage Trilogy). Was a bit slow at the start but I really enjoyed it and thought it was just as good as The Passage. Enjoyed that it dealt with some more characters before things all went to shit and it all turned to hell. The third book is due to come out in a few weeks, so hopefully I'll grab it and read it when the other two are still fresh in my mind. There's a hell of a lot going on in The Passage and The Twelve and I'm glad I read them back to back. Just looking at some postings on Good Reads discussing the books; christ so many people just don't get the book at all...."but who is X and why is there 12 of them.." It's like watching Game of Thrones and asking "so who is this wee dwarf guy again?" :facepalm:

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idiwa

idiwa

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I agree I've enjoyed them both and am def looking forward to the third.

Would be great if ANC or someone else picked this up to turn it into a tv series. I think I mentioned before the film rights have been signed over but I really don't know how they would make this into a film.. it'll turn into a total hatchet job.

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  • 2 weeks later...
ZOK

ZOK

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I too finished girl with all the gifts recently. It was good, but the ending didn't half feel rushed. Really let down the whole book, I thought.

I don't know, it worked for me, although it was an audiobook so the experience is different. The one thing I couldn't buy was

Helen thingummy being happy togged up in an environment suit to teach those kids. You've got to figure she blows her own brains out after three weeks!

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cassidy

cassidy

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I don't know, it worked for me, although it was an audiobook so the experience is different. The one thing I couldn't buy was

Helen thingummy being happy togged up in an environment suit to teach those kids. You've got to figure she blows her own brains out after three weeks!

Can't agree with that because even before she realised the fact. Her actions are due to her understanding it's the only hope for humanity.

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  • 3 weeks later...
ZOK

ZOK

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Back on the post apocalyptic tip, I was listening to an Audible of William Gibson's essays, Mistrust That Particular Flavour, and he mentions a fifties nuclear war novel that used to freak him out as a kid. I looked it up and it's pretty good so far, I'm about half way through.

 

It's called Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, I downloaded a free ePub version here: http://www.general-ebooks.com/book/10534854-alas-babylon

 

There are a some errors in there (bad paragraphing, letters missed out, a paragraph repeated, etc), not an issue for me really but it may annoy you if you get bothered by that sort of thing. Worth checking out.

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  • 2 weeks later...
PK

PK

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Really enjoying The Passage at the moment. Very gripping so far - is The Twelve good too?

(big spoilers]

Just up to the part where Wolgast has died - didn't see that coming at all! I get the impression that Cronin is a GRRM fan, what with the shifting perspectives and pretty high character body count.

All the recommendations from this thread have been great!

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idiwa

idiwa

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Really enjoying The Passage at the moment. Very gripping so far - is The Twelve good too?

(big spoilers]

Just up to the part where Wolgast has died - didn't see that coming at all! I get the impression that Cronin is a GRRM fan, what with the shifting perspectives and pretty high character body count.

All the recommendations from this thread have been great!

Yeah, The Twelve is just as good (though it changes tact a bit). I thought the third book (city of glass??) was coming out next week but I'm sure the fuckers have changed the date to Oct 2015. Ack!

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  • 3 weeks later...
Raoull duke

Raoull duke

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I read Stephen King's the stand earlier this year, and the first half of it is some good apocolyptia shit, not so much post apocalyptic but on going and imdeiate aftermath. Then as it is incredibly long (around twelve hundred pages as I recall) I suspect he just kind of got tried of writing it, and it devolved into complete and utter shite.

Worth reading for the development stages though.

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Raoull duke

Raoull duke

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I was listening to the Incomparable's podcast about the Stand, so I thought I'd give it a go.

It's sort of badly written, but very compelling. Might check out the mini series as well.

It isn't badly written. It's inconsistent. Some of the character and plot development is among king's best writing.

I have a love/hate with Stephen king's work. At his best he's a master story teller and at his worst he's a complete fucking hack. And the stand runs the gamut.

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idiwa

idiwa

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I read Stephen King's the stand earlier this year, and the first half of it is some good apocolyptia shit, not so much post apocalyptic but on going and imdeiate aftermath. Then as it is incredibly long (around twelve hundred pages as I recall) I suspect he just kind of got tried of writing it, and it devolved into complete and utter shite.

Worth reading for the development stages though.

The TV movie was the same. Started off great and then just went "pffft" almost like any Danny Boyle film.

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  • 5 months later...
rumblecat

rumblecat

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Finished reading Station Eleven (thanks to hearing about it in the 'What are you reading?" thread)- great book, it switches back and forth between pre and post apocalypse times and it's a credit to the book that both are as interesting as each other.

Also in put into contrast how much I haven't been enjoying David Brine's The Postman- a book where I'd happily and repeatedly punch the main characters face in. I'm only a few chapters for the end but lost the will to continue a while ago, and won't be rushing back soon, especially after Station Eleven.

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Silent Runner

Silent Runner

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Anyone read The Ship by Antonia Honeywell? I read about 100 pages of it but I got a little bored and abandoned (ha!) it.

It’s a post-apoc book about a young girl whose father fills a ship with 500 people (artists, scientists etc) and then they set sail for a mysterious location. The World is going to pieces around them but they are safe-ish on their ship. That's when I stopped reading.

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