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10th out of 25 books
—
23 voters
The Old Man and the Wasteland
by
Nick Cole
Forty years after the destruction of civilization... Man is reduced to salvaging the ruins of a broken world. One man’s most prized possession is Hemingway’s Classic ‘The Old Man and the Sea.’ With the words of the novel echoing across the wasteland, a survivor of the Nuclear Holocaust journeys into the unknown to break a curse.
What follows is an incredible tale of surviv...more
What follows is an incredible tale of surviv...more
ebook, 125 pages
Published
2011
by Lulu
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Aug 23, 2011
Eric
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Those who have read The Old Man and the Sea
Recommended to Eric by:
99c download on Amazon.com
Shelves:
post-apocalyptic
I really enjoyed this little novella. It is the story of one old man's journey through the wastelands of a post-apocalyptic American Southwest. To give you an idea of the tone and mood of the book, I was waiting for the titular Old Man to run into Roland Deschain from The Gunslinger at some point during his wandering.
But there are no allusions to Stephen King, those are reserved for Ernest Hemingway and Santiago -- so much so that I don't think I could recommend this to anyone that hasn't read...more
But there are no allusions to Stephen King, those are reserved for Ernest Hemingway and Santiago -- so much so that I don't think I could recommend this to anyone that hasn't read...more
This is a pure and simple little novella and I loved it. Now, I am a big hemmingway fan and a particular fan of The Old Man and the Sea so that biases me big time toward the book. I've tried to think of how it would read to someone not familiar with that book and I can't tell if it would come across or not. However, while being a total different subject matter, the author manages to carry much of the same simpleness of story as Hemingway did. And "simpleness of story" may sound like an insult bu...more
I loved everything about this book. The main character is so well written that when you get to the end you feel like you know him. I love the writing style. Most of the book is told through the The Old Man. You really feel what he is going through. I have read a lot of apocalyptic books and this is somewhere in the top three, I am not sure it isn't number one. Without giving anything away, some of the things I liked were... 1. The Old Man forgetting parts of the way the world was before the bomb...more
I may be the only one who didn't care for the book. A lot of walking about a post-apocalyptic desert, looking for things to salvage. The change of viewpoints from one paragraph to the next threw me off. I'd recommend a reader borrow this book from lendle.me if they are not sure if they want to buy it.
view all 6 comments
I kinda wished I'd read "The Old Man and the Sea" by Ernest Hemmingway. I might have got more out of this one. But I never have, and have never been a fan of Mr. Hemmingway's writing.
That being said - this was a compelling read about an apocalyptic future. An old man wanting to make something right in a world that felt beyond repair. I don't know how well I would have survived trying to live in his kind of world, but this book truly lays out a survival of the fittest, or at least the most canny...more
That being said - this was a compelling read about an apocalyptic future. An old man wanting to make something right in a world that felt beyond repair. I don't know how well I would have survived trying to live in his kind of world, but this book truly lays out a survival of the fittest, or at least the most canny...more
Apr 20, 2013
Jeff
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Post-Civilization Sci-Fi Fans
Shelves:
sci-fi,
apocalyptic
It took me a few chapters to get into The Old Man and the Wasteland. There isn't much in the way of dialog if you don't count the old man talking to himself. In most books, I would find this boring, but that wasn't the case with this book. The minimal dialog just added to the feeling of emptiness in the post-civilized world that Nick Cole has created. The imagery and action alone are enough to make this a great book. I debated reading this one for a while because the ratings I've seen on website...more
Un libro corto y bueno. En gran parte es una gran analogía a lo que es "The Old Man and the Sea" de Hemingway (buen libro igual por si desean leerlo).
El libro tiene una lucha tanto externa en las situaciones que suceden como interna en lo que pasa por la mente del protagonista.
El libro tiene una lucha tanto externa en las situaciones que suceden como interna en lo que pasa por la mente del protagonista.
How could I go wrong, .99 cents and a 4 1/2 star rating?
In this case it might actually be me, I am almost positive of it... that or the author created 500 accounts to rate his book 4 stars and above.
My issue is not with the story, I think I honestly enjoyed the story down to its framework and progress. The tale did drag across some dips and monotonous points where I wished the story would have just moved; I didn't need more action, but the author was trying to relate to the dips and monotony of...more
In this case it might actually be me, I am almost positive of it... that or the author created 500 accounts to rate his book 4 stars and above.
My issue is not with the story, I think I honestly enjoyed the story down to its framework and progress. The tale did drag across some dips and monotonous points where I wished the story would have just moved; I didn't need more action, but the author was trying to relate to the dips and monotony of...more
A lovely little story through and through and a delightful, ultimately hopeful, read. The Old Man and the Wasteland demonstrates the best of human nature after the worst of human nature has come to pass: that we will keep on trucking and we will weather the storm, no matter how bad it may be.
My only real gripe with the book is the way the narration and The Old Man's inner thoughts switch with out any real indication of which is which, something that could have been solved with simple use of ital...more
My only real gripe with the book is the way the narration and The Old Man's inner thoughts switch with out any real indication of which is which, something that could have been solved with simple use of ital...more
Finished this very short book in a couple of hours and I'd rate it 3.5; and that comes from someone who hadn't read anything close to "science fiction" or a future apocalyptic tale before reading the five Wool novellas a couple of weeks ago. This story reminds me of The Road (I've only seen the movie).
The main character is known only as The Old Man (as in The Old Man of the Sea) and the story is set 40 years after bombs destroyed civilization. The Old Man has started to feel as if he is no long...more
The main character is known only as The Old Man (as in The Old Man of the Sea) and the story is set 40 years after bombs destroyed civilization. The Old Man has started to feel as if he is no long...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
4 Stars
A tight well written post apocalyptic novella that is set some time in the future. This is the story of the Old Man, his life, his living, and his pursuit of salvage. We are not given much backstory, or reasons behind the end of days, just simple drops of terrorism, nuclear bombs, and world wide retaliation.
This short story has many similarities to Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, it is even a book in possession of the Old Man. The entire read can be done in one sitting. I enjoyed the...more
A tight well written post apocalyptic novella that is set some time in the future. This is the story of the Old Man, his life, his living, and his pursuit of salvage. We are not given much backstory, or reasons behind the end of days, just simple drops of terrorism, nuclear bombs, and world wide retaliation.
This short story has many similarities to Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, it is even a book in possession of the Old Man. The entire read can be done in one sitting. I enjoyed the...more
After a nuclear war what left of civilization is reduced to hardscrabble groups of scavengers still clinging to some type humanity and others who have lost any sense of human qualities and function only at animal-like capacities.
In a unique plot the author tells an original story in the rapidly overcrowded post-apocalypse genre. The Old Man is one of the few left in America who can remember what life was like before the bombs fell.
His village survives though scavenging what little is left in t...more
In a unique plot the author tells an original story in the rapidly overcrowded post-apocalypse genre. The Old Man is one of the few left in America who can remember what life was like before the bombs fell.
His village survives though scavenging what little is left in t...more
I've never read The Old Man and the Sea, but I still enjoyed The Old Man and the Wasteland. I liked the idea that the Old Man had read the Hemmingway classic so many times he felt the main character was his friend. It made me think about how comforting a story might be in the case of an catastrophe that changed the world.
I like how bare the story is, and how it focuses on the thoughts of one character. I particularly like the conversations the Old Man had with himself. We probably all have that...more
I like how bare the story is, and how it focuses on the thoughts of one character. I particularly like the conversations the Old Man had with himself. We probably all have that...more
This is a post nuclear apocalypse short story set in the wasteland of Arizona. It attempts to closely follow the structure of Hemingway's classic novella "The Old Man and the Sea", with an old man going out into the wilderness trying to recapture his youth and bring back some "salvage" which will regain him the respect of the people of his small village, for whom he has become a bit of a laughing stock.
This part of the novel is well done, with the old man constantly talking to himself, doubting...more
This part of the novel is well done, with the old man constantly talking to himself, doubting...more
Not quite sure what to think of this book. It has some pretty impressive ratings/reviews on both GoodReads and Amazon, but I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't terrible, but this book did not really catch my interest until at 82% on Kindle.
It tasted like The Road, with a little The Postman, a drizzle of Hemingway, a dash of Hostel, and a sprinkle of Mad Max. What's that, you say? Sounds like a disaster? Well, yeah. It WAS a post-apocalyptic novel, so disaster comes into play. But it wasn't a di...more
It tasted like The Road, with a little The Postman, a drizzle of Hemingway, a dash of Hostel, and a sprinkle of Mad Max. What's that, you say? Sounds like a disaster? Well, yeah. It WAS a post-apocalyptic novel, so disaster comes into play. But it wasn't a di...more
Excellent little novella, I read it in a single sitting. The world is endearing, yet familiar, to any reader of dystopian, post-apocalyptic fiction. The story deals with an Old Man who made his living in a cruel world scavenging the waste lands surrounding his small village for salvage. He is old, and none, not even hid granddaughter, believe him to be much use anymore.
The Old Man's most prized possession is a copy of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Like the aging fisherman in the book he l...more
The Old Man's most prized possession is a copy of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Like the aging fisherman in the book he l...more
Overall I thought this was a pretty solid novella that reminded me a bit of The Gunslinger at times, though much more grounded in reality than that one. It's only ~150 pages or so, so it's a very nice, quick read that works well in a sitting or two. I haven't read the "Old man and the Sea" so I don't know if there are some interesting corollaries to consider between the two stories, but I did enjoy the references to the "book" and how the Old Man in this story saw himself in that one. The old ma...more
I picked up this book on a whim based on good reviews on Amazon. The story takes place in the post-apocalyptic southern US and follows The Old Man in search of _salvage_. The title is taken from Hemmingway's _The Old Man and the Sea_.
The novella itself takes cues from Cormac McCarthy and Ernest Hemmingway. I felt it failed in its attempt to be literary and found the first and second person inner thoughts distracting. Also, words such as _salvage_ were repeated over and over and some odd grammar...more
The novella itself takes cues from Cormac McCarthy and Ernest Hemmingway. I felt it failed in its attempt to be literary and found the first and second person inner thoughts distracting. Also, words such as _salvage_ were repeated over and over and some odd grammar...more
In a word: Terrible.
In more words:
You might be considering this book because it's cheap and has great reviews on Amazon. That's why I bought it, and prepared myself to love it from the start. Instead, it started off with clumsy writing and I told myself I'd give it till chapter 3 or 4 (they're short) and then probably quit. But the writing got a smidge better and a very occasional turn-of-phrase rekindled my hopes that this might turn out to be a worthwhile read in the end. After reaching the en...more
In more words:
You might be considering this book because it's cheap and has great reviews on Amazon. That's why I bought it, and prepared myself to love it from the start. Instead, it started off with clumsy writing and I told myself I'd give it till chapter 3 or 4 (they're short) and then probably quit. But the writing got a smidge better and a very occasional turn-of-phrase rekindled my hopes that this might turn out to be a worthwhile read in the end. After reaching the en...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I liked this simple book. In a post-nuclear war, this man's story would probably be a common one. What else would people do in a world where bombs have ravaged everything that we grown used to in our lives? They would have to salvage whatever they could. And after forty years? How much could there possibly be left to salvage? This story is endearing, hopeful, brave, sad, desolate, hopeless, and happy all at the same time. There is no past, or mourning of the things that used to be. There is simp...more
With a little proof-reading and editing this could have easily earned 4 stars. I really like the premise, the story, and the overall style of the writing. I read the whole thing in two sittings and I found it hard to put down. I just had a few issues:
1) There are several typos that should have been caught in the editing/proof-reading process. Each time I came to one it was very distracting and irritating.
2) I don't really understand why there are so many chapters. The beginning and ending of cha...more
1) There are several typos that should have been caught in the editing/proof-reading process. Each time I came to one it was very distracting and irritating.
2) I don't really understand why there are so many chapters. The beginning and ending of cha...more
I agree with the reviewer (Mike) – after the facts he pointed out, this did appear to be an allegory to Moses.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I’ll admit I wasn’t satisfied with how it ended. Maybe that’s a tribute to the author’s storytelling, because damn it I grew to really like the Old Man and wanted to know more about him. While I like the way he was eventually remembered by his people, the epilogue itself just struck me as weak.
I can see how the shift in narrative from third to f...more
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I’ll admit I wasn’t satisfied with how it ended. Maybe that’s a tribute to the author’s storytelling, because damn it I grew to really like the Old Man and wanted to know more about him. While I like the way he was eventually remembered by his people, the epilogue itself just struck me as weak.
I can see how the shift in narrative from third to f...more
I'd rate this a high 3.5. It's not the genre of book I ever like, so I can't give it a 4; but the writing itself is definitely a 4. Nick Cole mimicked the style of Hemingway with this book (The Old Man and the Sea)...and it was well done. This story takes place 40 or so years after a nuclear holocaust. Civilization is in shambles. The old man goes off by himself to salvage what he can of the destruction in Arizona. This story chronicles his adventures and struggles with the desert, humanity gone...more
This novella is a quick and relatively easy read, and while some of the Old Man's trials stretch the suspension of disbelief just a little too far, the plot manages to move along at a good clip. Unabashedly setting out to retrace the footsteps of McCarthy and Hemingway is a hell of a task to set yourself, and while the author doesn't match either McCarthy for immersiveness and metaphor or Hemingway for economy, he seems to have managed to find his own, very readable voice.
That said, there are mo...more
That said, there are mo...more
Ya know...I haven't read the Old Man and the Sea in a long time so I can't give anyone a comparative review. I remember liking the Old Man and the Sea a lot. I do like the Old Man and the Wasteland but if it is brilliant then it is beyond me. I like the main character-Old Man. He is likable and my regard for him never wavers. He does nothing wrong or despicable. He has no bad memories of himself or bad thoughts of the future. In this way the Old Man is pretty static. As a person who talks to him...more
As seen on Stumptown Books.
It is hard to write a review for this because I didn't feel much of anything. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, and it falls into the "just ok" pile. I'm not faunching at the bit to recommend it to my friends like other purchases I've made on the Amazon marketplace.
The book is short, clocking in at only 150 pages, so that makes it easy to read in just a few hours. The writing is simplistic, as it attempts to echo words from Hemingway's classic The Old Man and the...more
It is hard to write a review for this because I didn't feel much of anything. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, and it falls into the "just ok" pile. I'm not faunching at the bit to recommend it to my friends like other purchases I've made on the Amazon marketplace.
The book is short, clocking in at only 150 pages, so that makes it easy to read in just a few hours. The writing is simplistic, as it attempts to echo words from Hemingway's classic The Old Man and the...more
I haven't read "Old Man" by Hemingway, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this book. It was an entertaining read about an old man who is struggling to survive in the southwest decades after nuclear war destroyed most of civilization.
I appreciated the story on another level because, for a time, I lived in the Marana area, close to some of the geography mentioned in the book (I may never view Picacho Peak the same, though). I also appreciated the elaboration on how the Horde ended up the way th...more
I appreciated the story on another level because, for a time, I lived in the Marana area, close to some of the geography mentioned in the book (I may never view Picacho Peak the same, though). I also appreciated the elaboration on how the Horde ended up the way th...more
This book is absolutely the way it is described; a cross between the "Old Man and the Sea" and "The Road." The Road happens to be one of my favorites, this one though, will not be on my favorties list. It wasn't horrible but it is only 150 pages and felt like a lot more than that. Towards the middle it begins to lag a bit and I had to struggle to get through that section. I did like the end and was plowed through the last 2o pages. The thing I like most wast that we get to hear/see the internal...more
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Nick Cole is a working actor living in Southern California. When he is not auditioning for commercials, going out for sitcoms or being shot, kicked, stabbed or beaten by the students of various film schools for their projects, he can often be found as a guard for King Phillip the Second of Spain in the Opera Don Carlo at Los Angeles Opera or some similar role. Nick Cole has been writing for most o...more
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