Etiquette for an Apocalypse
by
Anne Mendel (Goodreads Author)
It’s the 2020 Apocalypse and Sophie Cohen, former social worker turned neighborly drug dealer, must keep her family alive amid those pesky end of the world issues: starvation, earthquakes, plagues, gang violence and alas more starvation.She investigates a serial killing and takes down the sinister emerging power structure while learning to use a pizza box solar oven, bond...more
Paperback, 276 pages
Published
April 22nd 2012
by Bracket Press
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Have I mentioned lately how much I love being surprised by books? Which, granted, is getting progressively harder the more I blog. After all, I read a lot of reviews, a lot of tweets and a lot of pitches for books these days. Anyhow, a short while back I got the above blurb in a email pitch for Etiquette, was charmed by it and said yes. When it arrived I was charmed all over again by the clever cover art, and then it went into my towering (and not that cleverly organized) to-be-reviewed stack to...more
Pretty good book but not what I would call a typical apocalypse story. There is certainly quite a bit going on!
Sophie is a wife and mother trying to keep her little part of the end of the world together. She has created her own community with hand picked residents who support and take care of each other. Her husband is a doctor and her 13-year old daughter is a typical teen caught up in the apocalypse.
She is drawn into the investigation of an apparent serial murderer when her husband tells her h...more
Sophie is a wife and mother trying to keep her little part of the end of the world together. She has created her own community with hand picked residents who support and take care of each other. Her husband is a doctor and her 13-year old daughter is a typical teen caught up in the apocalypse.
She is drawn into the investigation of an apparent serial murderer when her husband tells her h...more
Etiquette for an Apocalypse was really good. I loved the quirky characters and the post-apocalyptic setting, but I did think that some of the situations were a stretch. It could have even just been the humor in some parts that threw me off because I didn’t understand if the author was being sarcastic or not. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved all the religious jabs, but sometimes certain jokes seemed to fall flat in such dire circumstances. The character development, however, definitely made...more
Mendel has taken a subject normally relegated to paranormal romance and science fiction and made it far more realistic. Her post-apocalyptic world is not filled with zombies and other supernatural atrocities. She creates a very believable situation and her characters are easy to identify with. Sophie’s drug’s are not recreational. Her brother makes, and she sells, what today would be over the counter drugs for medical ailments. Her husband still slaves away as a doctor at the local hospital even...more
Etiquette for an Apocalypse is a dark comedy that kept me riveted from beginning to end. Sophie and her family live on the eleventh floor in her building and it's pretty safe there. With no electricity, the elevator doesn't work and by the ninth floor, thieves are worn out from climbing any higher.
Her husband works at the hospital, her daughter spends her time reading, her mother has Alzheimer's and is always trying to perfect her new lithe figure and look, and Sophie spends her time trying to k...more
Her husband works at the hospital, her daughter spends her time reading, her mother has Alzheimer's and is always trying to perfect her new lithe figure and look, and Sophie spends her time trying to k...more
That which made me want to try this book was the cover, I mean look at it! So cool and weird, I love it.
It's the end of the world but some are struggling to survive (it helps having a genius for a brother who can make painkillers:) It's a new world where those with a skill has survived. Sophie sells drugs, but even in this bleak bleak world the book itself does not feel overly bleak. Because the book is so much more than just another dystopic apocalyptic story. It's a story about a mother trying...more
It's the end of the world but some are struggling to survive (it helps having a genius for a brother who can make painkillers:) It's a new world where those with a skill has survived. Sophie sells drugs, but even in this bleak bleak world the book itself does not feel overly bleak. Because the book is so much more than just another dystopic apocalyptic story. It's a story about a mother trying...more
The title of his book struck me funny because how would someone act after the "End of the World." What would be the proper etiquette on how to survive in a world that might be almost completely unlivable. Do you still go on dates? Does it matter if women wear make up anymore and does it matter if people shower anymore?
The book introduces us to the Sophie Cohen and her family; Bertrand Sophie's husband and one of the few doctors, Sasha her 13 year old rebellious daughter, her brilliant brother Mi...more
The book introduces us to the Sophie Cohen and her family; Bertrand Sophie's husband and one of the few doctors, Sasha her 13 year old rebellious daughter, her brilliant brother Mi...more
This is an absolutely amazing book. Our narrator, Sophie, tells us about surviving earthquake, fire, epidemic disease, volcanic eruptions and starvation in the none too distant future. Armored only by sarcasm, Sophie must preserve her family, find out who is murdering prostitutes, keep the newly emerging world from tyranny and see if there are enough cockroaches to make soup. Sophie's mother lives in La La Land, her brother has Asperger's syndrome, her daughter is a disdainful thirteen year old...more
Humorous and touching, this mystery/end of the world novel set in post-apocalyptic Portland isn't exactly the shoot-em-up story you might expect. Sophie Cohen is a former social worker forced by a caldera-caused-apocalypse to move her family into an 11th floor condo with her hyper-critical mother. Just as she's got her condo building filled with useful (read: helpful for survival) neighbors, politics, dead prostitutes and a bizarre re-interpretation of Camelot intrude on her somewhat peaceful, i...more
ETIQUETTE FOR AN APOCALYPSE by Anne Mendel
ETIQUETTE FOR AN APOCALYPSE is a novel written in the dystopian/science fiction genre that follows the Cohen family as they endeavor to survive in the post-apocalyptic world of 2023.
2020 saw the world enter into an apocalyptic nightmare. In the wake of earthquakes, floods and volcanoes those that survived had to endure solar black-outs, famine, cholera and an assortment of frenzied and fevered paranoia. Without the aid of government direction, those that...more
ETIQUETTE FOR AN APOCALYPSE is a novel written in the dystopian/science fiction genre that follows the Cohen family as they endeavor to survive in the post-apocalyptic world of 2023.
2020 saw the world enter into an apocalyptic nightmare. In the wake of earthquakes, floods and volcanoes those that survived had to endure solar black-outs, famine, cholera and an assortment of frenzied and fevered paranoia. Without the aid of government direction, those that...more
I wasn't really sure what this book was trying to be. It's a murder mystery. It's a thriller, it's a satire, it's the story of a family trying to survive after the apocalypse.
In 2020, the world fell apart. Earthquakes, disease, a supervolcano, etc. In fact, pretty much the only thing that doesn't show up is the zombie apocalypse. Sophia is a mother who has had to toughen up when this all hit during the annual visit to her mother. Her son Max died in one of the epidemics, but she's got her doctor...more
In 2020, the world fell apart. Earthquakes, disease, a supervolcano, etc. In fact, pretty much the only thing that doesn't show up is the zombie apocalypse. Sophia is a mother who has had to toughen up when this all hit during the annual visit to her mother. Her son Max died in one of the epidemics, but she's got her doctor...more
Set in the year 2020 this post-apocalyptic novel dishes up dark humor, memorable characters and a startling look at a post apocalypse reality. Mendel’s debut novel is captivating as she takes us into downtown Portland and into the lives of the Cohen family. I was held hostage by the protagonist's voice and the suspenseful plot.
The tale begins when we step into the life of Sophia Cohen. Before devastating natural disasters occurred she was a mother, wife and social worker. Now she is a drug deale...more
The tale begins when we step into the life of Sophia Cohen. Before devastating natural disasters occurred she was a mother, wife and social worker. Now she is a drug deale...more
This was quite an interesting book. I loved how Sophie and crew did what they needed to do to survive in the post apocalypse world. Certainly made me wonder if I could survive,, and if all those survivialists who stockpile canned goods, etc are right! Also each chapter has a quote at the beginning, and some of them were hilarious. There is more than one quote from the movie "Shaun of the Dead"! One of my favorite quotes,, which reminded me of my former MIL was: "To describe my mother would be to...more
If the world was about to end who would you call?
After the apocalypse, now the year 2020. A mom turned drug dealer goes on an investigation of murders of prostitutes. They are being thrown in a pile on side of road. While the strange Jack the ripper event comes to an end. A war starts.
A meeting at the condo, some big guns and a very hilarious dialogue from Author Anne Mendel.
Anne Mendel does an apocalypse with a hunger growing for more Nutnella, and many other foods. Etiquette for an Apocalypse...more
After the apocalypse, now the year 2020. A mom turned drug dealer goes on an investigation of murders of prostitutes. They are being thrown in a pile on side of road. While the strange Jack the ripper event comes to an end. A war starts.
A meeting at the condo, some big guns and a very hilarious dialogue from Author Anne Mendel.
Anne Mendel does an apocalypse with a hunger growing for more Nutnella, and many other foods. Etiquette for an Apocalypse...more
I wanted to like this more than I did. I like the characters and th plot, but the narration is missing something. I think that to include the humor, the narrator is a bit flip, but it lightens the mood so much that even though Sophie's life is always in danger the stakes are low. Also I don't think I found the motivations of the characters believable; I had the feeling that the author was driving the book rather than tthe characters.
May 08, 2013
Sarah (Workaday Reads)
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Shelves:
read-in-2013,
swap-or-giveaway-arc
I wanted to like this book. It sounded like a funny take on a post apocalypse story. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.
The story seemed disjointed and awkward in the beginning. It did not help that the writing jumped from around between standard novel format, to a play format. This change was distracting and didn’t lend anything to the story.
Sophie was an unlikely heroine. A self-doubting, middle-aged woman who is now a drug dealer, Sophie is a hard woman to understand and lik...more
The story seemed disjointed and awkward in the beginning. It did not help that the writing jumped from around between standard novel format, to a play format. This change was distracting and didn’t lend anything to the story.
Sophie was an unlikely heroine. A self-doubting, middle-aged woman who is now a drug dealer, Sophie is a hard woman to understand and lik...more
I really enjoyed this book. Sort of typical story of an ordinary person thrust into becoming a hero by the chaos at the end of the world. But it's imaginative, entertaining, and very human. And funny--can't leave that out. Plus it takes place in Portland, so I recognize the places. Kind of reminds me of when I lived in Pittsburgh and Night of the Living Dead came out...
Aug 07, 2012
Heidi
marked it as to-read
Aug 14, 2012
Cathy
marked it as to-read
Recommended by AM Northwest
Really liked it. It was smart and funny, while also being a story about a post apocalyptic world. The recreated civilization the characters inhabit is a very interesting one. Post apocalyptic Portland. Hearing it described as a Cormac McCarthy meets Christopher Moore book is a slight exaggeration but only slightly. I get that vibe from it, too.
Apr 28, 2013
Ariana Willet
marked it as to-read
Apr 22, 2013
Michele
marked it as to-read
Apr 19, 2013
Robin
marked it as to-read
Apr 09, 2013
Megan
marked it as to-read
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Anne Mendel was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. She did, in fact, attend Mrs. Ashleigh’s Charm School.
Before writing, rewriting and rewriting became her life’s work, she was a community organizer. She never worked with Barack Obama.
She lives with her husband Mark in Portland, Oregon. Her children live back east. Her muse is her dog Humphrey.
More about Anne Mendel...
Before writing, rewriting and rewriting became her life’s work, she was a community organizer. She never worked with Barack Obama.
She lives with her husband Mark in Portland, Oregon. Her children live back east. Her muse is her dog Humphrey.
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May 08, 2013 07:54pm