Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America
From the author of the literary pulp phenomenon Spaceman Blues comes a future history cautionary tale, a heist movie in the style of a h... read full description
reviews
Apr 02, 2011
Ben
rated it: 
When confronted by the uncertain future, we look to our past. We look to it for answers, for enlightenment, for inspiration. Mostly we look to it because we have nowhere else to look. This is natural, but it's also dangerous, for we have a tendency to romanticize the past: everything was better before we had electricity, urbanization, automation; life was simpler, slower, satisfying. Sometimes we get caught up in that idyllic illusion of a pastoral existence and forget about the disease, the
More...
0 comments
like
(5 people liked it)
Nov 22, 2008
Michael
rated it: 
This hippie Vonnegut Mad Max tale, reminded me of Tim Robbins writing about a Manhattan transformed like Romero's Pittsburgh in Land of the Dead, after an economic apocalypse much like the current crisis. The dollar dies. The government dissolves, and the action of the story takes place five years later, when the losers have lost their lives and the remaining are struggling to hold on to their own. Slattery's exposition is superb in a conversational manner, as if he's sitting the reader down
More...
0 comments
like
(6 people liked it)
Oct 24, 2008
vladimir
rated it: 
I unabashedly love this book!
Sure, it's about apocalypse (in this case socio-economic), and the story is spun around the reuniting of a group of master criminals, but at its core "Liberation" is about people, about the myth of America, and how normal people deal with calamity and find unexpected reserves of courage and goodness in the midst of it all.
Slattery, using the guise of an entity called the Vibe[edit], explores a splintered American landscape--horrors More...
Sure, it's about apocalypse (in this case socio-economic), and the story is spun around the reuniting of a group of master criminals, but at its core "Liberation" is about people, about the myth of America, and how normal people deal with calamity and find unexpected reserves of courage and goodness in the midst of it all.
Slattery, using the guise of an entity called the Vibe[edit], explores a splintered American landscape--horrors More...
2 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Dec 16, 2008
Chadwick
rated it:
Buh-buh-buh-bitchin'. A cracking good adventure story with beguilingly poetic prose. Slattery weaves an entrancing magpie future America out of the myth and ephemera of the one we live in, and inhabits it with a cast of characters that are drawn half from superhero comics and James Bond movies and half from heroic epic. Which half is which I'm not sure.
Sep 25, 2011
Brian
rated it:
this book is pretty much awesome. it is kind of like oceans eleven teams up with wolverine. and then there is the economic collapse in the united states which leads to a state of bedlam.
the rest of the world ticks on. and this is one of the reasons i liked this book so much - because the rest of the world ticked on. generally, as i recall, dystopian or post-apocalyptic books set in the u.s. dont ever give a real clear picture of whats happening in the rest of the world and the More...
the rest of the world ticks on. and this is one of the reasons i liked this book so much - because the rest of the world ticked on. generally, as i recall, dystopian or post-apocalyptic books set in the u.s. dont ever give a real clear picture of whats happening in the rest of the world and the More...
Feb 27, 2009
Mike
rated it:
From pg. 51:
The building and all its books are still intact, she knows; the employees of the library madea spontaneous pact to defend it as soon as the police force stopped working, and now they just live in the building. They hauled beds into the offices and corners of the huge reading rooms, put plaid couches against the marble walls. An army of cats patrols the halls, has litters on the stairs. She imagines that some of the librarians are fulfilling a long cherished fantasy. I More...
The building and all its books are still intact, she knows; the employees of the library madea spontaneous pact to defend it as soon as the police force stopped working, and now they just live in the building. They hauled beds into the offices and corners of the huge reading rooms, put plaid couches against the marble walls. An army of cats patrols the halls, has litters on the stairs. She imagines that some of the librarians are fulfilling a long cherished fantasy. I More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Feb 18, 2009
Alan
rated it:
I really hope Slattery's late Bush-era vision isn't prescient. Beneath the frantic activity, funny names and prolix chapter headings, Liberation harbors deep sadness and considerable desperation - it's McCarthy's The Road with a clown mask on, both manic and frightening.
The scenario certainly seems all too plausible. The Apocalypse this time is economic. The American dollar collapses abruptly and drags down most of the world's economy with it. The rule of law is ended. In a few short More...
The scenario certainly seems all too plausible. The Apocalypse this time is economic. The American dollar collapses abruptly and drags down most of the world's economy with it. The rule of law is ended. In a few short More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Apr 05, 2009
Brendan
rated it:
Slattery writes of an anarchic United States after the dollar has collapsed and the country has ripped itself apart. Slavery has returned as an organized venture (people on the verge of starving to death sell themselves into slavery, and slavers capture refugees from war torn areas), and the Slick Six, a gang of master criminals, has to figure out how to navigate the wasteland.
The characters and story throb with a wealth of detail: Slattery imagines a variety of social and societal More...
The characters and story throb with a wealth of detail: Slattery imagines a variety of social and societal More...
2 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Mar 06, 2011
Tim
rated it:
"There are no more Monday mornings. This is what you get."
Liberation is a story of an America struggling to forget its past as it moves forward into an uncertain future. America's government and society have collapsed - not due to nuclear war, or supervirus pandemic, but under the weight of its crushing foreign debts. Given the state of current affairs in the world, this outcome doesn't seem all that far-fetched, and it helps ground the book and make it seem more immediate More...
Liberation is a story of an America struggling to forget its past as it moves forward into an uncertain future. America's government and society have collapsed - not due to nuclear war, or supervirus pandemic, but under the weight of its crushing foreign debts. Given the state of current affairs in the world, this outcome doesn't seem all that far-fetched, and it helps ground the book and make it seem more immediate More...
Jul 20, 2009
Greg
rated it: 
I don't remember where I read that this was one of the better science fiction books of last year. If that's truly the case, then I feel sorry for anyone who read the others. This was awful.
The story revolves around a group of high-end con-artist/thieves as they try to "get the band back together." This takes place in a future America that has been completely changed by the devaluation of the dollar. Apparently, the dollar is declared to have zero value. This results in the More...
The story revolves around a group of high-end con-artist/thieves as they try to "get the band back together." This takes place in a future America that has been completely changed by the devaluation of the dollar. Apparently, the dollar is declared to have zero value. This results in the More...
Jan 05, 2010
Armand
rated it:
Bold and imperfect vision of a future America in which our currency has collapsed and slavery is once again legal.
Part sci-fi/crime thriller, part history lesson, part meditation of what it means to be an American, part tribute to music from the 60's and 70's, this oddball novel covers a lot of ground in the story of six super-criminals (but mostly just one, a hitman named Marco) who are out to stop slavery by defeating a New York mob boss who is funding the peculiar institution.
More...
Part sci-fi/crime thriller, part history lesson, part meditation of what it means to be an American, part tribute to music from the 60's and 70's, this oddball novel covers a lot of ground in the story of six super-criminals (but mostly just one, a hitman named Marco) who are out to stop slavery by defeating a New York mob boss who is funding the peculiar institution.
More...
Jun 02, 2011
Stephanie
rated it:
Lyrical, spiraling, swirling book that is an action-packed adventure, a love story, a cautionary tale of American folly and a love letter to its landscapes. At times the lyricism is earth-shatteringly beautiful, at others it tends to go on too long--yes, the earth is rising up underneath us, we will fight until our bones are shattering into dust. I find myself searching for the plot, how it's moved forward by an enormous cast of characters, each with their own histories and personalities, someho
More...
Dec 12, 2009
Wendy
rated it:
This book was a fantastic play of morality and judgment in a world where black and white are simply paid lip-service and righteousness comes in shades like technicolor. Disjointed and chaotic, but the path which the narrative takes can still be followed. The author references unexplained phenomena throughout the book and the way in which he does so actually drove me to hope that there would be no explanation- no solid resolution. This is a book given just enough framework to allow the reader's
More...
Apr 20, 2009
Chris
rated it:
EPIC! Post apocalyptic distopian at it's best. Without borrowing too much from the classics: We, Hand Maid's Tale, 1984 and Brave New World, it gives a nod to it's predecessors and wisely explores and expands the genre.
If you liked Spaceman Blues, his first book, you find this one especially enjoyable, as it shows a growth in the writer, but maintains the quality/style that made his first book so good.
Bigs ups to Corey D of Boingboing for promoting this book.
More...
If you liked Spaceman Blues, his first book, you find this one especially enjoyable, as it shows a growth in the writer, but maintains the quality/style that made his first book so good.
Bigs ups to Corey D of Boingboing for promoting this book.
More...
Apr 21, 2009
Mattzog
rated it: 
Author was trying too hard to be Pynchon. No consistent internal logic. Some parts would be neat, but then there would be something TERRIBLY STUPID. If they can fly DJs into Vegas from Europe for a party, THEN WHY CAN'T THEY FLY SOMEONE IN TO FIX THE DAWN?!?
Rarely do I throw a book down in disgust, but I did on 3 occassions with Liberation. But I kept reading and finished it. So it's a mixed reaction.
I'll read something new from Brian Slattery. It feels like he's got p More...
Rarely do I throw a book down in disgust, but I did on 3 occassions with Liberation. But I kept reading and finished it. So it's a mixed reaction.
I'll read something new from Brian Slattery. It feels like he's got p More...
Jul 28, 2011
I was almost hesitant to read this because I just read "Spaceman Blues" before this. While that one was good, it was very surreal, and a bit of a tough read. Not so with "Liberation." This is a fascinating book that looks at an America after a complete economic collapse. Slattery's prose has a gentle flow, even as he describes horrific conditions. I felt my stomach churn at some points, but there were also some predictable plot points. No matter. If your looking for a new tw
More...
Sep 30, 2010
Steev
rated it:
This is a fun book, a page-turner, but also very thought-provoking about the end of the industrial and political United States.
Anyone who is thinking about possible ways things could go after industrial collapse would do well to read this. It doesn't provide a wholly realistic vision, but it provides a lot of little scenarios, different characters and communities that react to the collapse and survive (or don't) in various ways.
The big flaw of the story is the premise th More...
Anyone who is thinking about possible ways things could go after industrial collapse would do well to read this. It doesn't provide a wholly realistic vision, but it provides a lot of little scenarios, different characters and communities that react to the collapse and survive (or don't) in various ways.
The big flaw of the story is the premise th More...
May 02, 2011
Elijah
rated it:
First of all, it should be pointed out that Slattery's authorial voice, on a sentence-by-sentence, word-by-word basis is dense and captivating. There is so much going on in every line of this book, so many beautifully-described details and inferences and ideas, that I often found myself re-reading paragraphs one or two times to make sure I really understood what was in them. Usually that would be a complaint, coming from me, but somehow Liberation managed to be dense and difficult and compulsive
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jun 27, 2010
Travis
rated it:
It's all but impossible to read a book about the collapse of the United States without looking out the window and wondering, what if? How would we manage? Where would we go, or would we stay right here? What would we be willing to do to survive? Has the relative ease of our current lives ruined us for survival in such a world? Just how bad would things get?
My suspicion is things would get pretty bad. We don't exactly have the most just society in the world, so if the old rules were More...
My suspicion is things would get pretty bad. We don't exactly have the most just society in the world, so if the old rules were More...
Dec 03, 2009
Beldon
rated it:
This is a wonderful book that needs to be read by lots more people.
Brian Francis Slattery turns what could have been a run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic adventure into a great and varied tapestry of events that never loses contact with the ground. The stories are plausible, the mythology tight, and the characters as wide-ranging as the United States itself.
The story starts five years after an apocalyptic meltdown of the US financial system. Brian Slattery has a day job a More...
Brian Francis Slattery turns what could have been a run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic adventure into a great and varied tapestry of events that never loses contact with the ground. The stories are plausible, the mythology tight, and the characters as wide-ranging as the United States itself.
The story starts five years after an apocalyptic meltdown of the US financial system. Brian Slattery has a day job a More...
Nov 06, 2011
Logan
rated it:
Ever since stumbling across this book's title on a year's best list compiled by Cory Doctorow I have been excited to read it. I mean, look at that title! Who wouldn't be intrigued by this? It sounds like exactly the rollicking yarn that I crave from my post-apocalyptic fiction. As such, when the time came to choose a few books for a long plane ride, this jumped to the top of the stack.
It did not disappoint. An exceptionally quick read written in a slapdash fashion that would wor More...
It did not disappoint. An exceptionally quick read written in a slapdash fashion that would wor More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Mar 13, 2009
Scott
rated it:
I didn't know much about this book except it was recommended by boingboing. Let me be the first to say I find a bit of Cory Doctorow's taste to be quite different from my - I think I'm less of a fanboy. That said, this was one of the good ones. It was reading a book premised on the collapse of America (it's right there in the title) as we watch our economy collapse and can see the writing on the wall that our empire is at an end. And thank god. Liberation is in many ways a sobering look, humorou
More...
Mar 21, 2009
Michael
rated it:
An imagining of the US after a complete spontaneous economic breakdown. The topic might be a little *too* relevant to the present time for some.
What does this bankrupt American wasteland look like? Starvation and violence has killed the majority of the population. A drug lord rules Manhattan. Slavery is back with a vengenance. But there are signs of hope--people are eeking out an existence, and perhaps the country could return to some level of normalcy, if only there were a gr More...
What does this bankrupt American wasteland look like? Starvation and violence has killed the majority of the population. A drug lord rules Manhattan. Slavery is back with a vengenance. But there are signs of hope--people are eeking out an existence, and perhaps the country could return to some level of normalcy, if only there were a gr More...
Apr 07, 2010
Drake
rated it:
After amazon.com gave ‘Liberation’ its best sci-fi book of the year some time back, I decided that I had to read it. As with most highly praised sci-fi books, it did not live up to the hype. It was completely style over plotting, characters, and the story. And worse, the style was an obvious stoner rip-off of the 1960s, or what has become the mythicized 1960s. Perhaps, there was a time when I actually might have bought into this, but now, older and cynical, it just comes off as terrible stor
More...
Jul 26, 2009
Ricardo
rated it:
The writing is amazing. That can't be said enough. But the plot does go all over the place and seems to have no direction. The highlight of the narrative has to be the descriptions of this future collapse and the results of no government or infrastructure. This is basically a road trip through a failed state and while what happens at the end isn't an ultimate solution, the endings for these characters are perfectly poignant. You could read far, far worse novels this year.
Nov 03, 2011
Craig
rated it:
In LIBERATION, a group of criminals who fed off of civilization come together to try to restore the USA after it collapses. Slattery has a literary writing style that packs every page dense with concepts and strong mental images. It is a book that your eyes eat. But a bit confusing, the characters underdeveloped, the climax unsettling in that it resolves little. In short, you must love the writing to like this book.
May 05, 2009
Reid
rated it:
A cool, psychedelic romp through a post-financial collapse in america, following a crew of tripped-out terrorists as they try to take down the lave trade. the book evokes a lot of the imagery and ethos of fight club, but more fleshed-out, beautiful page-long paragraphs describing the medley of food, the way the sunlight shimmered off the bike spokes used as skewers for roasting meat, etc. a cool book, good debut.
Feb 02, 2009
Rob
rated it:
I expected to like this a lot more than I did based on the description and rave reviews on other sites. The last 1/2 of the book just fell flat for me. The first half was interesting and fun and then all of a sudden it lost all momentum. I finished it out of a sense of obligation as opposed to actual desire to see the outcome. I don't really recommend it.
Mar 09, 2010
Sarah
rated it:
Besides reading like the novel version of the next Robert Rodriguez movie (not a bad thing at all in my opinion), the style of the writing is beautiful and distinctive. It flows scene to scene seamlessly, much like a fevered dream. I highly recommend this book for those who love apocalyptic science fiction and are looking for something a little different.
