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The Death of Grass

by John Christopher, Robert Macfarlane (Introduction)

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 1,802 ratings · 182 reviews

The Death of Grass is a '56 post-apocalyptic sf novel written by the British author Samuel Youd under the pen name of John Christopher, the 1st in a series of post-apocalyptic novels by him. It deals with the concept of a virus that kills off all forms of grass. The novel was written "in a matter of weeks" & liberated Youd from his day job. It was retitled No Blade of...more

Paperback, 194 pages

Published 2009 by Penguin (first published 1956)

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Classic Science Fiction - 1950-1959

25th out of 71 books — 43 voters

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Dec 09, 2011 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, world-in-the-shitter, survival, 1954-1969, science-fiction, post-apocalypse

It’s a depressing sack of sadness that this exceptional post-apocalyptic story is not more widely read…534 ratings as of the time of this review...a travesty. I’m going to try and spread some love and hopefully find this wonderful book some more friends with whom to spend the holidays.

The central theme of the novel: How delicate and fragile is the veneer of civilization and how quickly the survival instinct can subdue, handcuff and gag the better angels of our nature.

Written in the 1950’s, thi...more

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Apr 06, 2010 Simon rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sf

I don't know who it was that said we're only ever three meals away from revolution but this book brings that phrase to life by showing that, no matter how civilized we think we are, however stable our society seems to be, we are never that far away from barbarity.

This book may have been more aptly named had it been called "The Death of Civilization". Yes, a virus does emerge that attacks all forms of grass and spreads virulently across the globe defying mankind's attempts to halt it in its track...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Tfitoby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lit, sci-fi

The world-famous novel of the ultimate famine!

The Death of Grass by John Christopher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Essential Must-Read Seemingly Forgotten Dystopian Classic

Blurb: The Death of Grass is an entirely original kind of science-fiction - it is not about space-travel, time-travel, or mechanical men. It recounts the terrifying changes on the face of the earth when the balance of nature is upset - and it takes place not in the future but now.

The characters are middle class people who live...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Robert rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi

There's a good introduction in this edition that discusses, among other things, how this work compares with John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids and William Golding's Lord of the Flies. In that analysis Day off the Triffids comes of badly.

The reason for the comparison is obvious: both are apocalyptic SF novels where plants are at the root of the problem ( Ducks flying rotting vegetables in response to that pun. Oops, another one slipped out...) set in Britain by British authors writing in the same...more There's a good introduction in this edition that discusses, among other things, how this work compares with John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids and William Golding's Lord of the Flies. In that analysis Day off the Triffids comes of badly.

The reason for the comparison is obvious: both are apocalyptic SF novels where plants are at the root of the problem ( Ducks flying rotting vegetables in response to that pun. Oops, another one slipped out...) set in Britain by British authors writing in the same period of the 20th Century. The introduction is very dismissive of Wyndham's effort, basically because the book is more optimistic than Christopher's, which is unremittingly grim, right up to the last sentence. However, my feeling is that there is not much difference in their view points about what would happen in the case of the total break down of society; in Wyndham's case there just happens to be a place where that hasn't happened. The conversations characters have about women, work, education and marriage reherse exactly the same arguments and attitudes, but Wyndham's heroine has the most progressive attitude of any of the people in either book. She was a gal ahead of her time.

Where Christopher is more successful than Wyndham is in his basic scenario, plot construction and braver characterisation. The idea that a virus could wipe out all species of grass is a lot more plausible than that of herds of sentient, mobile plants on the loose...the journey to re-unite family and find a safe refuge in the face of national or world disaster is now the stock of an entire sub-genre of Holywood films...but neither Wyndham, nor Holywood (most of the time, anyway), takes as protagonist a man who is willing to consider any action in order to save his family, or what real psychological pressures of that kind might do to him when he adopts a leadership role. This latter is what really makes The Death of Grass stand out - and what calls to mind Lord of the Flies. The difference there is that Lord of the Flies examines the process of establishing leadership by contrasting two characters; one the most likely to get everyone through their ordeal safely, the other, the naturally charismatic leader with a will to power. Christopher instead shows an evolution of character in his main protagonist from Piggy to Lead Choirboy (whose name I can't recall).(This analogy works in approximate terms, only.)

The book is well thought out, well constructed, well written, has a good ending and takes an interesting, not oft examined approach to moral questions that puts me in mind of Roger Zelazny's more extreme character arcs in Jack of Shadows and Changeling and...J.G. Ballard. It is perhaps this latter that makes me give The Death of Grass only three stars instead of four: I recently read Rushing to Paradise, which also examines the breakdown of society but is, somehow, a much more thrilling, frightening and gripping read.(less)

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Feb 04, 2012 moshimoshineko rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: SF fans, fans of dystopian novels, sociologists

Shelves: sf

I really wanted to give this book 4 stars as I was reading it - I found it incredibly engrossing and the character and situation they find themselves in are pretty believable and amazing all at the same time.

However, like Day of the Triffids, this one left me cold at the end. Where is the proper ending to this book? Surely that couldn't just have been it! But it was and it made me sad and hoping for a sequel- I read this in a matter of hours and that's rare.

So the book follows John Custance as...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Marvin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Very good post-apocalyptic novel that realistically depicts the break-down of society in the wake of a global disaster. In this 1956 obscure but classic sci-fi thriller, the breakdown is caused by a virus that annihilates all grasses on earth. But while civilization devolves into dog-eat-dog, I couldn't help thinking how our protagonists were so damn polite about it. Every time they took a savage reaction they would verbally explain it to others. I guess that's the British for you. But seriously...more

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Oct 01, 2012 Tamahome rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shows what happens in an apocalypse when all grass is dead and everyone has to fight for the leftover potatoes. Unfortunately the cattle live on grass so they die out too. (Wait, don't the factory farms feed them corn and soymeal)? Moral lines become fuzzy, hell they're obliterated. Not exactly a light, breezy read, but well done. Short and dialog driven, 'Scalzi-an'?, works well as an audiobook, if you can find it. Goodreads says it's only 200 pages. Who writes novels that short these days? I h...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people who overly love their lawns

Recommended to Mark by: Stephen

Shelves: the-natural-world, my-skelton-shelf, world-going-to-hell-in-a-handcart

A number of people have remarked at this novel's similarity to the novels of John Wyndham and I would agree up to a point. I have always loved the novels of Wyndham and all his chilling elements run rife here. That sense of ' Good grief, this could happen if such and such took place'. The disaster arising out of ordinary lives, the horrifying realization that this is happening to people who are only divided from me by a few decades, that it is therefore my society which is being torn apart not s...more A number of people have remarked at this novel's similarity to the novels of John Wyndham and I would agree up to a point. I have always loved the novels of Wyndham and all his chilling elements run rife here. That sense of ' Good grief, this could happen if such and such took place'. The disaster arising out of ordinary lives, the horrifying realization that this is happening to people who are only divided from me by a few decades, that it is therefore my society which is being torn apart not some foreign land or fantasy kingdom or distant planet or parallel universe, not orcs or vampires or superthugs or talking bears but normal, ordinary, happy, sad, whiney, moaney brits.

The arrogant dismissal by the powers that be of the virus which is killing off all the grasses of the world and therefore plummeting the whole of the planet into starvation and vicious life and death struggles is a very apposite and relevant one as our world inevitably has to face up to if not the imminent disaster of vegetation extniction then at least the reality of growing populations and the provision of adequate food and water. Thus as i read this book I was continually hearing distant echoes of questions being asked by our societies but not being answered. Of Governments of the world sticking their collective finger into the dam whilst new cracks and dangerous bulges signalled their appearance. It is a sobering book because it made me think not so much about the brutal nature of humanity losing its slight veneer of goodness and nobility in a future disaster but rather because it made me ask myself why do i not say more about the already massive difference in the scales of wealth and poverty, surfeit or absence.

The cold and unemotional account of a society's collapse into anarchy and ruin is extraordinary and the swift onset of marauding bands of brutalized murderers and petrified travellers is believable up to a point. However my difficulty was that Christopher appeared to equate might with right. Wyndham's characters fight for survival and kill when attacked, John Custance, Christopher's hero, leaps into violence and never seems to try to put a brake on it. The violence is constant and seemingly unthinking and I cannot help but wonder how those who make it through to their sanctuary will ever be able to step back from what they have done.

Wyndham's stories are about men and women fighting for survival in a hostile environment but ever keeping their eyes on the longed for prize of victory which restores humanity to a place of truth perhaps challenged and sobered but still recognizably caring and compassionate for the vulnerable. Christopher's human tribe has cast off not just suburban respectability but any semblance of collective responsibility for the weak or needy. Innocents are snuffed out simply because they live in a farm house, brash oafs and unfaithful wives haven't a hope. At one point one of the young boys collapses with an horrific blister having hobbled bravely for far longer than he ought without telling anyone. His reasoning when asked was ' If i couldn't walk - i thought you might leave me'. The irony of this statement is he is the son of the only couple who come out of the story with, it seems to me, the best chance of moving on into a new life where they will still be able to sleep.

The 'hero' is a complex and unattractive character but I think it is his wife who i find the most difficult to fathom. She encounters appalling hardship and suffering and some of her actions are perfectly understandable in their context but it is her reactions in the closing pages of the novel which i found most peculiar. Her mood changes and suddenly from nowhere she appears as a pale imitation of Lady Macbeth, not exactly egging on but justifying and standardizing the violence and refusing to take the responsibility for herself or her husband which might have signalled some sort of redemption.

The sequel, now that would be a book worth reading. The questions left unanswered in this story were too huge to be left unanswered. The leaders of this little band who had fought its way through to this sanctuary was far too bloodsoaked and had made far too many horrifying decisions or at least assumptions to be able to sink into rest and stability. The violence and bloodshed are a ticking bomb and it remains only superficially buried in the Cumbrian valley and it is this which negates Christopher's story and moves it to a 3.5 rather than a 4.

The book made me think and question and cringe and sharply breathe in and in a novel purporting to be exciting that cannot be bad. Violence and tyranny, questions of responsibility and the implications of leadership, the balance of Nature and the arrogance of misplaced science and human limitation. All good stuff and all wrapped up in a very exciting narrative. Well worth a read.

ps. Another character called Skelton. Adds to the shelf(less)

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May 14, 2013 Veeral rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: post-apokalipsa, apokalipsa, eco-thriller, classics, favorites-of-2013, favorites

How many pages are absolutely necessary to tell a gripping, frightening story? 50? 200? 400? 1200, in case your editor died? Editors are extinct anyways.

My favorite is the shortest science fiction story written by Fredric Brown called “The Knock”, only two sentences long and as it happens; has fewer words than this paragraph. Here it is, in its entirety:

“The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door….”

17 words. And yet it implies toward innumerable possibilities, eac...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Preeti rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: post-apocalypse fans

Recommended to Preeti by: Stephen

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, goodreads-reco

On the back cover of the version I own, there is a blurb from the Financial Times: "Gripping... of all fiction's apocalypses, this is one of the most haunting."

Gripping is the perfect word to describe this book. I would also add scary and horrifying.

The story follows the family of John Custance as they travel across England to try to make it to his brother's farm, after a virus ravages the world, ridding it of all forms of grass. This includes the entire family of Gramineae, all 10,000 species o...more On the back cover of the version I own, there is a blurb from the Financial Times: "Gripping... of all fiction's apocalypses, this is one of the most haunting."

Gripping is the perfect word to describe this book. I would also add scary and horrifying.

The story follows the family of John Custance as they travel across England to try to make it to his brother's farm, after a virus ravages the world, ridding it of all forms of grass. This includes the entire family of Gramineae, all 10,000 species of grass, including major crop plants such as wheat, barley, oats, and rye. You can imagine the effects of something like this, basically leading to famine.

The story starts off as the virus begins its spread in Asian countries, not having reached the Western world. It's quite amusing, and like looking into a mirror, when you read how the various characters react to the events "over there," somewhere far away. When the virus finally makes its way over to the Western world, particularly Europe and England, that's when the depth of the problem reaches home - literally and otherwise, I guess.

I found this book enthralling because it takes a look at how humans might actually react in the face of such an apocalypse. I feel that books can and tend to be more savage, and thus, more realistic than what you might find in movies. Movies are usually trying to appeal to a broader audience, and often "need" to have non-bleak outlooks, whereas I don't think books suffer from the same confines. This is definitely true here.

I just couldn't put the book down. I ended up finishing the whole thing in the night, finally putting it down at 3:30am because I kept thinking, only a couple more pages! - until I finished the whole damn thing.

I bought and read this one thanks to Stephen, who has, as usual, a way better review than mine that you ought to take a look at. When I was in grade school or middle school, I read some of Christopher's other books, The White Mountain series. While I don't remember much in detail, I do recall liking them.

This is definitely a great book, and recommended for post-apocalypse genre fans. I think interest is rising in it again (originally written in the 1950s) and it's been republished. The version I have is new - a Penguin Modern Classic. There is an intro at the beginning of this version which is worth a read.

To end, quite an apt quote, especially in light of what's going on in the world today:

In a way, I think I feel it would be more right for the virus to win, anyway. For years now, we've treated the land as though it were a piggy-bank, to be raided. And the land, after all, is life itself.

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May 21, 2011 Sally906 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

DEATH OF GRASS (aka No Blade of Grass) is a terrifyingly good book. Terrifying because in this day of genetically engineered crops the plot is plausible and you wish that it wasn’t.

It is dystopian (or doomsday) tale where the world is facing death by starvation. In DEATH OF GRASS the end of the world as we know it is brought about by the Chung-Li virus. This is a disease that starts in China and kills off all grass species – not just the grass on the front lawn but rice, wheat, barley and rye. F...more DEATH OF GRASS (aka No Blade of Grass) is a terrifyingly good book. Terrifying because in this day of genetically engineered crops the plot is plausible and you wish that it wasn’t.

It is dystopian (or doomsday) tale where the world is facing death by starvation. In DEATH OF GRASS the end of the world as we know it is brought about by the Chung-Li virus. This is a disease that starts in China and kills off all grass species – not just the grass on the front lawn but rice, wheat, barley and rye. Food staples for every human and most animals – especially the ones human‘s eat. China falls to famine, and then the virus spreads to South-East Asia, India and the Soviet Union, and before long grasses are dying in Great Britain.

In England John and his friend Roger continue to eat their bread and cakes feeling safe. John’s brother owns a farm in a valley in the north of England and feels that the virus is going to arrive in England, he urges John and his family to move in with him. John dismisses this and returns to his home in London. He believes the government when it assured Britons that a genetically engineered bio-weapon has been found to destroy the virus. Gradually John and Roger realise that the government has been lying, and the genetically engineered weapon has made things much worse. The virus has arrived and Britain now has little to no footstock to feed its residents. Almost immediately they learn that the government has come up with a plan to reduce the population, the two families have to get out of London and fast and head for the farm.

From this point DEATH OF GRASS focuses on the breakdown of society and is chilling in the way it portrays the desperation of people to survive. Life for the characters quickly becomes survival of the fittest and that life quickly gets very brutal. John and his friend are now heading north with their young family as society falls apart both civilly and morally, picking up guns and stragglers to strengthen their numbers. Will they reach safety? What is safety?

DEATH OF GRASS is bleak, but it is hard to write a happy end of the world scenario. Written in the 1950s the roles of men and women are a bit dated and likely to offend some who don’t take the time context into consideration. I enjoyed the story which is now widely regarded as a ‘classic.’ Author, John Christopher, is a very talented and very underrated writer and needs more recognition for his work.(less)

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Apr 10, 2009 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars

The republishing in the UK of this classic, long out of print, is an unexpectedly good read, though its content is very, very bleak. Now perhaps in these days of global warming, Asian bird flu and genetically modified crops, it is perhaps time for a revaluation.

The story begins with the announcement of a virus, the Chung-Li virus, appearing in Asia wiping out grass and members of the grass family species. Though the announcements are made, little change is noticeable to John Custance and his fam...more

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Apr 13, 2008 Raegan Butcher rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: hungry people and gun control advocates

John Christopher writes some pretty gripping science fiction novels about alien invasions (The Tripod trilogy) catastrophic shifts in the earth's weather (The Long Winter) and terrifying tales of the savagery that humans revert to when civilization breaks down (A Wrinkle In The Skin)-- potent stuff indeed. His books share with JG BALLARD a fascination for post-apocalyptic settings but are really psychological character studies about how people change to fit their environments. This book is perha...more

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Aug 06, 2011 Ioan Prydderch added it

The scariness of this novel lies in the fact that in the age of awareness about Swine Flu and other global pandemics which cause so much hysteria, we have already seen fleeting glimpses of how the human species can get so scared and revert to its nakedly selfish nature. There is little room for liberalism -or any other human emotions- that gradually run in short supply as the novel progresses. Indeed, the journey set about by John's 'chosen' people to the land of milk and honey sheds a far great...more The scariness of this novel lies in the fact that in the age of awareness about Swine Flu and other global pandemics which cause so much hysteria, we have already seen fleeting glimpses of how the human species can get so scared and revert to its nakedly selfish nature. There is little room for liberalism -or any other human emotions- that gradually run in short supply as the novel progresses. Indeed, the journey set about by John's 'chosen' people to the land of milk and honey sheds a far greater insight on basic human immorality than any other similar journeys taken upon by a group of people. [Credit to Christopher, he doesn't send his protagonist up a mountain in the Peak District to fetch some tablets to stop all the madness.]

The literal/figurative journey and battling is as a meme as old as civilisation itself perhaps. The journey undertaken by the group across a country of environmental devastation is figurative for the so called 'progress' of the species itself that has as David Custance says' treated the land like a piggy-bank' for so long.

Whilst food shortages have never been a serious issue in my lifetime they were still a part of John Christopher's 1950s Britain or at least the population at large had experienced it. Hence this was probably even more scary back when it was published.

However, there remains very relevant criticism and themes. Firstly, the role of the state in this novel is one of detriment to its population and the environment. The state is portrayed as the weaver of lies against the true interests of the population. Furthermore, the rumour is spread that the government will drop atom bombs on major population centres in order to create a subsistence population. Whilst not an arm of the state the Optimal Population Trust consisting of leading ecologists are calling for the implementation of a sustainable population. On a more minor note in relation to the so-called death of grass the reason why the effects are felt so badly is due to government subsidies that encourage agricultural overproduction of wheat against the lay wisdom of local farmers who see more sense in growing potatoes; in the age of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy it remains as ever relevant.

Secondly, with the proponents of GM crops claim that science and technology can solve the problems facing agriculture in the present day, Christopher presents a typical ecologist's view of scientific humanism. For a short while it is believed that scientists have found the silver bullet antidote for the Chung Li virus that has rampaged its way across Asia and Europe. This turns out to be false hope and Gaia's footsoldier kicks back with a vengeance. As David Custance says there is not always an alternative in relation to exceeding the carrying capacity of an ecosystem's natural resources.

Furthermore, there are elements of a land ethic in David Custance's attitude towards land ownership and understanding its carrying capacity. In stark contrast his brother the fiercely masculine figurehead that is modern man would rather engineer a city of civilisation.

Upon his brother John finally making it to the valley having acquired so many more followers out of little more than self interest, this rationale proves to bring about a tragedy of Biblical proportions.

Some of the more action packed scenes make for lightly entertaining reading with the author showing a vague glance of the state of nature which humans took so long to exit but enter again so easily.

In conclusion, The Death of Grass displays not only how susceptible humanity is to ecological crises but also how easy the thin veneer of respectable selfishness can descend in out and out anarchy. Given the fact that this was first published in the 1950s and the fact that a film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road is set to sale to box office success, Christopher's novel is unmistakably ahead of its time in its capacity to imagine an eco-apocalypse.

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Jan 27, 2013 Unwisely rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013, science-fiction

Hunh, apparently I don't have a tag for "post apocalyptic", although "during apocalyptic" might be more apropos. I do love books about this topic, and this one is novel both because of its age and because famine is the number one driver (not merely a side effect of something else). The debates about what Britain should do as the world crumbled were fascinating (and of course is echoed in every disaster debate going on now). Help the other regions collapsing? Stockpile food for Britain? (It's a B...more

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Nov 24, 2012 Si Barron rated it 4 of 5 stars

I got this book 2 years ago because I heard a Radio 4 adaptation of it which I thought was rather good. The book itself has been out of print apparently for quite some time- WHY? I wonder.

It's a very good 1950s apocalypse scenario: somewhat bleaker and less imaginative than John Whyndam; but a highly enjoyable read.

Some virus kills off all the grass which leads to all the animals dying and then mass food crisis of course. Anyway this is all dealt with fairly perfunctorilly and then we get to the...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Pete Young rated it 5 of 5 stars

The lesser-known of the two great ‘floral apocalypses’ of the period, the other being John Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids to which this bears little resemblance. The Death of Grass is actually a far better read, and there’s certainly a greater similarity to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies in the way it shows civilisation as little more than a fragile set of agreements, easily ignored when the chips are down as the world’s diseased food chain collapses and Britain descends into anarchy. Th...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Erin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

This was not good. This was, in fact, dreadful. The writing was crap, the characters were all unlikable, it was racist and misogynist, and the plot was incredibly boring. That's right, a book about people trying to survive an apocalypse was boring.

So, I guess, good job on that, John Christopher. You wrote a shitty, boring book about an apocalypse, which is kind of difficult to do.

ETA: I think what makes me the most angry about this book is that there are plenty of ways to write about how thin th...more

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Aug 27, 2012 Metello rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: digitale, sci-fi

La vicenda è "semplice": un virus sta distruggendo tutta l'erba, compreso riso, grano, eccetera, il mondo si avvia quindi verso una crisi alimentare. Un uomo cerca di salvare la sua famiglia arrivando ad un rifiguio sicuro, il problema è arrivarci.

Il libro è ben scritto e non ha nulla da invidiare ai film thriller/post apocalittici che si vedono al cinema, tiene benissimo la tensione e l'atmosfera, attaccandoti ai personaggi e allo svolgimento. Mai banale, non sbrodola ma porta il lettore fino a...more

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May 02, 2012 Peter Kebbell rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you keep in mind that this was written in the 1950s, and read it in that context, it makes a pretty good read. It does a good job of capturing some significant elements of post-war British politics and culture. The main problem is, it hasn't aged well.

The characters are very stereotypical for the 1950s: the men are the brave, calculating warriors; the women are all rather pathetic and highly emotional. What does make this an interesting read is that none of the characters are particularly lik...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Khairul H. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

(Review copied and pasted verbatim from my blog, The Malaysian Reader

Well, this one’s a downer. Written in 1956, Death of Grass tells the story of a world gripped by starvation when a virus strain that kills rice has mutated and begins to eradicate all other crops like wheat and barley. Our British protagonists weren’t too concerned when only East Asians were dying (one character quipped, ”There’s an awful lot of Chinks in China. They’ll breed ‘em back again in a couple of generations”) but when...more

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Mar 18, 2011 sabisteb rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: buch, dystopic

Ein Virus bricht aus, dass in Asien den Reis verdorren lässt. Europa, Amerika und Australien schicken Hilfsgüter schauen aber ansonsten zu wie die Menschen in China und Indien verhungern und als ein Gegenmittel gefunden wird ist die Sache für sie erledigt.
Das Virus mutiert und greift nun nicht mehr nur Reispflanzen und ihre Verwanden an sondern alle Gräser. Nun sind auch die Ernten im Rest der Welt in Gefahr.
Die Englische Regierung schweigt das Thema tot und spielt es herunter, bis es zu spät is...more

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Dec 14, 2010 Tom Ireland rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Death of Grass is set in a world where a virus is destroying the world's grass. It tells the story of society's (very quick disintegration) as a group of survivors attempt to make their way to a valley stronghold where they can be safe. Post-apocalyptic fiction has always fascinated me, it is my guilty pleasure. Books like The Road or The Last Man and films like Mad Max, I Am Legend or The Postman are at opposite ends of the artistic spectrum but I love them all. It is interesting to wonder...more The Death of Grass is set in a world where a virus is destroying the world's grass. It tells the story of society's (very quick disintegration) as a group of survivors attempt to make their way to a valley stronghold where they can be safe. Post-apocalyptic fiction has always fascinated me, it is my guilty pleasure. Books like The Road or The Last Man and films like Mad Max, I Am Legend or The Postman are at opposite ends of the artistic spectrum but I love them all. It is interesting to wonder what would happen if the status quo we take for granted was taken away.

The Death of Grass is a tense, moody book caught half way between The Day of the Triffids and The Road. I know Christopher had read John Wyndham's book and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Cormac McCarthy has read Christopher's. Christopher was no fan of The Day of the Triffids, though. He was dismissive of such a 'cosy catastrophe' and his own book sidesteps such a scenario with a sneer:
"It's going to be interesting, watching us being British and stiff-lipped, while the storm-clouds gather. Undentable. But what happens when we crack?"
says one of the characters early on, and this statement is the starting point for much of the book. Well, I do not want to give away too much because this book is definitely worth reading for yourself, but later on the main character has this thought:
"And thinking that, he felt a great weariness of spirit, as though out of the past his old self, his civilized self, challenged him to an accounting. When it sank below a certain level, was life itself worth the having any longer? They had lived in a world of morality whose lineage could be traced back nearly four thousand years. In a day, it had been swept from under them."
The book is an interesting, if rather pointed, look at conventional morality. It is well-written in understated, tight prose. Perhaps not one of those truly great, life-changing books, it is a good story and easy to read. Read this book after you have struggled through a 'classic' and you will be reminded why you enjoy reading.(less)

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Feb 26, 2010 Loren rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

From ISawLightningFall.com

THREE-AND-A-HALF STARS

By definition, post-apocalyptic novels transpire after some sort of global disaster. This temporal perspective grants authors a bulwark behind which to build an exotic, busted-up setting and provides a buffer for readers against the immediate horrors of societal collapse. But when a writer changes that post into a pre, both barriers disappear, and the genre's shape shifts dramatically. That's exactly what John Christopher did in his first successfu...more From ISawLightningFall.com

THREE-AND-A-HALF STARS

By definition, post-apocalyptic novels transpire after some sort of global disaster. This temporal perspective grants authors a bulwark behind which to build an exotic, busted-up setting and provides a buffer for readers against the immediate horrors of societal collapse. But when a writer changes that post into a pre, both barriers disappear, and the genre's shape shifts dramatically. That's exactly what John Christopher did in his first successful book The Death of Grass (published as No Blade of Grass in the United States).

John Custance never envied the mountain-bounded farmland his brother David had inherited from their grandfather. A city dweller by preference and architect by trade, he liked London just fine. Then the Chung-Li virus appeared, a rice blight that decimated Asia, and David unexpectedly offered for John to move his family out to his land where they would be safe. Surely an overreaction, John reasoned. Chung-Li only attacked rice, after all, hardly a staple for Britons. Or it only attacked rice until a mutation give it an appetite for grass -- every single sort of grass. Frightening, yes, but the government was working on a counter-virus, and that would surely set things straight. Yet when that stratagem fails outright and the United Kingdom awakes to the idea of a world without oats, rye, barley or wheat, John finds his thinking has changed. His brother's little farm, freshly planted with potatoes and beets, has begun to look like his only hope.

Christopher has been accused of writing cozy catastrophes, neat and tidy end-of-the-world scenarios with no real bite. But while The Death of Grass may not match Comarc McCarthy's The Road for brutality, it certainly doesn't shy away from nasty subject matter. Starvation, cannibalism, nuclear annihilation, murder and rape all make appearances, but fortunately the worst offenses get handled with a very light touch and the rest are wrapped in dry British wit. "I'm as slack as the rest of you," one of John's friends concludes as news of the mutation spreads. "I should be getting into training by learning unarmed combat and the best way to slice the human body into its constituent joints for roasting. As it is, I just sit around." If the novel stumbles, it's in its depiction of female characters (many of whom are almost interchangeable) and its ducking of big thematic questions. As John journeys toward the farm and his coterie swells into a clan, he begins to change from democratic urbanite into feudal warlord, seizing sustenance by the strength of his arm. The slow stripping away of socialization practically begs for authorial commentary, but Christopher seems satisfied with simply acknowledging the possibilty and moving on. A disappointment in an otherwise excellent novel.(less)

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Dr M A very good review! I just finished the book, and found it brilliant. I agree with you about the female characters, true to its time, being the books...more
Apr 03, 2011 01:06pm

Loren Dr M wrote: "A very good review! I just finished the book, and found it brilliant. I agree with you about the female characters, true to its time, bei...more
Apr 13, 2011 07:01am

Oct 09, 2012 Ashleigh Brown rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: library

I hadn't heard of this book until I randomly became intrigued by the title at my local library. I am so glad I picked it up. The idea behind this is so current and so of this time it is hard to believe it was written in the 50's but of course writers have been predicting the future for a long time. I sped through this and literally could not put it down. The whole thing really made me want to start reading the walking dead comics again even though this contains no zombies, the world descends int...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Karl Steel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: lit-of-collapse

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. SPOILERS HERE

Greener than You Think far better, if you want an English-language novel of eco-collapse from this era, not only because of its anticapitalism and feminism, but because of its antihumanism: there, at least, grass has agency.

Here grass can just die, and we're obligated to cathect onto some everyman human (a well-off white Englishman, an engineer and thus as clear a representative of modern culture as Christopher could imagine) and to play the standard make-believe of collapse novels...more

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Jun 13, 2012 Martin Belcher rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

This is the "grandfather" of post apocalyptic novels, written in 1956, it tells of an environmental disaster which seems all to real and just as relevant now as it may have seemed in a different post second world war 1950's world. A virus which attacks all strains of grasses (grass, wheat, barley, rye) begins to ravage Asia there seems no cure to it. First wave hits China and South East Asia hard, wiping out all grasses including rice, mass food shortages and panic and riots take hold ending in...more

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Jun 11, 2012 Michael Cremin rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi-fantasy-horror

Well here's a cheerful little tale from Jolly Olde England. Written in 1956, The Death of Grass tells about a disease that decimates global crops: wheat, rice, barley, rye, etc. with predictably unpleasant consequences. Food production collapses, livestock dies off, and the world sinks into barbarity and chaos.

The story takes place in and around London. The main characters--just regular folks as the story begins--become Disciples of Darwin (or perhaps, Malthus) as they murder and steal their wa...more

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Mar 08, 2012 Fence rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: sff

It is the 1950s, and a devastating virus is sweeping Asia. It attacks grass, and grass feeds the world. Wheat is grass. And cows, sheep, etc all live on grass. At first people in Britain watch in horror as it strikes at the wheat supplies in those far-off lands. But the Chung-Li virus could never come as far as England, not without science coming to the rescue. And even if it did, surely British society would cope. Civilization would find a way to ration food and the hold things together until a...more It is the 1950s, and a devastating virus is sweeping Asia. It attacks grass, and grass feeds the world. Wheat is grass. And cows, sheep, etc all live on grass. At first people in Britain watch in horror as it strikes at the wheat supplies in those far-off lands. But the Chung-Li virus could never come as far as England, not without science coming to the rescue. And even if it did, surely British society would cope. Civilization would find a way to ration food and the hold things together until a fix was found, and surely that wouldn’t take too long.

But Europe and Britain do not remain unaffected for long, and in London John begins to wonder if he should take his family across the country and try to make it to his brother’s farm. It is isolated, and the valley has only one entrance, it can be defended.

But what effect will this virus have on people. How long will civilisation hold up under this threat?

This was written in the 1950s, and it really is a book of its time. It was hard to ignore the sexism, classism, and racism. Straight away, once the old order was stripped away, the men took charge. Not even a hint that any of the women might prove useful. And every time a woman showed up she was classified as weak and in need of defence. For the most part they were nothing but wives, an aside to their menfolk. Women and children were constantly referenced as being the same, in need of leadership, protection, and telling what to do.

Likewise the racism was blatantly obvious.

Right from the start the ‘Asiatics’ were referred to as not as civilised as the English. And in such a manner that you could read nothing but racism into it. There was also a mention to the Mediterranean-types, the Latins as being of a temperament that wouldn’t respond well to such disaster.

It is hard to look past those, but at the same time the reader can’t assume that those are the attitudes and beliefs of the author, instead they are the attitudes of the characters, and I am sure that there are plenty who hold similar views today, let alone back in the 1950s.

Books like this one always make me think that I must have a very positive view of humanity. I don’t think that people would revert back to such barbarity so quickly. At least, not all of society. But perhaps I am misguided. I mean, I have never lived through such panic or through a collapsing society. Christopher would have lived through world wars. Maybe he is more accurate than I would like to believe.

Apart from my possibly naive view of people, and the racism etc I have to say that I quite enjoyed this book. It is really well written, a gripping book that doesn’t bother to waste time with anything. It dives straight in to the story and the disaster, but at the same time it doesn’t feel rushed at all.(less)

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May 20, 2009 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

Written in the 1950s it's not surprising that the language and some of the attitudes expressed feel a little dated now. But the plot of The Death of Grass is one that could easily be taken from tomorrows headlines.

The novel is set against the background of an emerging and virulent virus that attacks and kills grass. All grasses, including rice, wheat, barley, maize... most of our staple foods, in other words. And with no grass, the grazing animals die out pretty quickly as well. Faced with the p...more

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About John Christopher

John Christopher is the pseudonym under which the British science fiction author Samuel Youd has been most successful. Youd has written under the following pseudonyms:
• John Christopher
• Stanley Winchester
• Hilary Ford
• William Godfrey
• Peter Graaf
• Peter Nichols
• Anthony Rye

He is best known for The Tripods trilogy, published under the pseudonym John Christopher.

His novels were popular during the...more

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Books by John Christopher

The City of Gold and Lead (The Tripods, #2)

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