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Salvation City

2.98 of 5 stars 2.98 · rating details · 430 ratings · 123 reviews

From the critically acclaimed author of The Last of Her Kind, a breakout novel that imagines the aftermath of pandemic flu, as seen through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy uncertain of his destiny.

His family's sole survivor after a flu pandemic has killed large numbers of people worldwide, Cole Vining is lucky to have found refuge with the evangelical Pastor Wyatt an...more

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published September 16th 2010 by Riverhead Hardcover

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Apr 11, 2011 Angela rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: goodreads-first-reads-program, bookcrossed-or-otherwise-set-free, 2011, advance-readers-edition

Before we get started, let me clarify the two-star rating....Salvation City is not poorly written, has believable characters in believable situations, and is an interesting way to spend several hours. But ultimately -- and given the way Goodreads' ratings criteria are defined -- two stars and "it was okay" is all the enthusiasm I can muster. I'd read a three-star "I liked it" book again. I have no desire to read this one again.

In the near future, 12-year-old Cole Vining has been orphaned by a fl...more Before we get started, let me clarify the two-star rating....Salvation City is not poorly written, has believable characters in believable situations, and is an interesting way to spend several hours. But ultimately -- and given the way Goodreads' ratings criteria are defined -- two stars and "it was okay" is all the enthusiasm I can muster. I'd read a three-star "I liked it" book again. I have no desire to read this one again.

In the near future, 12-year-old Cole Vining has been orphaned by a flu pandemic more devastating than the 1918 outbreak. After a stint in the hellhole of a public orphanage, he is taken in by Pastor Wyatt and his wife Tracy and brought back to Salvation City, Kentucky, the small evangelical Christian enclave where they live. The overt religiosity of his new surroundings is completely foreign to Cole: his father was an atheist and his mother was a non-practicing Jew; as a result, Cole has had no religious training whatsoever. Emotionally fragile after his own illness and loss, in this new atmosphere, Cole questions everything his parents had ever taught him about the world.

Cole suffered memory loss as a result of his illness and, as his memories gradually return, he wrestles with a multitude of overwhelming emotions: loss, anger, bewilderment, confusion...but chiefly guilt. He feels guilty he survived, guilty he can't return the obvious love Pastor Wyatt and Tracy express for him, guilty and disloyal at feeling any kind of affection for them, guilty for wondering if his parents went to Hell as his new knowledge of religion teaches. On top of all this, he has entered puberty with its attendant urges and feelings, and he develops an unrequited crush on his erstwhile cousin Starlyn. Cole's journey through this morass of guilt and emotion to arrive at a peaceful self-understanding and sense of place is well-drawn and satisfying.

Again, this is not a bad book, and not a waste of time. The pacing is leisurely, almost majestic. It's beautifully written, with a spare elegance and delicate touch. Nunez portrays the fundamentalist Christian community with grace and compassion, seeing it almost entirely through Cole's adolescent eyes. I enjoyed reading it, but not enough to keep it around for a re-read.

Many thanks to Goodreads Giveaway Program for the opportunity to read this book.(less)

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Jan 26, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, dystopian-fiction

A Compelling Example of Near Future Dystopian Fiction from Sigrid Nunez

Sigrid Nunez's "Salvation City" is one of the most compelling examples of near future dystopian science fiction I have read, attaining near classic status of the kind bestowed already on Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" and Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451". What distinguishes her latest novel from these acclaimed literary works are the voice of its protagonist and its near future cultural milieu. In Cole Vining, Nunez has created...more

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Sep 25, 2011 Laura added it

Cole Vining is a fourteen year old boy who has survived a flu pandemic. Both of his parents have died and he has been adopted by Pastor Wyatt, an evangelical preacher living in Salvation City, a small, rural town where things don't seem to have changed much even with the "end of the world" and all. Cole is a normal fourteen year old, thinking about girls and school and the future, and trying to forge new relationships in his new life, one that he never expected.

Pastor Wyatt (or PW as everyone ca...more

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Mar 15, 2011 Lori L (She Treads Softly) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez is a coming of age novel set in a changing world. Young teen Cole Vining is the narrator. He has lost his parents, Miles and Serena, in a global flu pandemic and, after a brief stay in an orphanage, is currently living with Pastor Wyatt (PW) and his wife Tracy, who hope to adopt him.

As Cole remembers his past with his parents, both academics and atheists, he clearly recalls the tension and their arguments. He knew their marriage was on the verge of divorce. This pa...more

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Sep 22, 2010 Trishnyc rated it 3 of 5 stars

Thirteen year old Cole Vinnings is lucky to be alive after the flu pandemic that killed his parents and a large population of the world. After spending time in hellish conditions in an orphanage, he is fostered by a Christian minister and his wife. Their vision of life and the future is one that is very far removed from what Cole had grown up with but he finds himself drawn in, if never being a true believer. The couple are loving if a bit vapid and raise Cole on the basics of their religious pr...more Thirteen year old Cole Vinnings is lucky to be alive after the flu pandemic that killed his parents and a large population of the world. After spending time in hellish conditions in an orphanage, he is fostered by a Christian minister and his wife. Their vision of life and the future is one that is very far removed from what Cole had grown up with but he finds himself drawn in, if never being a true believer. The couple are loving if a bit vapid and raise Cole on the basics of their religious practice. Cole tries to navigate an identity for himself in this new world while coming to terms with his past and trying to forge a future.

When I started this book, I was under the impression that I would be reading about a dystopian future. But this society was almost identical to present day. The technology was no more advanced than what we have today and while this was not a big issue to me, it was a sign of my future feelings about this book. I went from somewhat disliking Cole to reversing that decision as I reminded myself that he was just a young child. At first he seemed oddly unemotional and unattached to most of those around him, even his parents when they were alive. I think part of his behavior may have his way of defending himself from a society where he always felt somewhat apart. I am truly at a loss on how to describe my feelings about this book. I definitely did not dislike it but I can' t say that I loved it either. I guess the best I can say is that I was left dissatisfied, unfulfilled by the whole experience. I think this stems from the fact that about midway through this book, I realized that the book lacked a coherent direction. By the end, I felt like I had just aimlessly wandered through a desert and came out wanting. I found Cole's life before the pandemic interesting if not compelling and his life after in in the apocalyptic christian city just bland. By the end, realized that there was too much of a disconnect for me to enjoy this book.

*Review copy provided by Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin.(less)

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Dec 08, 2010 Cori rated it 2 of 5 stars

Gripping? Meh. I didn’t find it all that exciting. While I did like Nunez’s writing style (incredibly spare), I wasn’t able to grasp onto the characters or their situation. Despite all the signs that it should be a desperate time, I didn’t feel it. Compared to other dystopian literature (if this can even be called dystopian…as Lenore says below, its “like a regular novel dressed up in apocalyptic clothing”), it never felt compelling or dangerous or heart breaking. It did feel empty at points, bu...more

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Aug 15, 2011 Mallory rated it 2 of 5 stars

After a global flu pandemic has killed a significant portion of the world's population--including both his parents--13-year-old Cole is adopted by an Evangelical couple and moved to a small town rooted in conservative Christian values and politics. As the child of knee-jerk liberals and Atheists, Cole's entire universe has changed and he is left both to piece back together memories of his life before the flu and to reconcile who he was with who he is becoming.

An obvious allegory for what America...more

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Apr 02, 2011 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the wake of a flu pandemic, fourteen-year-old Cole comes to live with Preacher Wyatt and his wife, Tracy in Salvation City, a town of fundamentalist Christians who expect the imminent Second Coming. It's a fate his liberal, atheist parents would have been horrified by, but for Cole, the people of Salvation offer comfort, acceptance, and love in an uncertain and deadly time. But as Cole settles in, he begins to question the unwavering faith he's expected to embrace. Would God really condemn hi...more In the wake of a flu pandemic, fourteen-year-old Cole comes to live with Preacher Wyatt and his wife, Tracy in Salvation City, a town of fundamentalist Christians who expect the imminent Second Coming. It's a fate his liberal, atheist parents would have been horrified by, but for Cole, the people of Salvation offer comfort, acceptance, and love in an uncertain and deadly time. But as Cole settles in, he begins to question the unwavering faith he's expected to embrace. Would God really condemn his Jewish mother to eternal hell? Are the views of his adopted family and community simply too confining?

Nunez presents a picture of fundamentalists that neither wholly condemns nor glorifies; instead she shows us real people struggling with real issues in a scenario that seems all too possible--what would happen in the wake of hundreds of thousands of deaths? Isn't it likely the deeply religious would fill the gaps, take in the orphaned children of the pandemic, and seize the opportunity to save, both literally and figuratively? These people seem real. Most of us know some of these characters in our own lives, people who struggle to be good, whose faith allows them moments of incredible kindness and generosity, but who also falter as a result of the narrow constraints of that faith. Every child in Salvation City is homeschooled. The sweet but none too bright Tracy takes on the task of educating Cole, though she tells him again and again that she knows little of what she is teaching. It's one of the clearest implications of the narrowness of fundamentalisn Nunez shows the reader--good intentions aside, Tracy and her community fail Cole, even as they come through in other much needed areas, like love and stability. Cole's internal battle over the path of his future was fascinating to read, and I enjoyed this novel, mostly because it was so character driven.

I'd really like to give this three and a half stars. I liked it so much, but felt the end petered out. I would have liked a longer, drawn out ending with a little more oomph. Instead the novel ends quietly and somewhat quickly. I found the ending okay, but can't shake the feeling that something was missing and that the book would have been a possible five stars had that elusive "something" been explored.(less)

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Nov 05, 2012 randy rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was really disappointing. I loved the idea of dystopic fiction in an evangelical community. It would seem to add layers to a oft traveled road. I was unaware that those layers would be boring and creatively lacking. But, that is just what happens here.

Towards the beginning I had to google if Nunez was an evangelical as I was worried I was trying to be indoctrinated. But as the book goes on, her prose detaches a bit from what seemed to be a near glorifying account. But still some of the beli...more

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Jun 15, 2012 Dianah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, book-club, favorites, quotes

Salvation City is a coming of age tale that is complicated by far more than the usual adolescent angst. Thirteen year old Cole has lost both parents to a flu pandemic and nearly dies himself. The pandemic has ripped apart the US, leaving massive death and infrastructure collapse with little help of any sort to be found.

Having lost his family, home and all of his possessions, Cole ends up initially in an orphanage, and then is eventually placed with an evangelical family in the tiny town of Salva...more

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Aug 31, 2011 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

Salvation City is a post apocalyptic story about a pandemic flu that wipes almost everyone out. Cole Vining is left an orphan and is taken in by an evangelical Christian family. Cole struggles with recovering his memories (taken from him in a bout of fever), deciding on whether or not to follow religion, and of course the struggles of growing up in a world that has utterly changed.

I think that I will start with the fact that the book is well-written. The first half of the book really pulled me i...more

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Sep 26, 2011 Alisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks

I might have liked this a little better if the audiobook narrator hadn't been so terribly annoying.

This reminded me a little of Tom Perotta's 'The Abstinence Teacher,' in that it presents evangelical Christians as compassionate, human characters rather than the deranged cartoon figures of liberal nightmare.

Set in a post-flu-pandemic near-future in rural Southern Indiana (hey, guess where I live?), the story, while well-written on a prose level, doesn't quite to add up to as much as it should....more

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Feb 22, 2011 Ted rated it 3 of 5 stars

The boy narrator, Cole Vinning, is measured and precise, while still being just a kid. I just started the book and I want to scream for him and the injustice he's seen, at how trapped he is.

I fell into this book easily (I have a soft spot for orphans and adoptees) and quickly. Surrounding the coming of age, orphan story is an unsentimental vision of a post apocalyptic America where the country has been ravaged by a plague like flu. And the worst part is, things just keep going along. The flu ha...more

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Jul 31, 2010 Pamela rated it 1 of 5 stars

I received a proof copy of the book, and it is pretty near nothing as far as plot goes, and the genre is cloudy—is it supposed to be a Christian novel or what? The book is pretty clear about the scenario—sometime after a flu pandemic in the future—however, the book is heavy on the religious philosophy and lightweight on the medical research (think Tess Gerritsen, Kathy Reichs, etc.), but nothing happens. Cole, the main character, is almost 14 which is believable only occasionally. The setting in...more

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Jun 10, 2010 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm ambivalent about this book, which is why I took a few days before attempting to review it. I didn't dislike it, but I also didn't particularly enjoy reading it.
First of all, I think the book was mis-pitched. I got the galley at the dystopian fiction panel at BEA (indeed, I snagged one of the last copies, so I'm surprised that no one beat me to reviewing it on here). At the panel, Sigrid Nunez spoke about how she enjoyed crafting a language and culture for her new society. But in fact, the wo...more

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Dec 16, 2010 Kirsten rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was a really confusing book. And not in a "wow, I'm still thinking about that one!" sort of way. What does this book want to be? A post-pandemic/post-apocalyptic novel? A Christian novel? An anti-Christian novel? A young adult novel? A...novel? I think if a novel is going to have a plot, it should be really clear where the rising action, climax and denouement are located within it. Maybe that's just me. I don't think the author was playing around with conventional notions of what a novel is...more

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Oct 26, 2010 Donovan Richards rated it 3 of 5 stars

Set in America’s heartland in the near future, Salvation City recounts the story of Cole Vining, a boy orphaned by the recent flu pandemic that killed millions around the world. Adopted by Pastor Wyatt (an evangelical pastor) and Tracy (his wife), Cole must start life anew in an unfamiliar culture. Where previously, Cole’s parents encompassed the liberal ideologies of modern urban residents, his adoptive parents lean to the Christian Right, encouraging him to begin a relationship with Jesus so t...more Set in America’s heartland in the near future, Salvation City recounts the story of Cole Vining, a boy orphaned by the recent flu pandemic that killed millions around the world. Adopted by Pastor Wyatt (an evangelical pastor) and Tracy (his wife), Cole must start life anew in an unfamiliar culture. Where previously, Cole’s parents encompassed the liberal ideologies of modern urban residents, his adoptive parents lean to the Christian Right, encouraging him to begin a relationship with Jesus so that Cole might be saved.

Although Cole comes to appreciate the parenting of Pastor Wyatt and Tracy, he struggles with the ramifications of their salvific claims. If eternal life exists only through a relationship with Jesus Christ, Cole reasons that his parents must be condemned to hell. Yet Cole remembers his parents fondly. How could God be so cruel letting his parents die before they move toward to a belief in Jesus?

As the title indicates, this theme of salvation permeates the book. What does it mean to be saved? Is the loving God discussed in Pastor Wyatt’s sermons capable of simultaneously being unloving? Is the salvation formula as simple as saying a prayer or as difficult as living justly in the world?

While the overarching theme intrigued me to read this book, the page-to-page storyline is sorely lacking. For starters, Salvation City contains no chapters. It is, instead, divided into five sections resulting in extremely long blocks of text. Very little time is spent detailing the dystopian post-pandemic world. Aside from mentioning how people contracted the sickness in the first place and characters carrying guns when they go outside, most of the book seems simply ordinary. Lastly, the conclusion of the book is abrupt and hard to follow.

Sigrid Nunez presents some big ideas in Salvation City, but she lacks execution. The book is slightly entertaining yet mostly average; I encourage you to look elsewhere.

Originally posted at http://wherepenmeetspaper.blogspot.com (less)

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Aug 29, 2011 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads

‘Salvation City’ by Sigrid Nunez deals with the aftermath of a flu pandemic, following a survivor, thirteen-year-old Cole, as he adjusts to life with a new family of Evangelical Christians (having lost his atheistic parents to illness). The book is narrated from Cole’s perspective and the first (approximately) seventy pages are mostly flashbacks to Cole’s life with his parents as the flu becomes more and more of a global crisis. I enjoyed this part of the novel the most and found myself wishing...more

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Oct 14, 2010 Corny rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very unique coming of age novel, set against the background of a recently concluded pandemic, Salvation City is both touching and ambiguous. The author has an interesting way of presenting multiple explanations for certain happenings in the book, leaving unresolved what really happened. In this sense, we are presented with real life parallels. Cole, the hero, has lived only 14 years but has seen things that most of us have not witnessed in 50. As such, his voice wanders between that of a world...more

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Oct 10, 2011 LuAnn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Coming of age novels are always quite interesting to me and I especially enjoy looking at how the author approaches this issue. Salvation City presents a new twist to the topic as we watch a boy grow into a young man in the wake of a flu pandemic that killed his parents.

Cole is a character you easily learn to like and sympathize with. He is raised in a rather lenient household with progressive parents who care very deeply for him, although they have some difficultly showing their love at times....more

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Apr 19, 2011 A. S. rated it 1 of 5 stars

Sigrid Nunez's Salvation City is one book I didn't pick because of its cover; I picked it because of its title. It sounded cool, okay? It was an impulse check-out from the library. Because the back cover was filled with blurbs instead of a summary, I skimmed the inside flap. All that registered was that the main character was a young boy who had survived a future in which a flu pandemic crippled societies around the world.

Cole Vining is a teenager who survives a flu pandemic in the future (Maybe...more Sigrid Nunez's Salvation City is one book I didn't pick because of its cover; I picked it because of its title. It sounded cool, okay? It was an impulse check-out from the library. Because the back cover was filled with blurbs instead of a summary, I skimmed the inside flap. All that registered was that the main character was a young boy who had survived a future in which a flu pandemic crippled societies around the world.

Cole Vining is a teenager who survives a flu pandemic in the future (Maybe the future? It's unclear, but I shall write about that later) and ends up in a crappy orphanage, where he is one of the few lucky ones to be adopted. His new adoptive parents are right-wing Christians, so different from his liberal elitist biological parents. And dammit, if this were clear from the beginning, I would not have picked it up! This is why book covers are so important (in this case, it's probably better for the publisher to have a misleading cover so more people accidentally buy it)! I got to page 44 when I realized there would be no conflict in the book. Seriously, there are two little "issues" that come up...in the last third of the book. And those issues don't even get resolved. The book just ends, with no clear story resolutions whatsoever.

Let me tell you straight off the bat that the writing in here is really flowy, perhaps almost beautiful. But Nunez has no sense of characterization or clear knowledge of what a teenage boy would actually sound like. As such, the teenage boy sounds like a thirtysomething female writer. Nunez should not choose a perspective that she's uncomfortable writing, and that was clear in how she chose to word any sexual urges (few and far between in this book, which is odd for one depicting a teenage boy); there's little sexual tension and it seems like whenever she attempts to seriously broach the subject she "fades to black". I'm not looking for pornography or erotica, but a little honesty about sexuality would be nice. Not only that, Cole is a really boring, unlikeable protagonist. While it's fine to be awkward, shy, and unsure of your parents' love, especially as a teen, the best way to make a dull protagonist is to make him completely reactive instead of proactive. Cole never really takes charge of anything, and thus becomes a Bella Swan.

One of the problems in the book lies in the timeline of the story. The story isn't broken down into chapters, just four or five long "parts". Cole's memory is faulty due to the effects of the influenza on his brain, and it does have an effect on his narration and his perception of time. But that shouldn't confuse the reader (unless you are James Joyce or William Faulkner, in which case you have carte blanche). Cole keeps switching from describing his orphanage (where he was there for about two years, maybe? From ages 11-13?), his new house in Little Leap or whatever small town in Indiana (where he was during middle school, I guess), his childhood home, and his present situation in Salvation City.

Cole's story chronicles his troubled family life and the calmer Christian household, and while I admire Nunez's attempts to flesh out each side a little, she ultimately fails, and the result is a pretty black-and-white viewpoint. While she ultimately indicates that Cole's atheist/culturally Jewish family probably isn't going to heaven, Nunez kind of implies that the atheist life is a hollow, materialistic, and empty one. And that (as a practicing Hindu with atheist friends) is something I cannot agree with. There are plenty of non-Christians and atheists who live meaningful, productive, public-serving, family/friend-oriented, purpose-filled lives. Nunez does paint an accurate picture of a large number of liberals who aren't fond of religion and even less fond of Christianity through Cole's mother, but she fails to show the real reason liberals use that lazy stereotyping shortcut. It's not just the fact that Christians believe that atheists, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, etc. are going to hell, but that they actively try to cut funding for things like Planned Parenthood (which does more than abortions, thank you), prevent women's right to choose, espouse creationism in schools, and prevent LGBT people from gaining the governmental rights that come with a marriage license. Christianity is as much a religion about hatred as it is about love as today's Koran-burning showed. And while Tracy and PW do contend with PW's turbulent past, they are presented as a more positive influence on Cole, despite the fact that Tracy is pretty much Motherhood Barbie: great for managing a household, rubbish for everything else, and willing to submit to her husband on every matter. In that sense, even if Cole's bio mother was trying to separate from his father, she at least had autonomy and her independent spirit, which are much more positive traits I wished Nunez would have focused on instead of her "nurturing" traits (volunteering at the clinic during the pandemic, holding Cole during his fever).

I didn't appreciate the slights to the gays. I'd really like to see a story with a Christian theme that actually embraces homosexuality without judgment.

Also, this book is supposed to take place in the future. Even if it was only like 5-10 years in the future, the technology changes rapidly. For example, in 2001, only the rich middle schoolers would have cell phones. Today even elementary schoolers have cell phones...with cameras, texting, etc. A small town in Indiana about five years in the future would probably have more than one computer in the household. Almost certainly there would be something cooler than the iPod. Slang changes, but not enough for me to buy "apocalyptic" as a synonym for a "hot girl". And some of the technology seems straight out of the nineties. Who sends emails anymore?

Also, Nunez includes some really troubling descriptions which irked me as a reader of color. Chicago is a very cosmopolitan city; why does the sight of the dark haired female scientist with a foreign accent surprise him? Why was the only other person with an accent he could come up with a Bosnian librarian? His parents were educated, liberal young people in academia; at least a few of his parents' friends had to be professors from different countries. Again, Cole lived in Illinois at one point, which even aside from Chicago has many larger cities and towns that house prestigious universities filled with foreign students. This isn't Hicksville, Wyoming, for goodness sake! Also the fact that Cole tended to associate whiteness and paleness with good was troubling. For example, he thinks that the milk-white skin of PW would never harbor germs. Cole does notice that the rapture children are beautiful and tended to be blond and pale, though this may cast a bad light on Cole's society more than him. This isn't to say that Nunez herself is a racist. She isn't. She is, however, horrendous at characterization and ignorant of how her writing can portray minorities unfavorably.

I admit, I don't read Christian fiction, mainly because of its prejudices, but I did approach this book with an open mind. I finished feeling deeply unsatisfied.(less)

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Nov 27, 2012 Mom rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a unique apocalyptic story of the aftermath of a deadly flu pandemic. 13 year-old Cole is orphaned and ends up being adopted by a fundamentalist Christian couple who live in an isolated utopian town called Salvation City. While most of the world is struggling with widespread death, crime, and terror, Cole lives with his new parents in a peaceful buy very introverted environment (and one that expects imminent "rapture." And, ominously, one of the effects of Cole's bout with the flu is tha...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Heather Jackson rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've read the first half of this book twice. I got a little farther this second time (to page 165), but although this book is well-written and the characters are fascinating, once the reader finds out how the main character and his parents die (which is all wrapped up by about page 135), there's no reason to keep reading. There is nothing to find out. No tension. No conflict. No stakes. Just Cole living at Salvation City. If I had nothing else to read, I probably would have finished this book ju...more

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May 16, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars

I felt like this book was about a few too many different things and yet had not enough of a plot. It's about a flu epidemic and also about being orphaned and adopted. The main character is adjusting to a very Christian household after being raised by atheists (yet his adjustment is so quick it's barely a plot point), and he's also dealing with wishing he could muster more affection for his new mother-figure. There's also a question of whether or not Pastor Wyatt and Tracy are being ethical in wa...more

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Sep 09, 2010 Abbey rated it 1 of 5 stars

8/23/10 I got another advanced copy!!!

9/08/10 I hated this book. It was told from the honest opinion of a 14(ish) orphan who recently lost his parents in a flu pandemic. When I first read about the book I thought that that was a small part of the plot but it was the entire plot. Nothing else really happened. It was very simple and honest... a little too intimate actually. AND REAL! I am so freaked about a flu pandemic now... lol... That said, I cant believe I wasted 3 days of my life reading th...more

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Oct 13, 2010 Kristen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Set in a recent alternative time, the story follows a 13 yo orphan after a massive flu pandemic has changed the world. Cole has lost both of his parents to the flu. Is is 'adopted' by some rapture-awaiting fundementalists.
There are a lot of things that Cole doesn't understand about 'life,' he has seen a lot but he is still just a kid. I thought ms nunez did a really terrific job conveying that confusion of tweenhood - that akward in between phase of childhood to teenhood. Her writing is subtle,...more

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Nov 06, 2010 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Interesting coming-of-age story set in a post-flu pandemic world, where a huge percentage of the population has been wiped out. A preteen boy winds up being cared for by a preacher and his wife in a different state where he was raised, by two atheist and very different parents who are now both dead. Interesting to read about how one's world view might change and not change, when suddenly being raised by two very different people in a different environment. I thought it was very realistic and als...more

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Sep 22, 2011 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

By now you guys know that I really like dystopian fiction and I like when they at least have a little bit of a realistic premise. Salvation City has a very realistic premise: a whole bunch of people are dying from a flu. Frankly, it's a little creepy but it works. Cole loses his parents in the flu epidemic and is adopted by a pastor and his nice but sort of dumb wife. The environment in Salvation City is unlike anything that Cole has known. He grew up in a very secular house and Salvation City i...more

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Jan 10, 2011 Thorn MotherIssues rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: adoption-reading-challenge, read-2011

Hmm, I found it frustrating and inadequate, but it's also the only book I've read about a teen boy with a messy past deciding whether or not he wants to be adopted, which would be a topic pretty near to my heart even without the Christians-versus-atheists-in-the-heartland element. I wouldn't say that means I identified with any of the characters, though, and the voice didn't work for me at all. Though we're dealing with a post-apocalyptic America, the adoption issues have some relevance for aspe...more

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Sep 14, 2010 Brenda rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, firstreads

I won this novel on Firstreads! It's about a pre-teen boy who is orphaned after a flu pandemic, and taken in by a country pastor in an isolated church-dominated town. I appreciated the portrayal of fundamental-type Christians as real, multifaceted people, not caricatures. I haven't seen much of that in mainstream fiction. I'm also always impressed when one gender writes from the other's perspective with complete believability. Still, I was disturbed by many aspects of the story and didn't see th...more

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About Sigrid Nunez

(Photograph ©Marion Ettlinger, 2005)

Sigrid Nunez is an author of five novels including her debut, A Feather on the Breath of God: A Novel (1996, ISBN 0-06-092684-8), Naked Sleeper, Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury, For Rouenna, and The Last of Her Kind. She often addresses class and violence in her novels. She chronicles a time period, such as the 1960's, socially, politically, and intimately in t...more

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