The China Syndrome

by Burton Wohl

Vintage movie tie-in paperback

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Don]

This has the worst editing job I've ever seen in a novel. It totally killed any enjoyment I might have had from the story. Here is just one example. It is a one sentence paragraph (something my English teachers told me doesn't exist), and I quote "And while a frowning, anxious Kimberly was fighting her way through downtown traffic, fifteen miles away, at the far end of Los Angeles County, a group of C.G.&E. employees standing outside their cafeteria, reading a company bulletin board, when Jack Godell and Ted Spindler came into the hall." This isn't even a sentence, let alone a paragraph. There isn't a verb. This is just a bunch of thoughts strung together with no meaning. Terrible.

[Sarah]

Book 31 of Nuclear Studies:

Hear me out, this wasn't the worst thing I have read in these last 30 books I've looked over! I actually expected a lot of disinformation and such from the novelization of a film that was called "the character assassination of an entire industry" at the time of its release (12 days before the events of Three Mile Island).

The worst thing about the book is how dated it is in regards to its treatment of women and minorities. Some of the narration of the female character's thoughts could seriously be posted in those men-who-write-women-poorly listicles. It's also a lot of men lusting after the female character in the middle of her dialogue. The author clearly tried to write her as an empowered female character, but she doesn't feel empowered when she's constantly being undermined by the thoughts and words of men around her. I do think it's a product of the late 1970s, so it's a relic in that sense. Another reviewer thought the writing/editing was very poor. I found it to be sloppy in some places, but it was still very readable. It is a fast-paced novelization. I finished it in about an hour myself. It's pulpy. It is what it is.

What wasn't bad about the book was that it asks some (still relevant) good questions about the nuclear industry that must have seemed truly extraordinary back then. Questioning the influence of the capitalist way of cutting corners to increase profits and the feasibility of thoroughly testing every single component of a nuclear facility. We know today that many nuclear facilities were cancelled without being finished because construction costs ran too high as things had to be scrapped and re-commissioned and as construction guidelines changed. Questioning whether having ten failsafes in place makes something that NEEDS ten failsafes in the first place is truly being safe. Questioning transparency and accountability of involved parties. All of these questions being asked by consumers just two weeks before Three Mile Island happened and most of these questions WERE extremely important to ask.

Read this (or watch the film) to become more immersed in that time period and definitely if you're interested in Three Mile Island to help you contextualize the public perception of TMI.

[Damian]

If you plan to read this novel, be prepared for a great deal of overt sexism, particularly in the first third to half of the book.

Although I feel that one should read texts like this as documents of their times, reflecting the prejudices and behaviours of many men in the ‘70s, I could well imagine it affecting the enjoyment of this otherwise reasonably entertaining drama. And yet, therein lies one of the reasons why I nevertheless found this book a worthwhile read.

We see the journalist, Kimberly Wells, earning the qualified respect (albeit slowly) of her boss at the TV station through stubborn determination to uncover the dangers at the nuclear plant, whilst working within the limits of his low expectations. This, for me, became the main reason for finishing the book; the other principal characters, though given much room on the page, were rather less interesting.

Fortunately, however, we spend most of our time with Kimberly and that makes the sometimes irritating characteristics of her fellow protagonists - Richard, the TV cameraman (“What are you protesting against, Richard?” “Whaddya got?”) and ‘haunted’ engineer Jack (overly-optimistic admirer who seems a bit too preoccupied with our much younger heroine) - less of a chore. To be fair, Richard and, particularly, Jack do go on journeys of their own but Kim’s is the one that felt less cliched and more worth bothering with.

[Robb Coulter]

Fast paced and an easy read. this book was made into a pretty good movie with Jane Fonda, Mike Douglas and Jack Lemon. Tells the story of a news journalist, her camera man buddy and how they elicit the help of a nuclear plant supervisor to stop a potential nuclear accident. The book is named for a theoretical nuclear disaster that would have a nuclear core burn right through the planet stopping on the other side of the world; China.

[Pete]

The best thing about the novel is that it is likely to encourage debate on the role of nuclear power in America. The novel is written with a definite bias against that energy source but the reality is that all forms of power generation have pros and cons. The novel itself was fairly well written and did a good job of showing the ethical dilemma the central characters were faced with.

[Maryellen]

A thrilling book at the time of its' release.

[Kim]

was a pretty good book. this is also a movie

[Melodie Wendel-Cook]

Maybe some movies I shouldn't read movie tie-in...this was mostly boring. It mainly follows reporter and her cameraman than more balanced in movie.

[Joe Noir]

At the time this book and film were released (back when I read it) it was generating discussion about nuclear power, and whether a China Syndrome event could really happen. Obviously, that debate has cooled since, and I'm not certain the book or the film has the same impact now. I found it interesting and entertaining. Good, but not great.

[Lysergius]

The China Syndrome refers to a reactor core that burns its way through the earth to China. Inspired by the Three Mile Island reactor accident.

[Keith]

The movie was blessed with exquisite timing for its premier. I saw the movie and then read the book in 1979.

[Marko]

This is a slovenian edition: Kitajski sindrom
and a serbocroat edition from Opatija: Incident u atomskoj centrali