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By Toby · 4 posts · 52 views
By Toby · 4 posts · 52 views
last updated Oct 30, 2021 08:59AM
What Members Thought
3.0 stars. George R. Stewart's post-apocalyptic science fiction classic. I came into this story with incredibly high expectations and I think that may have tainted my experience with the book. It was well written with some very beautiful and haunting moments, but in the end it just didn't hold my interest enough to rate it higher. Good, but not great.
Winner: International Science Fiction Award for Best Novel (1951)
Voted to Locus "All Time Best" Science Fiction Novels. ...more
Winner: International Science Fiction Award for Best Novel (1951)
Voted to Locus "All Time Best" Science Fiction Novels. ...more
3 & 1/2 stars.
Earth Abides is one of the earliest post-apocalypse novels, written in 1949, and centers on a young protagonist who awakes from a snake bite only to find 99% of the population has been wiped out by a virus. He traverses the country looking for people, but finds he's always been a loner and heads back to San Francisco to live alone. There, he meets a woman, eventually starts a tribe with a few others, and lives to keep history and society alive despite the world beginning anew aroun ...more
Earth Abides is one of the earliest post-apocalypse novels, written in 1949, and centers on a young protagonist who awakes from a snake bite only to find 99% of the population has been wiped out by a virus. He traverses the country looking for people, but finds he's always been a loner and heads back to San Francisco to live alone. There, he meets a woman, eventually starts a tribe with a few others, and lives to keep history and society alive despite the world beginning anew aroun ...more
Published in 1949, just fear of "atomic war" began to heat up, Earth Abides instead considers apocalypse-by-viral outbreak. Almost all human life perishes very quickly. Before they disappear, scientists speculate on three possible causes - intentional attack, research center leak, spread from wild animals suddenly in proximity to expanding human communities. Sound familiar?
I find it fascinating that he anticipates all this without nuclear war.
The book has fairly decent writing though dated soci ...more
I find it fascinating that he anticipates all this without nuclear war.
The book has fairly decent writing though dated soci ...more
Recently I've been reading a lot of end-of-the-world science fiction. This was more of an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it novel. Written back in the 1940s, Earth Abides is one of the first novels of its kind. Because of when it was written it must be read as an alternative history/speculative fiction story, but it is very effective in that genera.
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I just couldn't get into this one. It started out strong enough but then fell into slug mode. Very dissappointing for me.
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Jan 10, 2009
Marsha
marked it as to-read
May 01, 2009
Gaijinmama
marked it as to-read
Jun 30, 2010
Alice Lee
marked it as to-read
Feb 27, 2012
Ted
added it
Mar 20, 2018
Kristine (fezabel)
marked it as to-read
Dec 13, 2019
Tonia
marked it as to-read
Sep 20, 2021
Adam
marked it as to-read
