Jeff Cooper answers “why is it so boring?”

Meg asked this question about Earth Abides:

why is it so boring?

Jeff Cooper i hear what you are asking; others have given alotta answers... lemme chime in. you're bored cuz... well... you're young... ennui is par for the cours…morei hear what you are asking; others have given alotta answers... lemme chime in. you're bored cuz... well... you're young... ennui is par for the course nowadays. i'm old (60)... i read Earth Abides in English 180Z at Cal Berkeley... prolly before you were born. it was a Science Fiction class and this was one of the 25 books i read for it.

now... i hear ya... it's boring for alotta reasons. books in general are boring now... very few of them have any laser effects for example. this is one reason why trumplethinskin doesn't read. it's a reason why many people don't read books anymore. heck... even i rarely read books anymore.

did you read it all? did it make you think about the global warming morass we find ourselves in now? one reason to read a book like this today is to consider how forward thinking it was for the time it was written. i know... i know... trying to find justification for a book written 70 years ... a book that seems dated and has little action.

the reason (as others have noted) is that science fiction projects alternate possible futures at times... and... THAT TIME IS NOW! yeah... it was some kinda virus that wiped out humanity in the book (as i recall... it's been 40 years since i've read it). now... while reading it... rethink "eco disaster"... and then focus on the rebuilding.

of course... movies like "Omega Man" give you action... based on a similar premise... and we've come to expect action in our sci-fi. i remember when "Avatar" came out and everyone raved about it. personally i found the writing extremely weak... everyone's entralled with the CGI and my response was "meh... it's 'Dances with Smurfs.' i wish they'd spent more than $37 on writing."

so there you have my two cents... lemme know what you think!(less)

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Sheryl McCoy We're already seeing the "eco-disasters" as the tundra and permafrost melts, OLD viruses, bacteria, fungi, and other chemical hazards (we're NOT immun ...more
Jun 23, 2018 10:13AM · flag

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