What I Am Reading - Earth Abides

Earth Abides

George R. Stewart
345 pages, read it in paper back
 
April's OLT book club selection see's yet another post-apocalyptic name cross our chart.  A theme seems to be developing, and while we thought that it might be Albino Villains, it apparently is in fact post-apocalyptic novels. 

In 'Earth Abides' the main character Ish, sees the human population of earth reduced to one percent of its glory at the hands of a global pandemic in what seems like overnight.  While the complete evaporation of the human race would normally be a mentally destabilizing event in itself, somehow Ish keeps from going insane and also manages immunity and thus decides to travel across the country via automobile to observe the state of the human race.  He has decided to persevere and observe the reclamation of everything we once knew and built, back to its feral state.  Why not, after all it is not as if Ish will be left wanting, he has all of the modern conveniences of the time (1949) ; including a never ending supply of canned food, transportation, housing, books, and everything else that humans left in the wake of their disappearance.  He travels on the old arterial highways that crisscross our nation before returning back to the Bay Area.  Upon his journey and return he comes in contact with other survivors who are inexplicable immune as well, eventually finding a mate and building a new society.

 

The structure of the book includes detail accounts of Ish's travels and other significant events as standalone chapters, while also maintaining a series of chapters titled the quick years.  At times the story seemed jumbled and I think Stewart spent a lot of time on detailing out rather insignificant events while simply streaming past significant events in the quick years.  When I first started reading this I was disappointed at the telling.  I was frustrated with the characters and the choices they made until about the 2/3rds mark, in which I actually begin to understand the point of the telling.  This is not a story about Ish or the other survivors; this is a story about the reemergence of society in a new world.  Once I realized that I enjoyed it much more.

 -Potential Spoilers Ahead-

As far as OLT book club goes, we were able to get seven people to complete which is about on par with the previous two reads (9 completed for 'The Hunger Games' and 'The Drowned World'.)

 
Most people championed the social grazes of Ez as their favorite character, with notable mentions to the handyman George and one measly vote for Ish, the main character of 'Earth Abides.'  There really was not any consistent favorite or lasting moment among the champions circle.  Our favorite moments from 'Earth Abides' include:
The Balloting of Charlie
Ish takes a Road Trip
Preparations and outfitting a new rig for the second expedition
The ideology and growing meaning of Ish's hammer
A Rat infestation
When the face of the next generation comes to visit Ish upon the hill.

 Our least favorite moments included:

The dramatic shift in story when Ish meets Em.
Ish's failure in dedication and ability to teach the children.
Roaming the country
The frustration centered on the inability for the colony to realize the importance of a lack of water/plumbing.
Author’s time spent on the explosion of species in the wake of man's demise.
Cultural biased in the telling (written in 1948) and what black colony was doing
The interludes present in each chapter that seemed to miss more than it hit a homer or even a base run.

 Overall I felt we had some really good conversation about the themes of the book, potentially the best so far.  Everyone seemed to be able to debate and relate to the events and what Ish should or should not have done and the merits of the old way versus the new way, etc.  Another fantastic session.

 Scoring from one to ten:

Gee: 7
Dust: 5
Hylen: 7
Th3ee: 6
Tom: 5
SS: 5
Dave: 2 (hater)
Average Lucid rating of 5.14