Earth Abides

Rating:
Summary: Remarkable in it's depth, timeless in it's story, a classic
Review: I haven't read this book in at least 35 years yet I feel like I read it only last week. This story was unique in it's treatment of humanity and it's approach to the end of the world. This is not a Man conquers over all obstacles story. The future is bleak but the characters are real humans faced with the end of their civilization. They abide, after a fashion, but not near the same as the humanity we know. I wonder how this might have been done with man's dependence on technology even greater today. This is a classic and deserves more attention.

Rating:
Summary: Earth Abides - Awesome
Review: I read Earth Abides and was stunned with what a great book it was. Its attention to detail was unparalleled, its character development was exceptional, and its plot never got dull. Every part of the book was breath-taking, from the opening sentence to the closing words.
Stewart wrote Earth Abides in third person and includes italicized background information which helps the book play before the reader much like a movie. Stewart doesn't just tell the reader the story; it is like they can see it for themselves. The reader is left to ponder many comments made by characters, and is allowed to reach conclusions for themselves. The thought provoking way in which Earth Abides is written was my favorite attribute of the book.
Some books can be read and enjoyed, but do not really leave a mark on the reader. This one reshaped the way that I view the world. I have read hundreds of books, and consider this perhaps the best I have ever read. In one word, it was "awesome."

Rating:
Summary: One of the Most Memorable Books I've Read
Review: When I write "one of the most memorable books I've read," that's saying something, because I've kept up a pace of reading at least four books a week since before entering Kindergarten and am now 67. I borrowed EARTH ABIDES from the library a year after it came out, in 1950, when I was a 14-year-old high school sophomore, reading everything and anything labeled "science fiction." I didn't own the book until fairly recently, but it stayed vividly in my memory. I could call up characters like fussy Maureen, stolid George, loyal Em and the tragic genius child, Joey. I remembered the fascinating journey across America, the vague frustration I felt (even so young) over Ish's passive character and the generally negative slide of the tribe from scavenging off civilization into what appeared almost to be an Upper Paleolithic lifestyle at the novel's end--not even qualifying as barbarism.

But it's Stewart's refusal to tread the usual Golden Age sci-fi path and make Ish a superscience hero that makes the novel very special. Ish may be a scientist, he's academically bright, but like many people he's low in energy, street-smarts, and foresight. By and large his motley clan possesses even lower survival skills. They aren't much different from the Valley Girls in another good story in the end-of-the-world genre, the movie NIGHT OF THE COMET. Both are based on an understanding that if the human race's average IQ is 100, half the people who are likely to survive a major disaster aren't going to be awfully competent. Stewart certainly knew that, and it provided both the uncanny realism and the rather depressing pessimism of this story. It's fascinating to note that the other reviewers have noted both aspects of EARTH ABIDES.

Rating:
Summary: A Plague that leaves few survivors
Review: While doing research in a remote cabin, Isherwood Williams is bitten by a rattlesnake. Emerging from a short delirium, Ish returns to civilization only to find that a new virus has wiped out 99.9% of the Earth's population. Ish sets out to see if he can find any survivors.

The story is told in an irregular fashion, slowly detailing Ish's immediate experiences, then speeding into the future only to slow again for years that are more important. I enjoyed the haphazard narrative, but wished that the author had focused more detail during several essential emotional scenes regarding birth and death.

The focus of the story revolves around Ish's struggle to preserve the American society against superstitions that threaten to govern the new society. The author touches on many of the possible earth changes that might happen in such a catastrophe. Some systems immediately fail while some last for many years. Fans of Stephen Kings "The Stand" will enjoy this similar, yet simpler tale.

Rating:
Summary: Earth Abides
Review: Earth Abides was a great book. It is not what you would call an action-packed sci-fi novel. Rather, it is extremely thought provoking. It makes you think about the meaning of life, human relations with other men and with nature, your place in the world, and the value of what you do. Although written in the forties, it is still very relevant because it also makes you question the value of our increasingly faster and busier lifestyles and constant striving for more advanced technology.

Yes, like some reviewers did, you can argue with some details, but if this is your main concern you are taking quite a shallow view of it and not seeing the forest for the trees. The beauty of this book is not so much in the details, but in it's enormous scope and ambition.

This was a book that I could not put down and one that I think will long influence me.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic and not the least bit dated.
Review: Earth Abides is a fantastic book. When I noticed it was written in 1949 I was a bit concerned, but it was not dated at all. The simple synopsis of the story is that everyone on the planet dies in a plague, except for a few hundred people. The story follows Ish, who was a ecologist or something and is now forced into the role of designing plans for rebuilding civilization. Along with a few others he meets and adds to his community, the book follows Ish's "tribe" for about 60 years. During that time the human build infrastructure deteriorates along with Ish's hopes of quickly restoring an active civilization. I would like to especially credit Stewart for including two long chapters he calls "Quick Years", where he moves ahead 10 or 20 years. A less confident author would fill that 20 years with the same nonsense over and over making this a much slower and longer book.

Rating:
Summary: The End of the World - in 1945
Review: Stewart weaves a tale of what happens to a survivor, isolated on a camping trip, when a pandemic eradicates the human population of earth in a matter of weeks. The book is technologically dated: the primary means of communication is radio, to a lesser extent, telephone. TV and the Internet are in the future. Also, without revealing too much of the plot, some of the "modern conveniences" his group of survivors depend on could not last as long as he writes - our marvels of civilisation require too much human intervention, and computer monitoring. BUT, Stewart isn't writing about technology: he's writing about a human response to the end of life-as-we-know-it, and it's a convincing, interesting tale. Since he's interested in human dynamics and relationships, the story remains interesting even without Star Wars technology. What he paints strikes true, something between "Lord of the Flies" and "Swiss Family Robinson:" humans aren't quite so bad as the former, nor as noble as the latter, but retain moments of both great nobility and horrible action.

Rating:
Summary: losing impetus
Review: The start of this novel was magical for me - so engrossing and so convincing. But then it descends into the comfortable and the suburban. Is this the fate of all human communities? More disappointing was the ugliness of some decisions made by the community - and for me these were far from inevitable or even justifiable. These were presaged on p132 of the SF Masterworks edition - '... except for Evie, the half-witted one, who should never be allowed to have children.' How attitudes have changed since 1949 when this book was written!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed with Ish
Review: I hate to add a note of dissent to all the glowing reviews but this book really frustrated me. It`s not that it was badly written though I found the style a little clinical. I guess that is just a reflection of the personality of Ish, through whose eyes we see the unfolding of the years following the devastating plague. Myabe it was his character that annoyed me so much and basically put me off the book. He seemed to consider himself so superior to those about him and become almost unbalanced in his lofty plans for his favourite son. I found it hard to believe that everyone else in the community apart from him was so darn thick. I also found it very sexist, even though i know that only reflects the time it was written. The author`s attitude to race relations was dedfinitely more forward-thinking than towards women, who were mainly portrayed as baby-obsessed brood-mares. Even Em, the main female character was seen as reacting to events on an instinctual rather than intellectual level.

The apathy of the community also bothered me - would people really be this unconcerned about their children`s future? Decades later and they hadn`t taught the children to read so they could learn how to do all that stuff they`d eventually need - like how to make candles, when to plant crops, how to weave fabric, etc etc. I can`t believe they were STILL living off tinned food all those years after and hadn`t even bothered to domesticate any horses or grow vegetable gardens! I prefer the English series Survivors, which I feel tackled the practicalities of having to provide and produce absolutely EVERYTHING necessary to life for yourself much better than this did.

Rating:
Summary: Great Characters
Review: This was one of the early end of the world novels where the survivors try to restart society. Though there is a lot of scientific inaccuracies, what makes this book great are the characters. If you liked Stephen King's The Stand which also had great characters, then you should like this one.

The main character is Ish. Ish seems to be someone that we all strive to be. Caring and smart. Ish also, has the son that we all wish our children would be like. Ish's son is the smartest of all the children and he simply idolizes Ish.

Ish uses a hammer (a basic, I guess Stanely model) as his symbol of power (or his sceptre) over the survivors. Undoubtedly, the hammer is to pass to Ish's son when Ish dies.

The big project for the survivors is to get an old automobilie repaired enough to explore other lands and try to find other bands of survivors and get civilization back on its feet. I don't want to give the rest of the plot away only to say that this project turns out to be a big mistake.