Rating: 
Summary: An excellent read
Review: Some interesting ideas explored in this novel, such as the true worth, or otherwise of what we today term 'education'. Stewart asks the reader to question the validity of many of our modern values upon which today's civilization is based as well as pointing out how swiftly these would erode in the aftermath of some holocast. I am not sure if Ish made the correct decision when he completely abandoned the school for the children. There was only the one chance to pass on the knowledge of reading and the communication value it holds, and once lost it would be gone for ever. Also, the future survival of 'The Tribe' would have benefited enormously if future generations had access to much of the knowledge contained in the library.
Another interesting point was how "The Tribe', or rather 4 of its members, so quickly decided on the death penalty for Charlie.
There appeared to be a complete lack of any real emotions in any of the characters. This was particularly noticable at the start of the novel when Ish looses not only all his friends, but his family also. There seemed no grieving process, and although he was certainly sad at the loss of Joey and Em, I did not feel his pain.
Stewart could have written a far longer novel without loosing my interest and much more could have been included. The 'Quick Years' passed too quickly for me and I could have handled a few more hundred pages without loosing interest.
Altogether an excellent read. We are asked to question so much of what we today hold as important. He questions our complacency, which is always a good thing.
Rating: 
Summary: The End of the World?
Review: An astonishing science fiction novel in the apocalyptic vein, written in 1949, and despite a surprisingly few dated references, a story that remains both entertaining and relevant. In the beginning, protagonist Isherwood Williams (with the unfortunate nickname of "Ish") is one of the few survivors of a virus that wipes out a majority of the human population. Ish is in his twenties, an over-educated outsider, who stands on the margins of society analyzing and contemplating what he sees. After a solo excursion across the county and returning to the Bay Area, California, he slowly joins up with an assortment of characters, and becomes the de facto leader of "The Tribe". The struggles that confront them are meticulously well thought out and explicated by the author while rarely dragging down the narrative. The slow decay of an industrial society with no one left to manage it and the natural environment no longer held at bay serve as the antagonists. There are no sci-fi pulp orientated elements such as giant mutant killer ants (for better or worse). Threatening the Tribe are scourges of rats, wild dogs, and other animals, as various species overpopulate until starvation brings their numbers down again. There are outbreaks of disease to be dealt with and wild brush fires caused by dead trees no longer cleared away. The novel deftly provides details such as what happens to the plumbing when city reservoirs dry up and fall into disrepair. The real strength of the book, however, is how Ish is forced to confront what knowledge and wisdom needs to be passed on to the future generations in order to rebuild society. Hence with his intelligent introspective nature, interwoven into this entertaining story are thoughtful reflections on what purposes societies serve, what they protect us from, and even what they blind us to and cause us to take for granted. This is a timeless classic our own civilization would be mistaken to let slip into the "out-of-print" abyss.
Rating:
Summary: An interesting read
Review: Earth Abides is an interesting take on the human condition. Whether you agree or disagree with what the author is trying to say, it is definitely a book that makes you think about the story line and characters.While I disagree with most of Stewart's assumptions, it is well written and thought provoking. Definitely a classic that should be read again and again.
Rating:
Summary: Melancholy view of the human condidtion.
Review: Stewart's novel begins with a science fiction premised used by Stephen King in The Stand -- a virus quickly wipes out most of the world's population -- but from that point on, the two books (and others that have used this idea) are completely dissimilar. Stewart has little interest in the plague itself, and it is covered in a short part of the book. Rather, his interest is in how people react to being deprived of modern civilization. For years, his characters try to keep things going by teaching their children to read, and keeping memories of the old world alive. However, the drastically changed circumstances of their children's lives make this impossible, and the small group of survivors descend to a hunter-gatherer civilization. Stewart also addresses the question of what would ordinary people do who find themselves deprived of the protections of the law, and thus having to make their own difficult choices. Those who read this book expecting a typical science fiction novel will be disappointed. Stewart uses science fiction themes to explore significant issues in much the same way that George Orwell did in 1984. An excellent novel.
Rating:
Summary: The Human Condition aptly portrayed!
Review: "Earth Abides" is a wonderful literary work. It's a shame that it's catalogued as a work of "science fiction" because it is so much more than that. I'm sure that many serious literary fans have failed to pick up on this teriffic book because of that "tag". The book has a tremendous "hook" line - that being, "almost the entire human race is eradicated by a terrible catastrophe". The plot is very believable and amazing when you consider that the novel was written in 1949. Author George Stewart is a great storyteller and has created some very interesting characters. The hero of this book, "Ish", is both a "superman" and an "everyman". He is both the leader of his tribe, but also easily led. His development as a person and as the head of his people is a wonderful progression throughout the book. His wife, "Em" exhibits all the great characteristics of the strong woman behind the "great man". And, let me say that the symbolism of Ish's hammer was a very interesting facet of the book. My only criticism (and it's a pretty minor one) is that the book did not go into enough detail regarding the disaster and how other people throughout the country were affected. I think that this would have added some rich "body" to the storyline. All things considered though, this indeed is a book for the ages. It belongs with some of the best works of that era, such as "The Lord of the Flies", "Catcher in the Rye", and later "To Kill a Mockingbird". As an educator, I would really urge school officials to add this novel to their list of great American Literary selections for high school students. But, do yourself a favor - go to the library or your local bookstore get a copy of "Earth Abides" and delve into this great classic with its timeless message about the unshakeable human spirit!
Rating:
Summary: An All-Time Great!
Review: I first read this book nearly 40 years ago, and loved it. I go back and re-read it about once per decade, and I never tire of it. This was the first "post-disaster" novel, and in some ways still the best. Because it was written in 1949 it's a bit dated in some ways, but the human element is so strong that it still holds your interest; you really CARE about the characters! One of my all-time favorites!
Rating:
Summary: Astounding
Review: Apparently many of the reader-reviewers are science fiction or horror fans and thus compare Stewart's novel with that genre. Those readers are not likely to appreciate the ideas expressed in "Earth Abides". Stewart was one of the first fiction writers to deal with ecology and human's place in the balance of nature and his extrapolations from anthropological thought of that period (1940's) are exceptional. It seems that many of the readers, without realizing it, got so caught up in the novel that they criticise the protagonist's character flaws as though he were a "real" human wanting him to be "more insightful" and less of a pedantic man. Those flaws appear to make him more authentic. Although classified as science fiction, the term speculative fiction is a better fit. It is interesting that the period of time covered, approximately 1948, to the present day, and although it was written in the late 1940's, it is still fresh today. Looking back, if there had been a catastrophe at that time, we would very likely today be at the point where the novel ends. A hundred years from now the novel is likely to be a classic and hopefully be on a shelf not labeled "Science Fiction."
Rating:
Summary: A great and majestic book with marvelous insight
Review: One thing that disturbs people about Earth Abides is its incredible humbling realism about the human condition. People who read it come away profoundly unnerved by the idea that civilization is not something guaranteed to come into existence if we lose it and that it requires an enormous convergence of many different kinds of stimulus to create the energies needed within a race of men to bring it into being. Even the most gifted races of people on the Earth can barely hold it together in the best of times, George Stewart shows us how easily it can all fall apart and remain in a primeval condition for untold generations. The protagonist Isherwood suffers from the same disease that afflicts even the best of men - he lacks direction, loses initiative, becomes too preoccupied with the daily stresses of living and watches his life trickle away in the post apocalyptic environment without ever seeming to summon the right kinds of ambitions to carry out his grand dreams of rebuilding the old world. Stewart was quite prophetic considering when this book was written because many modern anthropologists have since confirmed that many previous civilizations have died out precisely because of this "critical threshold" of the division of labor and sheer numbers of vanished races being too low to sustain a breeding population and achieve the critical mass that leads to a progress oriented civilization. Stewart was very perceptive too be able to articulate this phenomenon and even narrate its exact trajectory following the loss of so many people who were vital components in the world that Isherwood regrets the demise of. The most disturbing aspect for me was that I see much of the exact decay of western civilization going on right now all around us and we have not even have a catastrophic plague yet. The same loss of purpose, of drive, of a sense of our own individual worth as a nation and a desire to maintain our sovereignty is slowly giving way to the degenerative notion of a world socialist government of faceless consumers who lack any culture beyond the food court and cineplex. The terrifying thing about the book "Earth Abides" is that it is the story of our world and the modern era ... even before we suffer the inevitable collapse of our civilization in the physical sense. The reality is that we see it all crumbling around our eyes into the multicultural carnival of formlessness and we often find ourselves as helpless and feckless as Ish himself in doing anything about it. Highest rating, possibly on the top 100 list of best fiction I've ever read. I consider Stewart to be the author of a modern classic in publishing this book. It is so much more than simply speculative fiction, it contains eternal truths.
Rating:
Summary: Almost had me but not all the way
Review: Well almost everything has been already written about this book but I have one new curiosity not yet mentioned by anybody. In fact it's this curiosity that caused me to only give it a three star rating. To enjoy this book I had to believe that the handful of survivors world wide all loss basic curiosity. I can understand the total grief, the total denial and complete loss of the few who survive. I cannot understand the total and complete loss of curiosity. All around the survivors they have the tools, the machines and all the books but nobody has any interest in them. The leader of the survivors gives only lip service to the books but does nothing to really grow from them. Nor does he use them to learn the psychology of how to motivate his tribe. He only once attempts to do anything and at that it's only an after thought. He comes up with an idea that sparks the survivors into thinking about rebuilding a jeep but that's all. Aside from this his tribe cares about nothing. His tribe lives only day to day but seem forever lost in the now and blind, uncaring and unwilling to look to the past and what it can offer to help then survive in the future. The author never mentions curiosity or its loss in any of the timeline that the book traverses. It's as if curiosity never was part of humankind. All in all, I could enjoy the book without curiosity but it left me wondering what if it had included it in the story.
Rating:
Summary: A true classic, pure and simple
Review: "Earth Abides" is NOT a science fiction novel, which is probably why many readers...have been disappointed. It is much more a social commentary, a critical examination of the human race, and a thoughtful analysis of where the human race really rates in the grand scheme of things. Thematically, the novel has more in common with Daniel Quinn's "Ishmael" than King's "The Stand." Stewart asks us to consider the true meaning of "civilization" -- is it all about electricity, running water, and refrigeration? Or is it more about community and survival? Stewart's main character tries valiently to convince the new race of Americans to work together to reform the kind of civilization that led to world overpopulation in the first place (and that overpopulation, he theorizes -- in very Quinn-like reasoning -- results in a very natural plague that wipes out most of the human race). The lessons learned in this compelling novel are both profound and frightening. Could it be possible that some day our ancestors, generations in the future, will look back on us as odd and strange creatures who depended too much on invention and not enough on ourselves? In some ways, the novel is about the conflict between intellectualism and naturalism. In other ways, it's about learning to deal with change. However you read it, "Earth Abides" is a terrific book you won't soon forget.
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