Status
Available
Genres
Publication
New York : Harmony Books, 1987.
Description
This collection of five short stories about nuclear war includes a story of escalating paranoia as seen by a twelve-year-old.
Media reviews
New Musical Express
The stories swirl with fallout and the stress of thinking you might be blown up any minute. People's social lives are like missile crises or else the mushroom-cloud is already in their heads — they have personal apocalypses, they are permanently fixed in The Day After.
User reviews
LibraryThing member LynnB
Martin Amis has written a collection of five stories about lving with the threat of, or after, a nuclear war.
In two of the stories, the existence of nuclear weapons is a backdrop for the anxieties and behaviour of characters. These were my favourites, with a strength of language and imagery that
The other three stories could more easily fit the science-fiction genre since they take place after nuclear war has destroyed the world as we know it. Even in these, Mr. Amis's focus is on people: these aren't stories about war and technology, but about what they do to humanity.
In two of the stories, the existence of nuclear weapons is a backdrop for the anxieties and behaviour of characters. These were my favourites, with a strength of language and imagery that
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literally made me pause and reflect mid-paragraph at times.The other three stories could more easily fit the science-fiction genre since they take place after nuclear war has destroyed the world as we know it. Even in these, Mr. Amis's focus is on people: these aren't stories about war and technology, but about what they do to humanity.
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LibraryThing member soylentgreen23
A slightly hit-and-miss collection of stories - and an excellent opening essay - on the nuclear reality of the 1980s.
LibraryThing member Ranjr
This was not a good book. The introduction which consisted of about a third of the whole book was interesting but got to be repetitive about half-way through. The stories were a slog with the last two being somewhat tolerable however the second to last, the Little Puppy that Could, had points that
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bogged it down and had a confusing ending. The only stories that had much to do with a nuclear Apocalypse aside from just using it as a background that contributed nothing to the story were the last two. It was a quick read but I cannot recommend this book, it sucked. Show Less