Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Random House (1949)
Description
First published in 1949, award-winning Earth Abides is one of the most influential science-fiction novels of the twentieth century. It remains a fresh, provocative story of apocalyptic pandemic, societal collapse, and rebirth. The cabin had always been a special retreat for Isherwood Williams, a haven from the demands of society. But one day while hiking, Ish was bitten by a rattlesnake, and the solitude he had so desired took on dire new significance. He was sick for days--and often delirious--waking up to find two strangers peering in at him from the cabin door. Yet oddly, instead of offering help, the two ran off as if terrified. Not long after, the coughing began. Ish suffered chills and fever, and a measles-like rash on his skin. He was one of the few people in the world to live through that peculiar malady, but he didn't know it then. Ish headed home when he finally felt himself again--and noticed the strangeness almost immediately. No cars passed him on the road; the gas station not far from his cabin looked abandoned; and he was shocked to see the body of a man on the roadside near a small town. Without a radio or phone, Ish had no idea of humanity's abrupt demise. He had escaped death, yet could not escape the catastrophe--and with an eerie detachment he found himself curious as to how long it would be before all traces of civilization faded from Earth.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Bookmarque
I don’t think anyone would write a novel like this today. We’re too action-oriented. We want drama, conflict and violence, something Earth Abides has very little of. It’s an inward-thinking novel. The main character, Ish, does a lot of ruminating and philosophizing. Many of his opinions
Ish truly is a researcher at heart. He has trouble making decisions, being assertive or believing in himself enough to turn desire to action. When toward the end of the novel he realizes he should have taken a more aggressive leadership role with the tribe, he regrets his passivity and in a burst of activity, tries to make up for lost time. But by then it’s too late, attitudes have shifted completely in only one generation. Basically it shows man’s base laziness. The younger generation has no desire to create at all; they want to play and continue to eat out of cans. Until by circumstance we’re forced to do something difficult, we’ll always take the easy way out. It reminded me of the fossil fuel situation; we know intellectually that the oil will run out some day, like the tribe knows the canned food will run out, but we and they only make half-hearted efforts to find alternatives. I particularly liked Ish’s devious way of introducing old technology that will save the future generations a lot of hardship and misery. In just one more generation the toy-like bows and arrows have become serious grown-up affairs and so in this instance Ish had success.
At first I expected a post-apocalyptic novel written in 1949 to come across as terribly dated, but it isn’t. Once technology has become unusable, it doesn’t matter how sophisticated it once was. 1949 or 2009 it makes no difference whether the defunct electrical grid once ran only radios or computers; once it’s gone it ceases to matter. This makes the novel fairly timeless.
Another thing that ceases to matter once it’s gone is modern civilization as a whole. Particular organizational structure, rules and norms, habits and taboos – none of this really matters to the survivors except as a point of reference and, occasionally, as a security blanket. The children and grandchildren born to the survivors have not been taught with the old society in mind and thus have no frame of reference for why we all thought it so important. Knowledge and intellectualism as concepts are axes the author grinds frequently by making Ish worry and fret about them a great deal. Ish is concerned that the tribe consists of normal, average, sturdy people instead of thinkers and creators. He worries that the intrinsic value of civilization will be lost. He puts high importance on the intellectual ability of individuals only to find out that like technology, some higher learning just doesn’t matter once the context is gone. Without a society to run, what use are libraries and laws and arbitrary social mores?
There is a new introduction for the audio version I listened to and it states that many people consider this to be the saddest novel they’ve ever read. While I did find it subdued, I didn’t find it overly sad. Ish himself at times is depressed, but only over his perceived importance of the culture he once knew. The post-calamity people aren’t sad and don’t mourn the loss of what they did not know. Instead they are living to suit themselves and doing a fairly good job of it. My overall impression was one of hope, not despair. The people are not portrayed at their worst, instead everyone was pretty reasonable and non-violent. It was surprising and I don’t know if I really believe it could be that way or if it’s just conditioning from dozens of movies and books that deal with this subject very differently. I’d like to think that it could.
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border on the non-politically correct and some may get offended at his intellectualism. What little action and conflict there is tends to be presented mildly, almost passively, as if the action has very little importance in the grand scheme of things, which I suppose it does. It also doesn’t deal with the technical side of what happened; this is not Michael Crichton or Greg Bear. Global warming hysteria is absent as well.Ish truly is a researcher at heart. He has trouble making decisions, being assertive or believing in himself enough to turn desire to action. When toward the end of the novel he realizes he should have taken a more aggressive leadership role with the tribe, he regrets his passivity and in a burst of activity, tries to make up for lost time. But by then it’s too late, attitudes have shifted completely in only one generation. Basically it shows man’s base laziness. The younger generation has no desire to create at all; they want to play and continue to eat out of cans. Until by circumstance we’re forced to do something difficult, we’ll always take the easy way out. It reminded me of the fossil fuel situation; we know intellectually that the oil will run out some day, like the tribe knows the canned food will run out, but we and they only make half-hearted efforts to find alternatives. I particularly liked Ish’s devious way of introducing old technology that will save the future generations a lot of hardship and misery. In just one more generation the toy-like bows and arrows have become serious grown-up affairs and so in this instance Ish had success.
At first I expected a post-apocalyptic novel written in 1949 to come across as terribly dated, but it isn’t. Once technology has become unusable, it doesn’t matter how sophisticated it once was. 1949 or 2009 it makes no difference whether the defunct electrical grid once ran only radios or computers; once it’s gone it ceases to matter. This makes the novel fairly timeless.
Another thing that ceases to matter once it’s gone is modern civilization as a whole. Particular organizational structure, rules and norms, habits and taboos – none of this really matters to the survivors except as a point of reference and, occasionally, as a security blanket. The children and grandchildren born to the survivors have not been taught with the old society in mind and thus have no frame of reference for why we all thought it so important. Knowledge and intellectualism as concepts are axes the author grinds frequently by making Ish worry and fret about them a great deal. Ish is concerned that the tribe consists of normal, average, sturdy people instead of thinkers and creators. He worries that the intrinsic value of civilization will be lost. He puts high importance on the intellectual ability of individuals only to find out that like technology, some higher learning just doesn’t matter once the context is gone. Without a society to run, what use are libraries and laws and arbitrary social mores?
There is a new introduction for the audio version I listened to and it states that many people consider this to be the saddest novel they’ve ever read. While I did find it subdued, I didn’t find it overly sad. Ish himself at times is depressed, but only over his perceived importance of the culture he once knew. The post-calamity people aren’t sad and don’t mourn the loss of what they did not know. Instead they are living to suit themselves and doing a fairly good job of it. My overall impression was one of hope, not despair. The people are not portrayed at their worst, instead everyone was pretty reasonable and non-violent. It was surprising and I don’t know if I really believe it could be that way or if it’s just conditioning from dozens of movies and books that deal with this subject very differently. I’d like to think that it could.
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LibraryThing member auntmarge64
Making his way home to San Francisco from a mountain retreat, a graduate student discovers that a plague has wiped out most of humanity. With plentiful supplies everywhere, and power and running water still functioning, Ish drives to the East Coast and back to determine what has happened in other
The story is told through Ish's eyes and follows him for the rest of his long life, during which he successfully guides the Tribe so that by his death there are several hundred in the group. Ish is a worrier, and through his internal struggles we see how a future with only a handful of humans remaining might unfold and what human life might change to be. Most interesting are the issues of passing along the history, curiosity, imagination and technology of the modern world. Is there a point in trying? How would a new generation relate to a world of which only a few aging adults have any memory and whose successes are impossible to use? What would be the best way to prepare them to survive, and what role and value would there be for old morality, superstition, and law?
These are fascinating questions, and Stewart gives the reader a huge amount to think about. Published in 1949, the novel has many mid-century quirks. And anyone who has read Kim Stanley Robinson knows how internal dialogues can see interminable. But, as with Robinson, if the reader forges ahead there are wealth of insights to be had, and this can be very rewarding indeed.
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parts of the country. Along the way he meets a very few others, living alone or in groups of two or three, but most of these have been driven mad by the "Great Disaster". It isn't until he's been back in California for several months that he meets another survivor in the area, a woman 10 years his senior, with whom he begins a new life. A few other survivors find them, and the Tribe forges a life, having children and trying to keep humanity from dying out altogether. The story is told through Ish's eyes and follows him for the rest of his long life, during which he successfully guides the Tribe so that by his death there are several hundred in the group. Ish is a worrier, and through his internal struggles we see how a future with only a handful of humans remaining might unfold and what human life might change to be. Most interesting are the issues of passing along the history, curiosity, imagination and technology of the modern world. Is there a point in trying? How would a new generation relate to a world of which only a few aging adults have any memory and whose successes are impossible to use? What would be the best way to prepare them to survive, and what role and value would there be for old morality, superstition, and law?
These are fascinating questions, and Stewart gives the reader a huge amount to think about. Published in 1949, the novel has many mid-century quirks. And anyone who has read Kim Stanley Robinson knows how internal dialogues can see interminable. But, as with Robinson, if the reader forges ahead there are wealth of insights to be had, and this can be very rewarding indeed.
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LibraryThing member ErlendSkjelten
This book chronicles the experiences of Isherwood Williams, who returns home from a research trip in the mountains to find that humanity has all but died out from a mysterious disease. Banding together with a few other survivors, he tries to survive in the ruins of civilization, while dreaming of
I quite enjoyed this book. While I was not overly fond of the main character, as I found him a bit too arrogant and inefficient, the story as a whole was quite interesting. I should admit that my ambivalence towards Ish might come from being hit a bit too close to home, though.
I particularly enjoyed the little segments on what happened to the things Man left behind, the plants and animals and constructions. Especially in the first segment of the book, these observations on how the natural world would change without people there to keep it in the mould we've built for it, were much more fascinating than Ish himself. Possibly, the author thought so too, as the first part of the book is mostly Ish driving around to observe the effects of the calamity, rather than taking any active part in events.
In the second segment, when Ish and some other survivors have banded together to form their little tribe, these little asides become rarer, but it doesn't matter much, as the formation of the new society becomes the interesting part. The books characters aren't really all that much to shout about, many of them can be described in a single word, and several of them never get any more characteristics beyond a name. At this point, the story is much more about the character of the emerging society than of its individual members. It is really only Ish and his wife who are more than background, yet it is the background that is interesting, the rites and customs that emerge in the little tribe, like the New Year ritual they develop. As the survivors age, the tribe becomes numerically dominated by their children, who never knew the old world, and who have original ways of seeing the past. The reverence they have for Ish's hammer, which has acted as a sort of safety blanket for him, was a touch I really liked.
Overall, I wish we had seen more of the culture and mythology of the tribe, especially in the third part of the book, when Ish is old and dying as the last of the Americans, and the tribe consists entirely of people who have never known any life but the one they lead. Since Ish is the focus point, and at this point in the story, apparently senile, we get only fleeting glimpses. I would dearly have loved to see the story continue beyond where it ended, to have a look at the new world when the old was truly gone.
Overall, this story is enjoyable chiefly for its plot, rather than its characters. The plot is very interesting, and while the characters might not be the most developed personalities, they do not detract from the enjoyment. It was well worth the read.
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one day rebuilding it.I quite enjoyed this book. While I was not overly fond of the main character, as I found him a bit too arrogant and inefficient, the story as a whole was quite interesting. I should admit that my ambivalence towards Ish might come from being hit a bit too close to home, though.
I particularly enjoyed the little segments on what happened to the things Man left behind, the plants and animals and constructions. Especially in the first segment of the book, these observations on how the natural world would change without people there to keep it in the mould we've built for it, were much more fascinating than Ish himself. Possibly, the author thought so too, as the first part of the book is mostly Ish driving around to observe the effects of the calamity, rather than taking any active part in events.
In the second segment, when Ish and some other survivors have banded together to form their little tribe, these little asides become rarer, but it doesn't matter much, as the formation of the new society becomes the interesting part. The books characters aren't really all that much to shout about, many of them can be described in a single word, and several of them never get any more characteristics beyond a name. At this point, the story is much more about the character of the emerging society than of its individual members. It is really only Ish and his wife who are more than background, yet it is the background that is interesting, the rites and customs that emerge in the little tribe, like the New Year ritual they develop. As the survivors age, the tribe becomes numerically dominated by their children, who never knew the old world, and who have original ways of seeing the past. The reverence they have for Ish's hammer, which has acted as a sort of safety blanket for him, was a touch I really liked.
Overall, I wish we had seen more of the culture and mythology of the tribe, especially in the third part of the book, when Ish is old and dying as the last of the Americans, and the tribe consists entirely of people who have never known any life but the one they lead. Since Ish is the focus point, and at this point in the story, apparently senile, we get only fleeting glimpses. I would dearly have loved to see the story continue beyond where it ended, to have a look at the new world when the old was truly gone.
Overall, this story is enjoyable chiefly for its plot, rather than its characters. The plot is very interesting, and while the characters might not be the most developed personalities, they do not detract from the enjoyment. It was well worth the read.
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LibraryThing member MusicMom41
It took a long time to come from a "distant" library but I finally read Earth Abides this week. It was appropriate to read now because we are up at our house in Vallejo, which is near San Francisco. It was a little eerie reading this story so close to the area where the story takes place. I can
The book tells about a young man who, after spending several weeks alone in a cabin in the mountains, returns to his home in the East Bay area to discover that most of the human population of the earth has been wiped out by a plague. This is the first post-apocalyptic novel I have ever read and I found it interesting how the author envisioned the future after this catastrophe. It was written 1949 and so to younger readers it would seem dated in some ways but the human reactions and how they dealt with the event could generate a lot of discussion in a book group. I found it fascinating. I'm putting it in my classic category instead of science fiction even though the library doesn't agree with me. I didn't see anything fictional about the science in the book (although my scientist husband would call some of it "fuzzy science!") and it doesn't seem to be fantasy. It's about something that didn't happen, which makes it fiction, but it isn't about something couldn't possibly happen so I don't consider it fantastical.
I had another eerie experience reading this book. The nonfiction book I was reading at the same time was Travels with Charlie about the 1960 trip Steinbeck took to “explore America.” In Earth Abides the protagonist, Ish, takes a cross country trip to see what has happened in the rest of America after the catastrophe. My mind kept comparing Ish’s journey with Steinbeck’s trip as I read Travels. I seem to frequently have these kinds of coincidences when I read—unusual connections between disparate stories.
Bottom line: An interesting,, thought provoking look at how people might react to a global catastrophe. It would make a good Book Group discussion, imo. Highly Recommended
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easily visualize the area because I've been there so many times. I was born “in the shadow” of the Golden Gate Bridge. The book tells about a young man who, after spending several weeks alone in a cabin in the mountains, returns to his home in the East Bay area to discover that most of the human population of the earth has been wiped out by a plague. This is the first post-apocalyptic novel I have ever read and I found it interesting how the author envisioned the future after this catastrophe. It was written 1949 and so to younger readers it would seem dated in some ways but the human reactions and how they dealt with the event could generate a lot of discussion in a book group. I found it fascinating. I'm putting it in my classic category instead of science fiction even though the library doesn't agree with me. I didn't see anything fictional about the science in the book (although my scientist husband would call some of it "fuzzy science!") and it doesn't seem to be fantasy. It's about something that didn't happen, which makes it fiction, but it isn't about something couldn't possibly happen so I don't consider it fantastical.
I had another eerie experience reading this book. The nonfiction book I was reading at the same time was Travels with Charlie about the 1960 trip Steinbeck took to “explore America.” In Earth Abides the protagonist, Ish, takes a cross country trip to see what has happened in the rest of America after the catastrophe. My mind kept comparing Ish’s journey with Steinbeck’s trip as I read Travels. I seem to frequently have these kinds of coincidences when I read—unusual connections between disparate stories.
Bottom line: An interesting,, thought provoking look at how people might react to a global catastrophe. It would make a good Book Group discussion, imo. Highly Recommended
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LibraryThing member baswood
This novel is listed in Abe's 50 essential science fiction novels as well as Pringle's 100 best science fiction novels, it is also published in the SF masterwork series. It has many excellent reviews on LT and so my expectations were high. I was not disappointed. Published in 1949 it has claim to
The 1940's were in some respects more gentle times than today and this is reflected in Stewarts view of a world where survival is the key to existence, but there are no gangs of motorcycle warlords roaming the streets as you might find in a Mad Max film, people are more inclined to help each other than shoot each other on sight or torture each other to death. Ish is an academic with a few practical skills, who at times prefers his own company and feels uncomfortable in certain social situations, but he has a good heart and a will to keep going when faced with a devastating situation. He had been up country in a log cabin when he had suffered a rattlesnake bite, he survived but was laid up for a week, when he came back down to civilization he found he was possibly the only person left alive following a great plague. Stewart grips the reader from the start with Ish's predicament and his search for fellow survivors, there are very few of these and most of them have been driven insane or just given up at the prospect of being alone in the world, however Ish does find a few individuals and they band together realising it is their best chance to survive. Ish's story is the story of this small community, who get around to calling themselves the Tribe when babies start to be produced.
Stewarts master stroke is to make this group a very ordinary collection of individuals, there are no obvious leaders of men, no one has more than the most everyday practical skills and no one is a scientific genius, their time is spent trying to adapt to their new situation, certain rituals are established, although religion is largely avoided. Stewarts big theme is the how quickly civilization would disappear for a group like this, who do not have the man power or the skills to keep even the electricity supply functioning. When the lights go out the group resort to gas lamps and candles only dimly aware that when these run out they cannot be replaced. Ish is the only one of the group who thinks about the future and attempts to halt the groups slide into ignorance and perhaps barbarity as they soon become little more than hunter gatherers. There is however an underlying humanity in the Tribe and this is what makes the reader care about them and about Ish.
Stewart intersperses his narrative with some ideas of how the natural world would adapt following the near demise of man, this is evident within the story itself as machinery no longer works, vegetation re-establishes itself everywhere and concrete and steel deteriorate, but the little asides are fascinating and are brief enough not to get in the way of the narrative. For the most part the book is well written although there is some annoying repetition when Stewart forces his point across, and I wanted to say to him that his readers may not be as dumb as many of the people in the Tribe.
I did not have to suspend belief in this story and could well imagine a similar situation for a group of individuals who survive a plague in the 21st century, for example what would they do when their cell phones stopped working. Great science fiction and a very good novel which I would rate at 4.5 stars.
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be one of the first dystopia novels and if not the first it is certainly one of the best that I have read. This is the sort of science fiction novel that if you chanced upon it in the 1960's it would probably make you a science fiction fan for a long time to come and it still reads well today; as long as you allow yourself to view things from a 1940's perspective. This is particularly important for this novel because civilization is basically halted in its tracks when a mysterious plague wipes out most of the human race in little over a week. There are only very few people that survive and the story is told from the POV of one of the survivors: Isherwood Williams (Ish for short)The 1940's were in some respects more gentle times than today and this is reflected in Stewarts view of a world where survival is the key to existence, but there are no gangs of motorcycle warlords roaming the streets as you might find in a Mad Max film, people are more inclined to help each other than shoot each other on sight or torture each other to death. Ish is an academic with a few practical skills, who at times prefers his own company and feels uncomfortable in certain social situations, but he has a good heart and a will to keep going when faced with a devastating situation. He had been up country in a log cabin when he had suffered a rattlesnake bite, he survived but was laid up for a week, when he came back down to civilization he found he was possibly the only person left alive following a great plague. Stewart grips the reader from the start with Ish's predicament and his search for fellow survivors, there are very few of these and most of them have been driven insane or just given up at the prospect of being alone in the world, however Ish does find a few individuals and they band together realising it is their best chance to survive. Ish's story is the story of this small community, who get around to calling themselves the Tribe when babies start to be produced.
Stewarts master stroke is to make this group a very ordinary collection of individuals, there are no obvious leaders of men, no one has more than the most everyday practical skills and no one is a scientific genius, their time is spent trying to adapt to their new situation, certain rituals are established, although religion is largely avoided. Stewarts big theme is the how quickly civilization would disappear for a group like this, who do not have the man power or the skills to keep even the electricity supply functioning. When the lights go out the group resort to gas lamps and candles only dimly aware that when these run out they cannot be replaced. Ish is the only one of the group who thinks about the future and attempts to halt the groups slide into ignorance and perhaps barbarity as they soon become little more than hunter gatherers. There is however an underlying humanity in the Tribe and this is what makes the reader care about them and about Ish.
Stewart intersperses his narrative with some ideas of how the natural world would adapt following the near demise of man, this is evident within the story itself as machinery no longer works, vegetation re-establishes itself everywhere and concrete and steel deteriorate, but the little asides are fascinating and are brief enough not to get in the way of the narrative. For the most part the book is well written although there is some annoying repetition when Stewart forces his point across, and I wanted to say to him that his readers may not be as dumb as many of the people in the Tribe.
I did not have to suspend belief in this story and could well imagine a similar situation for a group of individuals who survive a plague in the 21st century, for example what would they do when their cell phones stopped working. Great science fiction and a very good novel which I would rate at 4.5 stars.
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LibraryThing member nx74defiant
Classic Post-Apocalyptic Fiction.
I really enjoyed it. It holds up really well.
I liked the parts that talk about what is happening in nature, to the dogs, the cats, the cities. It reminded me of the world with out man video I saw.
I really enjoyed it. It holds up really well.
I liked the parts that talk about what is happening in nature, to the dogs, the cats, the cities. It reminded me of the world with out man video I saw.
LibraryThing member goodmanbrown
Most of Earth Abides' good points come with downsides. These apocalypse novels usually take the Robinson Crusoe approach of following a small band of scrappy people holding a shred of civilization against the tide of entropy. Earth Abides doesn't do this is. The characters are swept along, carried
Ish, the main character, initially views himself as a Crusoe figure. It isn't until he gives up that fantasy, 2/3 of the way through the book, that he can begin to adjust, and begin to grow happy. That character development is interesting.
The downside is that watching lazy people sit around and forget what little they once knew is boring. They whittle wood, open a can of food when they get hungry, maybe sing a campfire song. Seriously: if I'm this bored *reading* about their lives, why on earth aren't they bored living them?
Most of the substance of the story is in Ish's mind. In his struggle to come to terms with the new world, and his role in it. I don't think Stewart's writing is not up to the meaty task he set himself. He drifts toward stilted dialog when he's reaching for depth. The characters, when they say something important, adopt biblically convoluted and metaphorical phrasings. Ish is the worst offender of all, apparently unable to butter his toast without mentally digressing into a repetitious monologue of melodramatic self-analysis.
One more point that bothered me enough to mention. The book was published in 1949, and even when it is striving hard to be progressive, it ends up gruesomely racist, sexist, and ablist. I can't fault Stewart (or Ish, who, one suspects, sometimes is employed as Stewart's mouthpiece). From what I understand of the time, I should be praising him for shaking himself free of many cultural biases. Still, time and again, I found myself thinking "people in the 40s were *awful*. Thank god I wasn't alive then." I didn't have an easy time investing in any of these characters, anyway, and the fact that they are miserable bigots made it all the harder.
Possibly the most flagrant example is the character Evie, a "half-wit" that Stewart keeps around for the whole book, just to use as a convenient plot point. There is no reason in the text to suppose she couldn't be a productive member of the community, but the community shuns her for her disability. They feed her, and are proud of themselves for not poisoning her. Their comfort in ignoring her, their failure ever to consider her well-being, is painful to read.
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back through the history of civilizations, shedding knowledge with every generation. I've not read another apocalypse novel that's so deeply pessimistic about our ability to preserve civilization in the face of disaster.Ish, the main character, initially views himself as a Crusoe figure. It isn't until he gives up that fantasy, 2/3 of the way through the book, that he can begin to adjust, and begin to grow happy. That character development is interesting.
The downside is that watching lazy people sit around and forget what little they once knew is boring. They whittle wood, open a can of food when they get hungry, maybe sing a campfire song. Seriously: if I'm this bored *reading* about their lives, why on earth aren't they bored living them?
Most of the substance of the story is in Ish's mind. In his struggle to come to terms with the new world, and his role in it. I don't think Stewart's writing is not up to the meaty task he set himself. He drifts toward stilted dialog when he's reaching for depth. The characters, when they say something important, adopt biblically convoluted and metaphorical phrasings. Ish is the worst offender of all, apparently unable to butter his toast without mentally digressing into a repetitious monologue of melodramatic self-analysis.
One more point that bothered me enough to mention. The book was published in 1949, and even when it is striving hard to be progressive, it ends up gruesomely racist, sexist, and ablist. I can't fault Stewart (or Ish, who, one suspects, sometimes is employed as Stewart's mouthpiece). From what I understand of the time, I should be praising him for shaking himself free of many cultural biases. Still, time and again, I found myself thinking "people in the 40s were *awful*. Thank god I wasn't alive then." I didn't have an easy time investing in any of these characters, anyway, and the fact that they are miserable bigots made it all the harder.
Possibly the most flagrant example is the character Evie, a "half-wit" that Stewart keeps around for the whole book, just to use as a convenient plot point. There is no reason in the text to suppose she couldn't be a productive member of the community, but the community shuns her for her disability. They feed her, and are proud of themselves for not poisoning her. Their comfort in ignoring her, their failure ever to consider her well-being, is painful to read.
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LibraryThing member bongo_x
I have to go back and write a little something about this one because I find myself still thinking about it. That's kind of a surprise, as I wasn't completely blown away by it when I read it, but I did enjoy it.
The book comes across as a pretty simple "end of the world" story but I'm finding that
On a side note; Several reviewers have mentioned that they had trouble with it because things in the story were dated. I can't comprehend this line of thinking. Let me try and help;
1. The book was written in the past.
2. The story takes place in the past. (fictional, everyone on earth didn't really die in the 50's, see definition of "fiction")
3. We are not in the past, we are in the present.
4. Some things are different now (the present) than they were then (the past).
5. Some books were written in the past, yet are somehow still pretty good, even though the writers couldn't see into the future to make the setting more comfortable for you, so it doesn't hurt your brain and all.
Do these people only read books set in the now? How old is too old, is a year OK? How about in other countries? Some books actually have time periods and settings that are TOTALLY MADE UP! WTF?!? Yes, they were stupid for writing about old, boring stuff instead of cool, shiny stuff we have now. I mean, how can you read Dickens when no one in the stories even has a iPhone? How did they text? Who could read a book with a setting that's different from their own life, how weird would that be?
I'm gonna stop now before I say something mean.
The book comes across as a pretty simple "end of the world" story but I'm finding that
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it has really stuck with me. I really felt the emotional changes the main character goes through as he adapts to the new world and grows old. I read "Alas Babylon" at almost the same time, and while it was entertaining it didn't have the impact this did for me.On a side note; Several reviewers have mentioned that they had trouble with it because things in the story were dated. I can't comprehend this line of thinking. Let me try and help;
1. The book was written in the past.
2. The story takes place in the past. (fictional, everyone on earth didn't really die in the 50's, see definition of "fiction")
3. We are not in the past, we are in the present.
4. Some things are different now (the present) than they were then (the past).
5. Some books were written in the past, yet are somehow still pretty good, even though the writers couldn't see into the future to make the setting more comfortable for you, so it doesn't hurt your brain and all.
Do these people only read books set in the now? How old is too old, is a year OK? How about in other countries? Some books actually have time periods and settings that are TOTALLY MADE UP! WTF?!? Yes, they were stupid for writing about old, boring stuff instead of cool, shiny stuff we have now. I mean, how can you read Dickens when no one in the stories even has a iPhone? How did they text? Who could read a book with a setting that's different from their own life, how weird would that be?
I'm gonna stop now before I say something mean.
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LibraryThing member tftorrey
At the beginning of Earth Abides, Isherwood Williams, a graduate student alone in the wilderness and working on his thesis, is bitten by a poisonous snake. For several days, he drifts in and out of consciousness. When he is at last able to drag himself to civilization, he finds that a virus not
Earth Abides is a sweeping saga, stretching across decades and roaming across North America. Most of the story takes place from inside the head of its protagonist, at a range so close that it takes us several pages to learn his name, as he simply does not think of his name that often. Stewart infuses the story with concrete details and scientific observations, giving it a strong sense of authenticity. Caught up in and believing the action, we are completely absorbed in the efforts of Isherwood Williams to survive and thrive in this strange new world.
One trap lurking for any story, but particularly a science fiction story like this, is that of becoming quickly dated. Things change daily, and what is fascinating and new today will soon be old fashioned. Stewart has given his story a certain timelessness, at least so far, and I think he achieves this effect by incorporating very little medium-range technology. By this I mean that things are either seen close up, as in hands working with tools that change slowly, such as hammers, or are seen at a distance, such as the lights of San Francisco. In the middle distance, very little attention is paid to devices that evolve quickly, such as televisions, radios, and automobiles (other than the venerable Jeep). The result is that Earth Abides does not suffer from a feeling of being out of date, and it could easily be imagined to be a present-day story.
One interesting feature to me as a writer was the use of interstitial chapters called Quick Years between each of the three major sections. These bridge the time gaps between the primary sections of the book, recalling the primary events in the passing years through Isherwood’s eyes. This device lets the author tell a sweeping story while keeping the bulk of the detail in the activity at the turning points. On first glance, this sudden shift in gears seems likely to distance the reader, but Stewart handles the narrative so deftly that the reader finds the story as engaging viewed at this speed as when it is slowed down.
Ultimately, Earth Abides is a masterful work. The author gives us enough detail and character to connect deeply with the story, then stays out of the way, allowing the story to unfold with its own power. The result is a riveting and deeply moving tale about all of us, how strong and resilient we are, but also about how fragile we are, how tenuous our grip on the world is, and how little it needs us.
Do not miss this story. But do not, however, try to finish it without a generous supply of tissues. You will need them.
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unlike the common flu has mutated into a deadly strain, and the world is suddenly devoid of people. The rest of the book follows Isherwood as he discovers the strange freedom of the empty world, struggles to find other survivors, and works to rebuild civilization.Earth Abides is a sweeping saga, stretching across decades and roaming across North America. Most of the story takes place from inside the head of its protagonist, at a range so close that it takes us several pages to learn his name, as he simply does not think of his name that often. Stewart infuses the story with concrete details and scientific observations, giving it a strong sense of authenticity. Caught up in and believing the action, we are completely absorbed in the efforts of Isherwood Williams to survive and thrive in this strange new world.
One trap lurking for any story, but particularly a science fiction story like this, is that of becoming quickly dated. Things change daily, and what is fascinating and new today will soon be old fashioned. Stewart has given his story a certain timelessness, at least so far, and I think he achieves this effect by incorporating very little medium-range technology. By this I mean that things are either seen close up, as in hands working with tools that change slowly, such as hammers, or are seen at a distance, such as the lights of San Francisco. In the middle distance, very little attention is paid to devices that evolve quickly, such as televisions, radios, and automobiles (other than the venerable Jeep). The result is that Earth Abides does not suffer from a feeling of being out of date, and it could easily be imagined to be a present-day story.
One interesting feature to me as a writer was the use of interstitial chapters called Quick Years between each of the three major sections. These bridge the time gaps between the primary sections of the book, recalling the primary events in the passing years through Isherwood’s eyes. This device lets the author tell a sweeping story while keeping the bulk of the detail in the activity at the turning points. On first glance, this sudden shift in gears seems likely to distance the reader, but Stewart handles the narrative so deftly that the reader finds the story as engaging viewed at this speed as when it is slowed down.
Ultimately, Earth Abides is a masterful work. The author gives us enough detail and character to connect deeply with the story, then stays out of the way, allowing the story to unfold with its own power. The result is a riveting and deeply moving tale about all of us, how strong and resilient we are, but also about how fragile we are, how tenuous our grip on the world is, and how little it needs us.
Do not miss this story. But do not, however, try to finish it without a generous supply of tissues. You will need them.
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LibraryThing member LamSon
For some reason most of the people on the planet have died. The cause is never given, but I suspect it is biological. The main character survives and begins to search for a few other survivors. The story covers several decades as the select few try to keep going and rebuild civilization.
I believe this is one of the best books I have ever read. After the first read, I couldn't read anything else for two or three days. I was disturbed by how fragile civilization really is and how simple it is to fall into another dark age. Part of the book's appeal probably comes from my own pessimistic outlook for the future.
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Unfortunately they soon become victims of entropy and decline into a less developed culture.I believe this is one of the best books I have ever read. After the first read, I couldn't read anything else for two or three days. I was disturbed by how fragile civilization really is and how simple it is to fall into another dark age. Part of the book's appeal probably comes from my own pessimistic outlook for the future.
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LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
A very unique story in the genre of post-apocalyptic type novels, Earth Abides looks at the story of one man who survives a world-wide outbreak of a lethal plague. Instead of the hard-core nuts and bolts of survival, you get a somewhat idealistic view here, which, to me, makes this novel different
brief summary; no spoilers
Isherwood (Ish) Williams is alone at a mountain cabin working on his thesis, and is bit by a rattlesnake, causing him to stay inside and weather through the bite. After his health returns, he goes out to get food but finds no one around. After he does some searching, he comes across a newspaper that tells him what's going on: while he was up there, the rest of the country had met its end after a deadly plague. Little by little he comes across other survivors, and they group together in a little community near San Francisco. It is their story, and the story of Ish's fears for the future that dominate this book.
Very very good read; I found myself stopping to think and do the "what-if" thing quite often. Recommended
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than anything I've read in this genre. Quite good; I would recommend it if you're into this kind of stuff.brief summary; no spoilers
Isherwood (Ish) Williams is alone at a mountain cabin working on his thesis, and is bit by a rattlesnake, causing him to stay inside and weather through the bite. After his health returns, he goes out to get food but finds no one around. After he does some searching, he comes across a newspaper that tells him what's going on: while he was up there, the rest of the country had met its end after a deadly plague. Little by little he comes across other survivors, and they group together in a little community near San Francisco. It is their story, and the story of Ish's fears for the future that dominate this book.
Very very good read; I found myself stopping to think and do the "what-if" thing quite often. Recommended
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LibraryThing member jimmaclachlan
I thought about giving this 5 stars as it is one of the best & earliest of the modern, serious apocalyptic SF novels. Written in 1949, it is a bit dated in some ways (the use of chemicals, lack of panic, & some equipment) but overall, it held up very well over the years. I don't agree with some of
If you're looking for action & adventure, this book isn't for you. It is more thoughtful, posing interesting questions about the human condition. It does this by following one man who survives the end of our civilization & sees what happens to several generations of his descendents. How the rest of the world fares is briefly addressed, sometimes quite personally, but always in a perfunctory manner. I don't think this harmed the story at all, though. Any more detail would have bogged it down & not helped the central themes.
I'm not sure if I read this before, but parts seemed familiar, especially the end. Does anyone know if there was ever a short story done of this or did part of it appear as a novella or something?
Our civilization dies quickly & quietly due a plague that kills off all but a handful of people in weeks. To give an idea of numbers, in an entire city, he might find traces of less than a dozen. Stewart presumes that very little of the infrastructure is disturbed. Electricity runs for months, city water for years. The roads aren't jammed with cars. So what happens to the survivors & their descendents?
Stewart supposes that they become scavengers & revert to barbarism. There are plenty of canned goods, guns, bullets, gas & housing for everyone to live comfortably for decades. There are no other people around to cause many problems, so there is no reason for the survivors to strive for anything. The original survivors give birth to a completely separate generation that grows up scavenging amongst a treasure trove. They have no reason to learn to read or any of the old technology.
In order to repopulate & protect themselves against extinction, children were encouraged to marry early, so the following generation were children raised by children. Even less knowledge of the old world was passed along & rank superstition arose. By the time Ish, our hero, dies, mankind has returned firmly to hunter/gatherers & the technology of the past is merely a curiosity.
Is this a good or bad thing? Ish isn't sure & either am I - this is the basic question that the book leaves us with. The people are happy enough. Much of what we once had, they don't - either the good or the bad.
It's an interesting question & well posed.
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the specifics, but the story is not so much about specific technology, but about humanity & I think he presented a very interesting set of ideas. If you're looking for action & adventure, this book isn't for you. It is more thoughtful, posing interesting questions about the human condition. It does this by following one man who survives the end of our civilization & sees what happens to several generations of his descendents. How the rest of the world fares is briefly addressed, sometimes quite personally, but always in a perfunctory manner. I don't think this harmed the story at all, though. Any more detail would have bogged it down & not helped the central themes.
I'm not sure if I read this before, but parts seemed familiar, especially the end. Does anyone know if there was ever a short story done of this or did part of it appear as a novella or something?
Stewart supposes that they become scavengers & revert to barbarism. There are plenty of canned goods, guns, bullets, gas & housing for everyone to live comfortably for decades. There are no other people around to cause many problems, so there is no reason for the survivors to strive for anything. The original survivors give birth to a completely separate generation that grows up scavenging amongst a treasure trove. They have no reason to learn to read or any of the old technology.
In order to repopulate & protect themselves against extinction, children were encouraged to marry early, so the following generation were children raised by children. Even less knowledge of the old world was passed along & rank superstition arose. By the time Ish, our hero, dies, mankind has returned firmly to hunter/gatherers & the technology of the past is merely a curiosity.
Is this a good or bad thing? Ish isn't sure & either am I - this is the basic question that the book leaves us with. The people are happy enough. Much of what we once had, they don't - either the good or the bad.
It's an interesting question & well posed.
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LibraryThing member samfsmith
Classic book about the collapse of civilization. The protagonist recovers from a snakebite to find that, while he has been sick, almost everyone else has died as the result of a plaque. The novel, as evidenced by the title, focuses on the ecological changes that occur after the sudden collapse of
I first read this 30 years ago – it was first published in 1949. I loved it then, and still remembered many parts of it three decades later. I especially liked the protagonist’s cross-country trip to see what was left of America. A great read.
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humankind, as well as the struggles of the few remaining survivors to cope and perpetuate the species.I first read this 30 years ago – it was first published in 1949. I loved it then, and still remembered many parts of it three decades later. I especially liked the protagonist’s cross-country trip to see what was left of America. A great read.
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LibraryThing member thesmellofbooks
This is a slow moving, intensely beautiful book. It is ordinary, and it is repetitive, and it is off the mark and on the mark and subtle and brilliant. I am so glad I finally read Earth Abides.
LibraryThing member mfranb
Disappointing. Why didn't he at least read to those kids?
LibraryThing member timspalding
I'm quite a fan of post-apocalyptic narratives, and I hardly ever abandon a book, but I abandoned this one. Reviews here and elsewhere describe it as slow and "philosophical." I have no problem with that, but the "philosophy" has to be interesting. Instead, Stewart serves up a slow-moving and often
Some too have noted racism and especially sexism. Again, I don't mind. Lots of entertaining writers were both. But Stewart's opinions here aren't so much offensive as boring. As Ben Folds Five put it, "how could you leave me here so long with Uncle Walter?"
It didn't help that I listened to the audiobook. If I were reading it on the page I might have started skipping every time the narrator launched into another boring digression on women, the ebb and flow of natural populations or the "weakest link" in any system. But audiobooks strap you to the text in ways both good and bad. After seven hours (half the book), I could stand it no more.
Blech!
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implausible plot, filled with two-dimensional characters and long digressions that read like the unresearched musings of a smart high school student. The main character, Ish, is apparently a doctoral student in anthropology. He thinks himself—and is apparently thought of by Stewart—as a deep thinker. He's mostly a boring one. I wanted to drown him. Some too have noted racism and especially sexism. Again, I don't mind. Lots of entertaining writers were both. But Stewart's opinions here aren't so much offensive as boring. As Ben Folds Five put it, "how could you leave me here so long with Uncle Walter?"
It didn't help that I listened to the audiobook. If I were reading it on the page I might have started skipping every time the narrator launched into another boring digression on women, the ebb and flow of natural populations or the "weakest link" in any system. But audiobooks strap you to the text in ways both good and bad. After seven hours (half the book), I could stand it no more.
Blech!
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LibraryThing member sturlington
This book is not so much about the end of the world itself; instead, it uses the end of the world – the end of most of mankind, anyway – as a plot device to explore how a new, small, totally contained society would develop out of the leavings of the old one. This task it accomplishes quite
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well; the growth of the Tribe in San Francisco and their mythological beliefs, traditions, and practices is fascinating, if a little slow-moving in several parts. But because societal development is the primary concern of the novel, the little details are simply glossed over, and there are so many technical errors or things left unexplained that it had a tendency to lift me out of the story and re-engage my disbelief. For instance, most of mankind is wiped out by a mysterious, very viral disease, but it’s never explained what the disease is, where it came from, or why some people are immune. In fact, the main character of the book comes down out of the hills after it’s all over, having no idea what was going on the “civilized” world, but he shows a total lack of curiosity about what happened to everybody that I found unbelievable. And when several survivors get together, they never discuss where they were or what happened to them when the Great Disaster (as it’s called in the book) went down, which I think goes totally against human nature. And the survivors continue to live off the leavings for forty or more years afterward, eating canned food that must have long since gone bad and even smoking cigarettes that had to have been unsmokeable after at least a year. They never bother to start even a rudimentary garden – an idea which I think would have occurred to just about anybody – but somehow manage to live in nearly perfect health until old age without eating any fresh fruits or vegetables. Again, I understand that these details weren’t important to the author, but they were important to me, and so these little problems served to disrupt what was otherwise a well-written, intriguing take on the old end-of-the-world plot. Show Less
LibraryThing member BeckyJG
Isherwood Williams is "Ish" to himself and to most who know him. Ish, a graduate student in geography, out in the wilderness of northern California doing fieldwork, is bitten by a rattlesnake on the opening page of Earth Abides. As he's fighting fever and delirium alone in his cabin, an even larger
His reaction, perhaps as a defense mechanism, is detached and unemotional; a reaction of detachment, Ish tells himself, is right and fitting for the scholar and philosopher that he is. He decides to travel across the country taking stock, looking for other survivors, and making note of how the earth is reacting. His journey, always one of observation and study, takes him all the way from the Bay Area of San Francisco to New York and back again, to the house in which he grew up. Along the way, scattered amidst the vast stretches of an America mostly devoid of people, he will meet occasional survivors, all in a state of shock at being alone in such a big world, but none any more interested in him than he is in them.
Disinterested. Apathetic. Passive. These words describe the attitude of Ish and the rest of humanity's survivors for most of the book. They are content merely to live off the leavings of the civilization that came before rather than trying to rebuild or create a new one. It is a frustrating attitude for Ish--particularly when he begins to see it in himself, over and over--but is even more frustrating for the reader. Dig a well! you scream to yourself, long before Ish even idly turns over the idea, before lazily discarding it. Plant a crop! Tend the herds of cattle that have gone feral and roam the countryside! Teach the children to read and write! Build a government!
But it is not until the last pages of Earth Abides that we see a new society arise, and then it is not so much from the ashes of the civilization that ended so abruptly and so finally, but organically, as if from the earth itself. Perhaps George R. Stewart saw a complacence in people of the post-war world of 1949 in which he wrote this book. Perhaps he felt that the only way to build a new civilization would be to see the old one utterly forgotten except in myth and legend. Whatever his reason, Earth Abides is maddening and inspiring in equal measure, and well worth more than one read.
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battle is being waged in the greater world, a battle of which Ish is unaware and which will be lost before he even regains consciousness. A deadly and extraordinarily fast-acting virus, of unknown origin but transported to the far corners of the world by air travelers, is killing off humanity, nearly to the point of extinction. When Ish emerges from his fever days later and descends the mountain, he discovers that the world as he knew it is gone forever.His reaction, perhaps as a defense mechanism, is detached and unemotional; a reaction of detachment, Ish tells himself, is right and fitting for the scholar and philosopher that he is. He decides to travel across the country taking stock, looking for other survivors, and making note of how the earth is reacting. His journey, always one of observation and study, takes him all the way from the Bay Area of San Francisco to New York and back again, to the house in which he grew up. Along the way, scattered amidst the vast stretches of an America mostly devoid of people, he will meet occasional survivors, all in a state of shock at being alone in such a big world, but none any more interested in him than he is in them.
Disinterested. Apathetic. Passive. These words describe the attitude of Ish and the rest of humanity's survivors for most of the book. They are content merely to live off the leavings of the civilization that came before rather than trying to rebuild or create a new one. It is a frustrating attitude for Ish--particularly when he begins to see it in himself, over and over--but is even more frustrating for the reader. Dig a well! you scream to yourself, long before Ish even idly turns over the idea, before lazily discarding it. Plant a crop! Tend the herds of cattle that have gone feral and roam the countryside! Teach the children to read and write! Build a government!
But it is not until the last pages of Earth Abides that we see a new society arise, and then it is not so much from the ashes of the civilization that ended so abruptly and so finally, but organically, as if from the earth itself. Perhaps George R. Stewart saw a complacence in people of the post-war world of 1949 in which he wrote this book. Perhaps he felt that the only way to build a new civilization would be to see the old one utterly forgotten except in myth and legend. Whatever his reason, Earth Abides is maddening and inspiring in equal measure, and well worth more than one read.
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LibraryThing member edgeworth
Post-apocalyptic stories typically come in two flavours. There’s the type which follows survivors through the catastrophe itself and covers their attempts to stay alive, scrabbling for resources in an emptied world, eating out of cans and scavenging vehicles and firearms. Then there’s the type
Earth Abides, one of the earlier example of post-apocalyptic science fiction (it was published in 1949), is an interesting novel because it bridges the gap between these two societies. Isherwood Williams is a university student in his early 20s who is bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking in the mountains outside San Francisco. Spending a few days delirious with poison in a mountain cabin, he emerges to find that virtually the entire human race has been wiped out by a deadly plague.
Stewart handwaves the plague itself; all the evidence Ish finds of the disaster suggests that people quietly and orderly died in bed or in hospitals. Earth Abides is very much a post-apocalyptic novel rather an an apocalyptic novel. Ish drives all over the United States in the aftermath of the disaster, exploring and examining, before eventually returning to San Francisco. He finds a woman and settles down, and before long they gather a few other survivors and begin having children. The book is divided into three parts: the first in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the second 22 years later when a new generation has grown up but the old generation still remembers the past, and the third when Ish is a an old and partly senile man, after “the Tribe” has lost track of the date, which probably takes place around about now. The central part of the book is probably the most critical, as Ish worries about the development of his children and grandchildren and the way they treat the world. Literacy, for example, disappears because the children aren’t interested in learning it. The adults themselves grow too complacent living in the ruins of a great civilisation, where everything is there for the taking, to worry about learning important skills themselves and passing them down through the generations – when the water stops running due to failed pipes, twenty-two years after the disaster, nobody has any idea how to repair them, and they settle for drinking from creeks and building outdoor latrines. Ish often blames the disinterest of the children or the “stupidity” of his fellow-aged survivors, but he’s just as guilty of complacency as the others.
In terms of the style, Earth Abides has elements of both the straight dope, expository science fiction form, and the old-school style you find in a lot of books by authors born in the 19th century – think John Wyndham, though a bit more poetic. It can be odd to adjust to if you go straight from reading something else, but it’s consistent and distinctive, and easy to grow accustomed to. Stewart does a good job of delineating the writing style in the three phases of Ish’s life: first as a man in his early 20s (since I’m also in my early 20s I can consider this to be standard, or default, right?), then as a man in his late 40s who is starting to get crotchety at the ways of the younger generation, and finally as an old man who has difficulty remembering things and slips in and out of lucidity. I also liked the way Ish’s story is intercut, often between paragraphs, with short vignettes describing the way the earth is returning to nature. Apparently Stewart’s examination of ecology in these pieces was quite new at the time, though now, of course, environmentalism is much more a part of the zeitgeist. If there’s a piece of the novel that’s particularly dated, apart from the writing style and dialogue, it’s Stewart’s bright and shining 1940s optimism in technology – the electricity keeps running, unmanned, for several months after the disaster, and even twenty-two years later Ish and his sons manage to get a car running just by replacing the battery, the oil and the tyres. (Something that always bugs me about post-apocalyptic fiction is the use of cars more than a few months after the diaster – petrol goes off within months, and I doubt many survivors would have the foresight to immediately mix a vast quantity of it with preservative. I thought it might be a 1940s leaded petrol thing, before remembering that I first learned that petrol goes off from Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids, published in 1951.)
A final note to mention is the real life parallel Stewart draws with another last member of a great civilisation – that of Ishi, generally thought to be the last Native American to live a totally traditional lifestyle, who emerged from Yosemite National Park in 1911. The main character’s name, and the location for most of the novel, are certainly no accident; just as Ishi lived out his days in an unrecognisable world, the last man who remembered anything of his people and their history, so does Isherwood Williams. Civilisations come and go – only the earth abides.
Earth Abides is a very good science fiction novel, quite readable, and examining an area of the genre that, as far as I’m aware, no other book has done since. Despite its age, it remains well worth reading, and will endure as a classic of science fiction.
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which takes place generations after the collapse, in which society has reverted to a tribal state, cities are crumbling and overgrown with vegetation, and the artifacts of the past are revered or treated with superstition.Earth Abides, one of the earlier example of post-apocalyptic science fiction (it was published in 1949), is an interesting novel because it bridges the gap between these two societies. Isherwood Williams is a university student in his early 20s who is bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking in the mountains outside San Francisco. Spending a few days delirious with poison in a mountain cabin, he emerges to find that virtually the entire human race has been wiped out by a deadly plague.
Stewart handwaves the plague itself; all the evidence Ish finds of the disaster suggests that people quietly and orderly died in bed or in hospitals. Earth Abides is very much a post-apocalyptic novel rather an an apocalyptic novel. Ish drives all over the United States in the aftermath of the disaster, exploring and examining, before eventually returning to San Francisco. He finds a woman and settles down, and before long they gather a few other survivors and begin having children. The book is divided into three parts: the first in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the second 22 years later when a new generation has grown up but the old generation still remembers the past, and the third when Ish is a an old and partly senile man, after “the Tribe” has lost track of the date, which probably takes place around about now. The central part of the book is probably the most critical, as Ish worries about the development of his children and grandchildren and the way they treat the world. Literacy, for example, disappears because the children aren’t interested in learning it. The adults themselves grow too complacent living in the ruins of a great civilisation, where everything is there for the taking, to worry about learning important skills themselves and passing them down through the generations – when the water stops running due to failed pipes, twenty-two years after the disaster, nobody has any idea how to repair them, and they settle for drinking from creeks and building outdoor latrines. Ish often blames the disinterest of the children or the “stupidity” of his fellow-aged survivors, but he’s just as guilty of complacency as the others.
In terms of the style, Earth Abides has elements of both the straight dope, expository science fiction form, and the old-school style you find in a lot of books by authors born in the 19th century – think John Wyndham, though a bit more poetic. It can be odd to adjust to if you go straight from reading something else, but it’s consistent and distinctive, and easy to grow accustomed to. Stewart does a good job of delineating the writing style in the three phases of Ish’s life: first as a man in his early 20s (since I’m also in my early 20s I can consider this to be standard, or default, right?), then as a man in his late 40s who is starting to get crotchety at the ways of the younger generation, and finally as an old man who has difficulty remembering things and slips in and out of lucidity. I also liked the way Ish’s story is intercut, often between paragraphs, with short vignettes describing the way the earth is returning to nature. Apparently Stewart’s examination of ecology in these pieces was quite new at the time, though now, of course, environmentalism is much more a part of the zeitgeist. If there’s a piece of the novel that’s particularly dated, apart from the writing style and dialogue, it’s Stewart’s bright and shining 1940s optimism in technology – the electricity keeps running, unmanned, for several months after the disaster, and even twenty-two years later Ish and his sons manage to get a car running just by replacing the battery, the oil and the tyres. (Something that always bugs me about post-apocalyptic fiction is the use of cars more than a few months after the diaster – petrol goes off within months, and I doubt many survivors would have the foresight to immediately mix a vast quantity of it with preservative. I thought it might be a 1940s leaded petrol thing, before remembering that I first learned that petrol goes off from Wyndham’s The Day of the Triffids, published in 1951.)
A final note to mention is the real life parallel Stewart draws with another last member of a great civilisation – that of Ishi, generally thought to be the last Native American to live a totally traditional lifestyle, who emerged from Yosemite National Park in 1911. The main character’s name, and the location for most of the novel, are certainly no accident; just as Ishi lived out his days in an unrecognisable world, the last man who remembered anything of his people and their history, so does Isherwood Williams. Civilisations come and go – only the earth abides.
Earth Abides is a very good science fiction novel, quite readable, and examining an area of the genre that, as far as I’m aware, no other book has done since. Despite its age, it remains well worth reading, and will endure as a classic of science fiction.
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LibraryThing member pauliharman
I love the post-apolcalyptic genre; I grew up reading books like the Tripods trology and Day of the Triffids. Having recently been disappointed with _A Canticle for Leibowitz_ I wasn't looking forward to this classic SF story... but I'm glad I read it. Truly marvellous, and showing other books in
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the genre as mere wannabes. I still have a soft spot in my heart for Triffids, but _Earth Abides_ is the real deal. Show Less
LibraryThing member crazybatcow
It is much better than a lot of books from its era, but there is still some noticeable sexism, racism and "intellectual-ism" in the book - in fact, the last half of the book is pretty much based on the fact that only the main character and one of his many children are smart enough to go beyond the
Fundamental behaviors are overlooked - in 21 years they (meaning the main character because nobody else was smart enough to even want to) didn't start or enforce a "school" and then at year 22, regretted this. This is a problem because while it's clear that the author wanted to pass along a moral, realistically, the educating would have started from day one; the progenitor of the "new world" wouldn't have sat around for 22 years before realizing all of a sudden that he hadn't educated anyone.
It's better than some other dated apocalyptic tales (On the Beach or The Plague) but it leaves you too aware that it was written in 1949 by a university-educated urban white male.
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mandatory day-to-day living tasks. Everyone one else is stupid.Fundamental behaviors are overlooked - in 21 years they (meaning the main character because nobody else was smart enough to even want to) didn't start or enforce a "school" and then at year 22, regretted this. This is a problem because while it's clear that the author wanted to pass along a moral, realistically, the educating would have started from day one; the progenitor of the "new world" wouldn't have sat around for 22 years before realizing all of a sudden that he hadn't educated anyone.
It's better than some other dated apocalyptic tales (On the Beach or The Plague) but it leaves you too aware that it was written in 1949 by a university-educated urban white male.
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LibraryThing member john257hopper
A moving novel tracing the experiences of one survivor in the aftermath of a plague that wipes out most of humanity, then his experiences with a small group of fellow survivors in trying to build up a sustainable community. This was one of the inspirations for the 1970s UK TV series Survivors. Many
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similar phenomena occur and similar debates take place between the survivors, though in this novel the first debates about not just relying on the remnants of civilisation (eating out of cans being the most obvious example), but re-learning old skills, do not take place until a rather unrealistic 22 years have elapsed since the Great Disaster. The descriptions are haunting and whole story quite emotional, though the first section when Ish is completely alone is my favourite part of the novel. Show Less
LibraryThing member CarolO
This is outside my normal reading territory so I am no expert on the post-apocalyptic genre.
I did enjoy this book and I think what worked for me was the main character observing everything from an academic perspective. Despite being written over 60 years ago, I found little in the book that dated
A good read and it provides some thought provoking ideas to ponder.
I did enjoy this book and I think what worked for me was the main character observing everything from an academic perspective. Despite being written over 60 years ago, I found little in the book that dated
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it…primarily it was what was missing – cell phones, computers, and Interstate 5 – that gave away the age of the book. The author also pulled off an interesting trick in making the community more important then the individual characters. A good read and it provides some thought provoking ideas to ponder.
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LibraryThing member stang50logan
This book has to go down as one of the best books I have read. Amazing how this was written in 1949 and how it fits in with overpopulation and disease that we see today. Great how the author discribes how society falls and how through a group of strong individuals how they can rebuild. Has bright
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spots and sad spots within the book. Enjoy. Show Less
LibraryThing member Aerrin99
A classic of the post-apocalyptic genre, I was prepared to adore this book. It starts out well, with some engaging differences from the fare I've read thus far.
Warning: this review is fairly spoilery.
After a disease takes out most of humanity, civilization is not left in chaos. Instead, most of the
The protagonist isn't eager to throw his lot in with (or to sleep with) the first folks he comes across. He travels the country, seeing what's happened, where people are left alive, and chooses his company deliberately.
The details of aftermath aren't ignored - parts of this book read like a fictional (if flawed) version of The World Without Us. We see nature rise up to take back man's land. We see populations of species rise and fall as they struggle to new equilibrium. We acknowledge that we fight not only time and ourselves for all those canned goods, but also rats and mice and hungry dogs. It's interesting.
And then comes the part where he settles down with people. Earth Abides was first published in 1949, and so I was prepared to deal with some fair degree of racism and sexism - there is inevitably some, and I don't typically have a problem taking a book as a product of its times. This is the first book in a very long time that I have been tempted to chuck across the room for its particular viewpoints.
It's not just the racism - which is thickly present - or the sexism - which is likewise. It's Stewart's apparent belief that in the face of crisis, most humans would be happy to lose all culture, all sense of the past, all technology, all /everything/, because really, no one wants to strive for anything.
His humans not only resist the development of society and laws, they also pointedly show no interest in teaching their post-disaster children to read, in learning to farm, in providing water for themselves, in being creative, in exploring, in understanding, in questioning, in doing /anything/ that makes us human. In fact, they actively resist all of the above (and nevermind whether it's at all feasible to survive 25 years without learning some of the above). Apparently Stewart's protagonist is the only actual human being who survives.
Earth may abide, but I have a damned hard time believing that, given a dozen in the same place, humanity wouldn't at least struggle to do the same. If there is nothing else consistent in the human story, it is the will to not only survive, but to improve.
I love apocalypses, but Stewart's is too cynical for even me.
Warning: this review is fairly spoilery.
After a disease takes out most of humanity, civilization is not left in chaos. Instead, most of the
Show More
dead are buried, the cars are parked neatly by the sides of the road, the electric stays on for months, and the water runs for years.The protagonist isn't eager to throw his lot in with (or to sleep with) the first folks he comes across. He travels the country, seeing what's happened, where people are left alive, and chooses his company deliberately.
The details of aftermath aren't ignored - parts of this book read like a fictional (if flawed) version of The World Without Us. We see nature rise up to take back man's land. We see populations of species rise and fall as they struggle to new equilibrium. We acknowledge that we fight not only time and ourselves for all those canned goods, but also rats and mice and hungry dogs. It's interesting.
And then comes the part where he settles down with people. Earth Abides was first published in 1949, and so I was prepared to deal with some fair degree of racism and sexism - there is inevitably some, and I don't typically have a problem taking a book as a product of its times. This is the first book in a very long time that I have been tempted to chuck across the room for its particular viewpoints.
It's not just the racism - which is thickly present - or the sexism - which is likewise. It's Stewart's apparent belief that in the face of crisis, most humans would be happy to lose all culture, all sense of the past, all technology, all /everything/, because really, no one wants to strive for anything.
His humans not only resist the development of society and laws, they also pointedly show no interest in teaching their post-disaster children to read, in learning to farm, in providing water for themselves, in being creative, in exploring, in understanding, in questioning, in doing /anything/ that makes us human. In fact, they actively resist all of the above (and nevermind whether it's at all feasible to survive 25 years without learning some of the above). Apparently Stewart's protagonist is the only actual human being who survives.
Earth may abide, but I have a damned hard time believing that, given a dozen in the same place, humanity wouldn't at least struggle to do the same. If there is nothing else consistent in the human story, it is the will to not only survive, but to improve.
I love apocalypses, but Stewart's is too cynical for even me.
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Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1949