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A warm day in Dublin, a crowded street corner. Suddenly, a car-bomb explodes, killing and injuring scores of innocent people. From the second-floor window of a building across the street, a visiting American watches, helpless, as his beloved wife and children are sacrificed in the heat and fire of someone else's cause. From this shocking beginning, the author of the phenomenal Dune series has created a masterpiece. The White Plague is a marvelous and terrifyingly plausible blend of fiction and visionary theme. It tells of one man's revenge, of the man watching from the window who is pushed over the edge of sanity by the senseless murder of his family and who, reappearing several months later as the so-called Madman, unleashes a terrible vengeance upon the human race. For John Roe O'Neill is a molecular biologist who has the knowledge, and now the motivation, to devise and disseminate a genetically carried plague-a plague to which, like those that scourged mankind centuries ago, there is no antidote, but one that zeros in, unerringly and fatally, on women. As the world slowly recognizes the reality of peril, as its politicians and scientists strive desperately to save themselves and their society from the prospect of human extinction, so does Frank Herbert grapple with one of the great themes of contemporary life: the enormous dangers that lurk at the dark edges of science. The White Plague is a prophetic, believable, and utterly compelling novel.… (more)
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Basically, the story is about all the women in the world being killed by some hackneyed bioengineered plague, which is carried by men and passed around on money. The story makes little sense as it follows various
That's about all I can remember. It was awful.
He
Not satisfied with merely creating disaster, Dr. O'Neill goes on a pilgrimage to Ireland to view his handiwork firsthand. He embarks on an overland trek thru the devestation, billing himself as a biochemist "who only wants to help", joined by a pathetic, almost faithless Catholic priest, a mute boy and (unbeknown to him) the IRA terrorist directly responsible for the death of his family.
The book grows slightly tedious at this point, with much philosophical musing and many lengthy arguments as Dr. O'Neill is probed by his trek mates to determine who is he really. The ending is also a bit disappointing, building and building but failing to quite hit its expected peak.
Overall, though a frightening and altogether too possible scenario leaves the reader breathless and turning page after page to find out if the world is truly ended or if the scientists will pull together and save the day.
For something so morbid and destructive, it is actually an entertaining read. Frank Herbert is a man of great ideas and intellect as well as a brilliant writer. Many of the characters are Irish and he perfectly captures the nuances of the Irish accent. Very well done story.
John O'Neill is a molecular biologist who was witness to the death of his wife and twin sons. Consumed by an all-engulfing hatred for a world that could produce such horror, he creates and unleashes a plague and then goes on a journey to see the evidence of his own handiwork.
Great
The basic plot is that a crazed scientist develops a plague designed to infect and kill women. It gets worldwide distribution,
It's set in the modern day, or possibly in the near future - but so near that there's nothing to distinguish it from the present. Well, the present as of 1982, since a key plot point is the Irish Republican Army.
The book was surprisingly riveting - it was almost impossible to put down until I was about three-fours of the way through. And it's a LONG book. But towards the end the whole thing began to pall. With most women dead, and the major character in an incredibly bleak situation, the book became awfully hard to read towards the end. And I found the ending itself quite unpleasant. Herbert was an incredibly gifted and intelligent writer, and I cannot make any criticism of his technique in this book; I just don't like what he had to say. Not everyone would feel the same way, obviously.
It was ok. I thought the beginning and end were much better (for keeping me interested), but most of the middle part of the story dragged for me. The book was told from many different points of view, and there were a lot of characters to figure out. There were political and religious musings that weren't as interesting to me.
Finally, I have to say that the "science" in this book was wildly inaccurate, when I could make any sense out of it at all. I'm a geneticist and I could barely figure out half of what he was trying to describe. He seems to have several serious misunderstandings about how DNA and RNA work. When I could understand the molecular mechanisms he was describing, I found them to be farfetched, if not biologically impossible. Even if it were possible, the technology available in the 90's wasn't sufficient for O'Neill's task.
I'm honestly surprised that I finished this book, but I'm happy to have it over with.