| One Second After; By William R. Forstchen | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 15 2012, 12:55 PM (68 Views) | |
| Neko-Chan | Oct 15 2012, 12:55 PM Post #1 |
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This is fairly swift reading, a post-apoc style of plot. The US and parts of Europe and Asia are hit by an EMP (electromagnetic pulse), and everything shuts down, taking everyone back to the Dark Ages. The book spans a 365 day period, and covers how the citizens of Black Mountain, North Carolina and the surrounding communities of Asheville, Swannanoa, and others are dealing with the crisis. The main character is widower John Matherson who, together with his two daughters (one a type 1 diabetic) and his mother in-law, struggle through months of hardship, starvation, battle and death. The events in the book are properly horrifying, and I hope they have an eye opening effect for other readers, but I still have some issues with the plot and how it was handled. For one, I can't believe how slow people were to respond to the emergency. I mean, I understand that the majority of the populace wants to believe that their country is invincible and nothing could possibly happen to them, and that the lights will always come back on, but that is a stupid and naive way to go about living life. In an area clearly prone to hurricanes, few people actually seemed to be prepared for an emergency. Even after the main character told them what he thought it was, and that he thought it'd be months or years before the power came back, they were slow to respond. The author clearly has some kind of a military background (even if it's knowledge only), but he's certainly no agriculturist. An author's story is only as good as his research, and the plot sorely lacks in all but the simplest garden knowledge. I find it hard to believe that no one's first thought was "OMG plant all the potatoes, we're going to need food". There were only brief mentions of growing food and preserving: turning lawns into gardens (which I whole heartedly approve of), foraging for mushrooms, pine nuts, acorns, and gleaning from abandoned orchards and fields, and hunting for rabbits, squirrels, bears and raccoons (even eating stray dogs). What I shook my head about is that they didn't push the cars out of the way in town, and pitch in together to make community gardens. They struggle against becoming a "Stalinesque" state, but once starvation really started setting in (again, poor planning on the food front), they began to prioritize who got more food, which of course killed off more people. They also seem to lack proper understanding of what a barter system is. Also, the main characters first reaction to this emergency was to go out and, common sense be damned, immediately secure a future for his cigarette addiction. There is, of course, the usual looting, shootings, store shelves stripped bare, refugees on foot (because all the newer vehicles were fried by the EMP), but he also inserts a vast battle scene, so the characters can wipe out "the Posse", a thousands strong cannibalistic mob that destroys and consumes everything in it's path. That becomes a truly medieval event, especially in the aftermath. It reminded me of a Civil War movie I saw years ago (that I also never want to see again). Needless to say, the population of this community drops rapidly throughout the book. At the end, out of thousands of people, there are 960 left, total, when the US military convoy finally makes it to Black Mountain. Overall, this is an okay read, but I don't think I'll be rereading it. Though I in particular didn't need the eye opening experience, I'm sure others do (like, almost 9/10ths of the US population, for instance). |
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| gorgon | Oct 16 2012, 02:39 AM Post #2 |
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People don't think straight in a crisis i guess |
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| Neko-Chan | Oct 16 2012, 10:03 AM Post #3 |
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Perhaps it's just me, but the whole point of being prepared is being able to think straight in a crisis. I have no idea why more people don't make the effort to be prepared. *shrugs* I have to go back to this, because it just annoyed me so much. Re: Bartering Bartering as I know it is an exchange of goods and/or services for other goods/and or services. The character Charlie, who spends most of the book in charge of the town under martial law, suggested that they go around and impound anything that could be considered useful, for bartering purposes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you take everything that would be good for bartering and impound it... what are people supposed to barter with? |
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| gorgon | Oct 17 2012, 01:57 AM Post #4 |
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Their lives? |
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