After the End: Recent Apocalypses

author: Paula Guran

name: Wayne

average rating: 3.83

book published: 2013

rating: 4

read at: 2013/10/21

date added: 2013/10/21

shelves:

review:

After The End is a collection of 20 short stories about people surviving shortly after a world ending event. There are plagues, bombs, strange medical strains, global warming and much that is unknown or unexplained. These are stories about people hunkering down to wait it out, or travelling to find a haven, or sitting down to watch the world slowly die. All of the world ending scenarios are stories of the possible. I can't recall any story featuring zombies, or other supernatural creatures, which makes this book more thought provoking. We have the means to our destruction, at least the destruction in these stories, already at hand for the most part.



I think dystopian stories have always spoken to me because they deal so much with what makes us human. If all we think we are or own gets stripped away, are we human or animal? There is a little of both in these stories. Whether it's people living in an abandoned amusement park, or travelling in caravans, or alone on a seaside cliff, we see hope and hopelessness. Kindness and savagery in these stories.



There are some amazing writers in this collection and every story is unique and chosen well for this book. My personal favorite is about a group of young survivors who find a library and can't believe the wealth they find on it's shelves.





via Wayne's bookshelf: read http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/606226917?utm_medium=api&utm_source=rss