July 1st, 2008 - Book review: The Rising
I love post-apocalyptic books. Many are set in the future, long after the apocalypse. Lately, I’ve also been reading ones set in the present day (or the past, with the apocalypse happening during the 20th century). Unfortunately, many paint a pretty unrealistic picture of the characters’ ability to change lifestyles and survive. The Rising: Journeys in the Wake of Global Warming, by Tom Pollock and Jack Seybold, is one of those. A mostly excellent book, despite the shortcomings. I didn’t want to set it down, and spent one evening reading it from the time I got home from work till I went to bed, late, with 100 pages still left to read.
The premise is that in 2005, two more Antarctic ice shelves break off causing a sudden major rise in the sea level, beyond what was predicted. The story follows a bunch of characters (who of course come together before the end). (I’d swear I read another reviewers who had trouble keeping track of them– I didn’t–on Bloglines, but I can’t find it back.) Only one couple are farmers while the rest are typical Americans (plus an ex-con), but amazingly, they all come together on an estate and by the end of a year have become self-sufficient (sort of; I can’t reveal some plot twists).
Yeah, right. Like they could actually learn all of those skills–and teach them to each other–in the course of a summer and a fall.
The other part that drove me nuts is that one major character has an ability to see the future and then to heal. She teaches the latter to the others. So they don’t need a doctor anymore (although there is one in the party). This new agey part was quite annoying. I can live with the back to the land skills–most books like this get folks going on that part awfully quickly–but the book ends up relying on these extra-ordinary skills for the reason why this group survives. And for why they all end up together as well. They were “drawn” here because of their connection to these abilities. I think the book would have been far better if this part had been skipped. The doctor could have helped those who were injured and sick and it would have been more believable.
The inspiration for the book was an Astronomy Picture of the Day (a site I look at every day) of the Antarctic Ice Shelf Vista titled “It’s all gone but the mountains.”
I’d still recommend this to anyone interested in possible global warming outcomes–the science as well as the story are interesting and gripping. I’d read it again!
July 3rd, 2008 at 8:48 am EDT
[…] Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank is another post-apocalypse novel, only this time written in the early 60s about a nuclear war in the late 50s. Far more realistic than The Rising! For example, by the time the group is working on their survival, they spend the entire day (adults and children alike) working on feeding themselves, and they still go to bed hungry. […]