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Bezig met laden... Slow Apocalypse (2012)door John Varley
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Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. 410 ( ) Love Varley, but this was kinda Meh.... Got very tired of the painstaking LA geography exposition since I am not familiar. I did appreciate the many times the main characters helped their fellow man, that was touching. Go Addison, you were the best of the characters. Glad that Ranger ended up as more than a piece of baggage. Got close to the end and started thinking there can’t possibly be a happy ending. I didn’t find the ending believable or satisfying. I think I should read Oryx and Crake again. Well, 2.5 stars to be kind. I always enjoy reading John Varley, so I grabbed this new novel from the library. However, it was something of a disappointment, not up to the imagination and daring of the '8 worlds' stories or even the 'Titan' trilogy. 'Slow Apocalypse' tells the tale of a family from Los Angeles coping with the aftermath of the destruction of the world's oil reserves by a rogue scientist. followed by a massive earthquake and an uncontrolled wildfire. The clue is in the title. The pace of the novel is slow, and has no satisfying resolution, there is too much emphasis on the geography of Los Angeles (though might be useful for touring the city in the event of peak oil/earthquake and wildfire occurring simultaneously). Only if you really need another post apocalypse tale. This appears to be intended for a broader audience than Varley's typical writing. I'm currently reading his [b:Red Lightning|186330|Red Lightning (Red Thunder, #2)|John Varley|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348262000s/186330.jpg|817813], where similar post-disaster themes are played out. I like post-apocalyptic science fiction, and always find it interesting to see how the author outfits his characters, and what they do in their restructured world. For example, in Pfeffer's The Last Survivors series the characters rush to do laundry every time power is briefly restored. In Varley, there's a lot of description of objects (ammunition, hay, canned food) and some preoccupation with not using up food, but surprisingly little concern about using up gasoline, which is a central aspect of the book. The beginning grabbed me right away, but the rest of the book did seem overly long--but I read it in one day, and enjoyed it overall. I was very impatient with the horse and kept wishing the main characters would ditch it. Good thing they didn't listen to me. Karen's transformation from bitchy wife to helpmate seemed a bit too abrupt. I'd have liked to see more of the daughter Addison. The geographical detail reminded me a lot of "The Californians" sketch on _Saturday Night Live_ (where people gratuitously mention the streets they took to get somewhere)--BUT I did enjoy pulling out my Thomas Guide and discovering that all the streets were real ones, even the street where the protagonist lives. Probably former Angelenos like me enjoy the detail more than someone who is unfamiliar with LA and its landmarks. I'd recommend this book to folks who love reading about L.A. and the end of civilization. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
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"John Varley has won multiple awards for his "imaginative and engaging"* novels. Now the author of Millennium, Steel Beach, and Rolling Thunder speculates how people would survive in a world suddenly stripped of the fuel that makes it run... Despite wars with Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as 9/11, the United States' dependence on foreign oil has kept the nation tied to the Middle East. A scientist has developed a cure for America's addiction--a slow-acting virus that feeds on petroleum, turning it solid. But he didn't consider that his contagion of an Iraqi oil field could spread to infect the fuel supply of the entire world... In Los Angeles, screenwriter Dave Marshall heard this scenario from a retired US marine and government insider who acted as a consultant on Dave's last film. It sounded as implausible as many of his scripts, but the reality is much more frightening than anything he could have envisioned. An ordinary guy armed with extraordinary information, Dave hopes his survivor's instinct will kick in so he can protect his wife and daughter from the coming apocalypse that will alter the future of Earth--and humanity... *San Francisco Chronicle"-- Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
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Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
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