Harrowing novel about the aftermath of a nuclear war. Like Threads in book form.

HOWEVER, I know there are at least 2 editions of this, with different endings. One is the original, which is realistic and depressing. There's another one which makes no sense but gives a reasonably happy ending. I prefer the first. Funny story: we read this book in school and half were the first and half the second but the teacher hadn't realised they had different endings. When we got to the end there was a lot of confusion and the teacher expressed her disappointment with the depressing ending. WHATEVER TEACH YOU WERE DUMB AS HECK DEPRESSING ENDINGS FOR LIFE ( )

En una zona rural d'Anglaterra els pocs supervivents d'un atac nuclear massiu lluiten per sobreviure. I aleshores caldrà decidir quina és la millor estratègia per aconseguir-ho: l'egoisme i la llei del més fort o l'altruisme i la solidaritat? Dilemes que s'han plantejat de manera molt semblant en alguna exitosa sèrie televisiva ambientada en un món després de l'apocalipsi, zombi en aquell cas.
Germà de la terra és un toc d'atenció sobre el poder destructiu de la espècie humana, un poder que si es descontrola pot arribar a fer-ho desaparèixer tot, inclosa la pròpia humanitat. ( )

The first post apocalyptic young adult book I ever read (probably when too young for it) I have loved this book for too long and am too sentimentally attached to it to say anything wise and detached.

Re-reading it I was struck by two things - firstly how rapidly it all gets wrapped up at the end (almost as though the author just went 'oh, I've only got 20 pages left, so I'd better just note down what happens' and secondarily how kick-ass Kim is. I think it's easy for people to think that we're just discovering strong female characters now, but, even though her only role in the plot is to be the love interest, it's Kim who tells Danny he needs to toughen up to survive, and is the only one brave enough not to go 'la la la it's so lovely she's pregnant'. ( )

This is the story of Danny Lodge and his 7-year-old brother, Ben, who live in the English village of Skipley. The nuclear missiles have fallen: many friends and loved ones are dead, and everything has changed. Food is scarce, water is contaminated, and people are hungry for power and revenge. It is a brutal story, its characters without hope. Danny makes this plain as he begins his narration: “There were those whose fate it was to wander this landscape of poisonous desolation. One of them was me.”

One of the most striking things about this book is the afterword, where the author explains his reasons for publishing such a harsh story: “I decided that there ought to be at least one novel for young people which would present a realistic vision of life in a post-nuclear world… I did not enjoy writing Brother in the Land… the act… brought home to me the full horror of what some people will contemplate doing to others”. His purpose, he asserts, lay in the hope that young people, having read his story, “will prove wiser and more responsible…and that the bombs will not fall”.

There are good moments in the book, glimpses of joy. For example, Danny is amazed that he can still, despite everything, feel attracted to Kim, a girl he meets by the well. Some people remain kind- Danny’s encounter with the school bully turns out better than he could have hoped for. But things very often go wrong- like the much-awaited crops the people plant, or the soldiers, who Danny is convinced must eventually come, to provide relief for the town.

Part of the appeal of the book is its unmistakable realism: despite the fact that none of us have lived through anything like this, we know that this must be how it would be. There is no point in the book at which you think “but it wouldn’t really be like that”; the author’s vision is cruelly accurate. Danny, and those around him, invent new words for types of people that didn’t exist before the bombs fell; his narration explains with straightforward dismay about Badgers, Spacers, Terminals, and Purples.

Danny’s way of expressing himself is down-to-earth. As with many books by this author, the characters speak with pronounced English accents, the dialect often unfamiliar to readers from other countries, but the story all the more realistic because of this. Danny describes things the way he sees or feels them; he’s not trying to write an English essay, he’s trying to record his experiences. He says its “too horrible to describe”; yet he manages to make us understand exactly what he’s going through, with his simple, brief sentences and vivid comparisons.

Make no mistake: this is not a book to enjoy. Yet it is a great story, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone over the age of 10 who cares about the world and wants to make a difference to it.

I won't admit, even to myself, why I wanted to read this YA book, but 'Brother in the Land' is a very effective short story about nuclear war.

Teenager Danny Lodge witnesses the end of the world from the shelter of an old wartime pillbox on the moors above his Yorkshire home town ('Skipley' is destroyed, with neighbouring 'Branford' reduced to a hole in the ground, which is ironic. I live in 'Branford', and at the moment, not a lot of imagination is required to picture the scene!) He becomes part of a new society of survivors, desperate and scared, living in the ashes. Told in first person, with a blunt Yorkshire accent and a hint of male bravado, Bradford-born author Swindells really brings this 'what if?' scenario to life, and the scariest prospect is not what would happen if the bombs fell, but the anarchy awaiting the unlucky few who survive. As Danny's friend Kim tells him, it's about looking out for yourself, and being harder than the others. Almost as soon as the dust clears, people are looting, robbing and killing their neighbours, immune to the suffering of those around them. I think I would rather die in the blast.

A quick read, but very thought-provoking in content and a cynical perspective on human nature that is sadly all too accurate. I was disturbed by Swindell's distopian vision, and this story is meant for a younger age group - any children reading this might have nightmares afterwards! ( )