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This thread is for discussion about the book Earth Abides by George R Stewart which was chosen as March's group read. Whether you have read the book already or plan to read in March please feel free to discuss.

This is definitely one of the premier best post apocalyptic books I've ever read. Haunting & so possible. Right up there with On the Beach, Alas, Babylon, & I Am Legend. All of them do a good job with technology & people.

Jim wrote: "This is definitely one of the premier best post apocalyptic books I've ever read. Haunting & so possible. Right up there with On the Beach, Alas, Babylon, & I Am L... i

Have to say I was already quite interested in this one and if you think it's up there with I Am Legend I think I'm really going to enjoy it. Hopefully will find time to start reading it next week.

At one point, I think I read the last chapter or so as an excerpt somewhere. It was edited to stand alone, I believe. Does anyone else remember that or am I imagining it?

I read Earth Abides in 2012. This is my Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ review of it:
Earth Abides was published in 1949 and presumably was supposed to have taken place in the future. I think (but I'm not certain) that I remember the year 1983 being mentioned early in the book, but there were references to things that dated the book, that weren't still commonplace in 83, such as setting the choke and pressing a foot on the starter button of a car, Charley McCarthy, dimes having a picture of a lady with wings on her head and nickles having a picture of a humpbacked bull, quinine powder as being the catch-all wonder drug, and so on. But those things really didn't detract from the book as a whole.

The only part of the book that I had trouble with, really, was the execution of Charlie. The justification simply wasn't there and I think the author glossed it over, just as the characters in the story wanted to do.

I've seen Earth Abides mentioned in the same breath as The Stand, Lucifer's Hammer, and On the Beach. It is surely in the same genre, but it follows a unique track. The story fits in the post-apocalyptic, end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it genre, but really, it's about the beginning of a civilization.

The writing is quite readable and engaging, but somewhat uneven, shifting styles from time to time. All in all, a worthwhile read.

I didn't go back to try to find where in the book 1983 was mentioned and I wonder if I was mistaken. I felt that this unnecessarily introduced anachronisms into the book that could have been avoided simply by not setting a time for the end of civilization to have happened. It's just a niggle, but it annoyed me. So, as you read the book, please be alert for a reference to a year that the story supposed to have started and tell me. I hope I am mistaken about the 1983 thing.

I thought that no date for the disaster was one of the strong points of the novel. I just searched the text & couldn't find any modern dates, although years after the disaster are there. The first Ballantine Books Edition is May 1983, though. Maybe you caught it on the title page & it stuck?

I read this 3 years ago & wrote the following in my review:

Written in 1949, it is a bit dated in some ways (the use of chemicals, lack of panic, & some equipment) but overall, it held up very well over the years. I don't agree with some of the specifics, but the story is not so much about specific technology, but about humanity & I think he presented a very interesting set of ideas.

If you're looking for action & adventure, this book isn't for you. It is more thoughtful, posing interesting questions about the human condition. It does this by following one man who survives the end of our civilization & sees what happens to several generations of his descendants. How the rest of the world fares is briefly addressed, sometimes quite personally, but always in a perfunctory manner. I don't think this harmed the story at all, though. Any more detail would have bogged it down & not helped the central themes.

So I caught the same thing as Buck about the setting being dated. Probably not many remember when the high beams switch was on the floor (into the 80's?) much less the starter or having a choke in a vehicle (early & late 60's, respectively?). The chemicals really got to me. I've read Silent Spring a couple of times, the last time just a few years before this book.

I loved this book I read it in Dec 2013. I am currently reading it again. It is a haunting tale that make you think of what you might do in this situation. I have found myself thing this at the most random times. What I would actually like to see done however is for some writer in today's society to modernize the book. Just like John Scalzi did with Little Fuzzy, when he wrote Fuzzy Nation.

I'm 100 pages in and it's quite an interesting book. The thing that's most fascinating is how it compares with more modern books. It's almost slow in the way it's plotted which I mean as a positive. I like the way the story unfolds, it's beautifully described and seems really plausible. Also unlike most apocalyptic novels it's not all about violence (at least so far). I really hope it will continue like this to the end.

I liked this book and I know a few people have mentioned it's a bit dated but for me it didn't bother me and I didn't think it detracted from the story. It's a well written book. It's true that it does make you think how you would react in this situation and when you do, there are a few places in the book where you don't find it believable. Overall though it's a well thought through story.

I found it quite sad even though I don't think that was what the author was intending. I guess I think in a similar way to Ish, and even if Earth abides it's sad to lose so much.

Jim wrote: "lack of panic ..."

This stood out to me too. I read Earth Abides at around the same time as the Death of Grass and there's a gulf between the two in terms of sheer atmosphere. The Death of Grass is full-on consistently harrowing, in a way that Earth Abides only manages on one or two occasions.

Hi Sabri. Earth Abides is a favorite of mine. My review is here.

Susan wrote: "Hi Sabri. Earth Abides is a favorite of mine. My review is here."

Thanks, I skimmed through it but will devote more time when I get an opportunity. I enjoyed musing over your link with Rousseau but in the end I don't think I share his feeling of "moral superiority" of the "Noble Savage", nor that the decay of culture is quite as inevitable as that.

I wonder if you have read much other post-apocalypse sci fi (Death of Grass as I mentioned, also Day of the Triffids or The Road) and how you think it compares to those?

Sabri wrote: "I wonder if you have read much other post-apocalypse sci fi (Death of Grass as I mentioned, also Day of the Triffids or The Road) and how you think it compares to those?"

I haven't read any of those. I was tempted to read The Day of the Triffids since I saw the movie long ago and liked it, but I recently reread another of John Wyndham's books (Trouble With Lichen) and I didn't like it.

The Trouble with Lichen is one of Wyndham's weaker books, Susan.
I studied The Midwich Cuckoos in high school aeons ago and didn't like it. (Maybe the teacher had something to do with it!) I reread it last year and was impressed by his writing style and engrossed in the plot.

Rosemarie wrote: "The Trouble with Lichen is one of Wyndham's weaker books, Susan.
I studied The Midwich Cuckoos in high school aeons ago and didn't like it. (Maybe the teacher had something to do with it!) I rerea..."

I have read very positive reviews of some of his books. I guess I just picked the wrong one.

Back when we read this, I hadn't yet read The Last Man by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. It was nominated this month & I suddenly realized just how much this owes to its predecessor. It's shorter & the language is more modern, but they start out with a very similar premise & tone. There is even similar wandering. Of course, they diverge quickly after that & make entirely different points. Still, it's interesting to read both.

Besides The Road, what is another current book in this vein? (No zombies allowed.)

Well, from the Readers also Enjoyed to Earth Abides, /book/simila..., there's Summer of the Apocalypse by James Van Pelt.

(If I wanted to make sure that author was on your lists, I'd check V, not P, right?)

I’ve been looking forward to The Death of Grass in the hope that it will be something like Earth Abides.

Good choices. I've wanted to read something else by Butler besides a few of her Patternist books. & "Summer of the Apocalypse" looks interesting, too.

Cheryl wrote: "...(If I wanted to make sure that author was on your lists, I'd check V, not P, right?)"

I think so, but I don't understand last names very well, so I tried to find how Wikipedia or some other list filed the name. 'Van Vogt' is under 'Va' not 'Vo' so I guess so. 'de Camp' with a little 'd' is under 'D', not 'C'. It was one more of those little niggling details that popped up just often enough to make the list tougher than I thought it would be.

Butler?

Confusion on my part. Octavia E. Butler wrote the Patternist books. I don't know why I glanced at "The Death of Grass" & thought she wrote it, but I did. I've read quite a few of John Christopher's novels, although not for years. They were early favorites of mine. I loved the Tripod series & went on to read a number of others.

Octavia Butler wrote Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. These are in the same vein, more or less, especially Talents.