Earth Abides, by George R Stewart

• Title:  Earth Abides
• Author:  George R Stewart
• Borrowed from DC Public Library
• Started: 10/5/2010
• Finished:  10/13/2010

 
For a while now I've read praise about this book as I waited for it to come available at my local library.  At last my hold at the library came through (they bought two new copies) and I was able to see what everyone was talking about.  Well I didn't love it.  I suspect had I read it in 1949 when it came out, or even 1959, or possiby even 1969, it would have been of more interest to me.  But this book just didn't grab me. 
 
Now it might be one of the more accurate descriptions of what would really happen if 99% of the human race were wiped out over a few weeks by a plague.  But that doesn't make it particularly interesting.  Many of the favorable reviews note how haunting the book was or how they still think about passages years (or decades) later.  I don't know, there were some interesting parts, particularly in the beginning, describing how huge numbers of aminals that were penned up or otherwise depended on man died off pretty miserably.  But for the most part I felt like very little happened in this book, and I was more relived than anything when I finally finished.