"As for man, there is little reason to think that he can in the long run escape the fate
of other creatures, and if there is a biological law of flux and reflex, his situation is
now a highly perilous one. During ten thousand years his numbers have been on the
upgrade in spite of wars, pestilence, and famines. This increase in population has
become more and more rapid. Biologically, man has for too long a time been rolling
an uninterrupted run of sevens"

From: Earth Abides

-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- --

The copy of Earth Abides (penned in 1949 by George R. Stewart) that I am reading must be thirty years old, if a day. The pages are definitely not acid-free. Yellowing, browning at the edges, corners flaking, many are loosely held in the book. Large sections are broken away from the spine. Great care must be taken to keep it all together, all in order. To maintain it as a 'readable' book.

A quick estimate suggests a total word count of perhaps a hundred thousand words for Earth Abides. Losing one page from my worn copy would make it worthless for resell. Losing ten pages would make it useless even for someone very familiar with the story.

Now imagine every word gone, but one. What value would this book have now? Imagine the book on your nightstand. Every word gone. Save one. What value would that lone word still retain?

This is the situation that faces Isherwood Williams, 'Ish', in Earth Abides. A graduate student doing field research for his thesis, The Ecology of the Black Creek Area, Ish is alone for weeks in the mountains of California. The combination of a rattlesnake bite and an unknown infection leaves him cabin-bound, deathly ill, for several days.

Returning to the nearby highways and town, Ish finds everyone gone. Everyone. Newspapers in racks tell the story of the fall of humanity. A disease ". . .like a kind of 'super-measles'. . .aided by airplane travel, . . .had sprung up almost simultaneously in every center of civilization, outrunning all attempts at quarantine."

It seems that man has 'fallen from grace' with dignity. Civil unrest had apparently been minimal, despite the apparent cult or two springing up to welcome the end with religious fervor and rapture. Mass burials had been practiced until the very end.

Ish faces a world that continues to function: traffic lights still cycle, 'green..yellow..red...green . . .'; Water still flows from faucets and taps; refrigeration still keeps food chilled.

But civilization as he knows it, as we know it, is gone. Leaving not a devastated or destroyed world, as often pictured in this type of story. But a normal, functioning, albeit on autopilot, world. With humanity swept from the face of the earth like ants from a picnic table. "The Great Disaster" Ish calls it.

Ish is an observer, a student of change. Suddenly his life is the greatest social experiment ever conceived. Can he survive in this new world? Can mankind survive in this new world?

Much of the early part of the novel are narrative observations by Ish. The disappearance of chickens, of cats. Pack behavior by dogs, Population explosions by ants, rats, cattle, mountain lions, each in turn. The day the lights went out, perhaps forever. Stewart presents a very believable picture of the changes that might happen in this changing world. This world without man around to plan, control, dominate, repair.

Sprinkled throughout the story are short sections set apart in italic print. Stewart uses these paragraphs to illustrate a particular point or change occurring in the story. Early in the story Stewart foretells the realization that humanity has indeed been dealt a near-death blow. That quote leads this review. Most of these sections have a lyrical or biblical tone to them. They function well to focus the reader's thoughts on the changes occurring in the setting of the story.

Around Ish gradually accretes a small community. Emma, 'Em', another survivor, now his wife. One who lived through the "The Great Disaster". She brings an easy affirmation of the value of human life in this new world. She gives strength and courage to Ish, to the community, when hope for the future seems lost.

Ezra, who has ". . .that inexpressibly great gift of making people comfortable." Who grows restless and strikes out on his own. He returns over a year later with his wife Molly. And his wife Jean. Molly's son Ralph and a "half-witted" girl known as Evie add to the small community. Ish and Ezra later travel to find George and Maurine. Survivors that Ezra had met during his travels.

These randomly selected survivors are the limited vocabulary, the 'words', that will write the story of the future of mankind. Ish holds closely the dream that the civilization of man as the "old timers" knew it could be rebuilt. That electricity would flow again. That water would again fill dry pipes. That highways again would fill with heavy traffic. Until his hopes and dreams are smashed.

Only then does Ish accept the idea that perhaps this world's history will be written as a different storyline. Only then does he begin to realize his ability to nudge, in one direction or another, this new world.

Earth Abides is a story that rings very plausible. It is the story of a small group of survivors pushing back the darkness that threatens their small community. It teases us with the hope for a rebirth of 'civilization' and all the monumental achievements of man that represent that civilization. But it leaves us with the thought that civilization might simply be the caring and bonding of individuals together in common effort to preserve the human family.

&#151 The Bottom Line &#151

In an age where thoughts of biological, chemical or nuclear destruction seems very real, the idea of individuals working together to protect and preserve an embryonic community seems very reassuring. George R. Stewart weaves a tale of survival that is at once convincing and chillingly believable.


-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- --

"Just the facts, ma'am"



Title: Earth Abides
Author: George R. Stewart
Publisher: Fawcett Books
Copyright: 1949
Pages: 320
ISBN #: 0-449-2130-13
Ages recommended: Teen / Adult



***********************************************************
This is my entry to my "Re-Write Write-Off" event. The original review below is the second ever that I wrote for this site. It truly is/was pitiful.

I received nine rates in the time that it might have been going through the 'Just-In' section. Probably typical even today for a new-user review. I received but one comment during that same 'Just-In' time. Thank you Cindy/hadassahchana.

In the re-written review above I tried to give a better idea of what the overall story is about. And who the main characters are in the story. In the story the idea of mass extinction comes quickly so I feel revealing that part of the story does no harm. Indeed, it sets up the real story. That of survival and acceptance and change.

My thanks for your reading my offering. All the participant's reviews are available at this page:

http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/sleeper54/rewrite/writers.html

I hope you enjoy them all as they demonstrate the value of experience reading and writing here at Epinions.com


***********************************************************
OLD REVIEW
Originally published: Dec 22, 01


Review Title
I almost named my son Isherwood..

Pros
My personal page-turner for 20-plus years.

Cons
Somewhat dated (but is that bad?)

The Bottom Line
In this day of AIDS, Ebola, smallpox, etc., an absolute must-read.


Full Review

This is a book that I first discovered in my early twenties. The AIDS 'problem' was just beginning to be defined and moralized and somehow the idea of a plague gone super-virulent and destroying humanity did not seem so implausible to me.

I consider myself to be somewhat of a 'loner' as Ish portrays himself in this novel. I would rather sit and observe then lead the revolution.

But as Ish first reacts to the new reality and realizes how vulnerable he might be, he has to decide how he will live his new life. Always playing it safe or letting what will happen just happen. His decision about the motorcycle in the desert has always been very powerful to me.

Eventually he decides that he needs companionship, first found in a stray dog, and later found in the people that he finds and bonds with for life itself. His portrayal of the different reactions of people he encounters along his cross-country journey are eerie. People that are clearly capable of surviving, others that were kept alive only by civilization and will now perish with the 'old' civilization. People that are clearly strong and good. And people that are equally strong but evil.

I would love to see a movie made of this book but perhaps it is best not. I would hate to see 'my' book ruined.

As I said in the title to this review, if my third child had been a boy I had planned to name him Joshua Isherwood. I hope he would have found the same values and strength in the name, and the novel Earth Abides, that I did and do.


-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- --

Two comments placed:

Naming a child after a character in a book... (Reply to this comment) posted Feb 28 '02
by xxxxxxxx
...is high praise indeed, even if you never did have that third child. I've read several positive reviews on Earth Abides, but now I have to bump the book up on my reading list...I need to find out if I want to name my future-child "Isherwood."

Thanks for the review.


sorry (Reply to this comment) posted Dec 22 '01
by xxxxxxxx
You have a great start here, but I don't have any idea what this book is about from having read your review. If you rewrite this to include a brief outline of the plot and perhaps describe the main characters, your review will be much more useful.

If you do decide to edit this, please send me an email so I can reread it.

Regards,
xxxxxxxx

-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- --

Ratings placed

24 rates placed total
  9 rates when it was probably going through 'Just-in' for books.
15 rates placed later.

  2 'Very Helpful'
20 'Helpful'
  2 'Somewhat Helpful'

Nine of these twenty-four are now apparently inactive here at Epinions.

Truly a dismal effort..

Recommended: Yes