I'd like to think this was a very pessimistic view of how society and survivors would behave and reform, but the thing that scares me most is that it probably isn't. Teaming up with a hotch potch of other survivors a kind of twisted type of road trip begins as Edgar attempts to catch up to his family before they are beyond his reach. Edgar wasn’t the one I would pick to run across the country, but he ends up earning back some dignity as he travels and faces the obstacles.

Ed was asleep when it started, still feeling the effects of a drink it two too many, and by the time he worked out what was going on it was already almost too late. Apparently a story about a boring person who barely feels emotions himself meant I just never had any emotions either (except ones that involved being frustrated and annoyed).By the time the title makes sense, the novel is more than half way through, and the gang is hit by still more obstacles — despite our penchant for the whole shit-hitting-fan business, I think most of us do want our main characters to overcome those obstacles. Beispiel "Menschenflecken" (nicht meine Wortschöpfung), die bei großer Hitze entstehen wie einer Atomexplosion, findet man direkt neben alten Postern, die etwas zerfleddert sind aber immerhin. I note some runners have complained about the lack of authentic running content but they have missed the point. Gross cruelty, selfishness, cowardice and a hunger for power are countered with valour, incredible kindness, amazing generosity and altruism.

or maybe I've just read the best of the best and now no one will ever measure up to Station Eleven (read it if you haven't; amazing piece of literature! The dystopian world that Walker creates is dark and forbidding, and I found myself thinking about how I would try to survive if I faced this situation, and what friendships and alliances might come in useful. But so, a series of events result in Ed being separated from his family, and we learn that evacuation boats are leaving from the southern tip of England with his family on Christmas day — 21 days hence.The youngest is still breastfeeding, so it is imperative that he maintain food and keep everyone alive.

The argument could be made that the book tries to mitigate against this by having two of the running club be from working class backgrounds, but when filtered through the viewpoint of our middle class narrator, they remain different and other to him. Cue fiery asteroids from outer space decimating the UK and elsewhere, enforcing upon him some kind of actual responsibility.A group of seven set out: three soldiers, who seem to take charge, and four men from very different backgrounds. We’re able to compare Ed and Beth’s stories, to see the contrasts and similarities in their struggles, to watch them both suffer and evolve. I could taste it immediately, as if a door I’d never seen had been flung open onto a long, wide landscape of forest, earth and ocean, tall stone pillars clawed with brine and weed, cold starry skies, ancient, candlelit rooms, deep eyes, short lives and whispered promises. Dabei nehme ich an, dass dieser Umstand dem Autoren, als er diese Figur schuf, überhaupt nicht bewusst war.

I mean, she was awesome in her own way, but where were the successful Hendersons, the smart and sociopathic survivors?Ich fragte ihn, ob er auch so handeln würde, wenn besagtes Buch ein Musikstück wäre und er gezwungen, ein 90 Minuten langes Konzert davon voller Kakophonie zu ertragen. But seriously read the first four chapters and then imagine your own end; because they are brilliantly put together. I didn’t understand some of the characters motivations, but I am guessing a character like Edgar wouldn’t care either. A normal fellow finds himself a country and an apocalypse away from his family, with time running out.