That is a massive list of dystopian/post-apocalyptic fiction. I’ve been reading these books for years. If you are unfamiliar with the genre, they are stories of what happens after whatever happens that destroys earth/society/government. Most of you will be familiar with Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road,” while that is most certainly one of the finest of its kind, it is probably the single most depressing book I have ever read. While mostly the outlook in these books are overall grim, finding the light at the end of the tunnel is a common theme. These books do a great job of making you love humans and hate them.
Here are a couple suggestions:
The Road-Cormac McCarthy- Amazing story of a father and son trying to survive after a disaster wipes out society.
Alas, Babylon-Pat Frank- A small Florida town tries to rebuild after a first wave nuclear bomb hits. Written in 1959 and holds up amazingly well.
Where Late The Sweet Bird Sings- Kate Wilhelm- A small group of medically inclined people prepare for the end, when it comes they are in a unique position to experiment. This was an interesting look at what happens when humans can no longer procreate, without the ickyness that occurs in:
The Handmaids Tale-Margaret Atwood-After the disaster, many women are infertile and this is the twisted tale of how society handles it.
The Postman-David Brin -Please, ignore the movie and read the book. The movie mutilated a wonderful story. This book does an incredible job of telling the story of the little things that make us feel human, when there is not much evidence there is any humanity left.
So grab a book and see what we do, when the unthinkable has been done.
Partly Cloudy
Ha, very familiar list. But The Road isn’t really dystopian. Neither is Alas, Babylon. They’re post-apocalypse novels. When I started my blog, I wasn’t sure where the line fell dividing those two genres, but now they’re like night and day for me.
It used to be described as the Big Stolen List of Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian Fiction, but the title was too long.