wonderful! a pastoral post-apocalyptic tale of growing up slowly. by now, this formula has been used so many times that it probably doesn't sound remotely fresh. but it was fresh to me when i first read it many years back, and re-reading my favorite parts of it again tonight, the magic is still there. this is not a novel of grand adventure but one of many small moments. although it includes an oppressive, knowledge-hating church (in post-apocalyptic fiction, aren't they always?) and an uprising in a city, the narrative and the novel itself is a fragile, melancholy thing, a thoughtful adventure recounted by a man gently remembering his past youth, the friends he made, the woman he loved, the places where he visited and lived, the politics that he perhaps barely understood. this novel has much in common with A Canticle for Leibowitz, but for me the goofy, horny, not-particularly-bright, tender-hearted youth at the center of the story sets it apart. it is a sweet and very human tale.
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wonderful! a pastoral post-apocalyptic tale of growing up slowly. by now, this formula has been used so many times that it probably doesn't sound remotely fresh. but it was fresh to me when i first read it many years back, and re-reading my favorite parts of it again tonight, the magic is still there. this is not a novel of grand adventure but one of many small moments. although it includes an oppressive, knowledge-hating church (in post-apocalyptic fiction, aren't they always?) and an uprising in a city, the narrative and the novel itself is a fragile, melancholy thing, a thoughtful adventure recounted by a man gently remembering his past youth, the friends he made, the woman he loved, the places where he visited and lived, the politics that he perhaps barely understood. this novel has much in common with A Canticle for Leibowitz, but for me the goofy, horny, not-particularly-bright, tender-hearted youth at the center of the story sets it apart. it is a sweet and very human tale.
