The Quiet Earth
by Craig Harrison
science fiction / psychological thriller
copyright 1981
read in March 2015
rated 5/10: readable, but only if there's nothing else
Quiet Earth indeed. So quiet that nothing much happens. Quiet, and boring.
A man wakes up and find that everyone else has disappeared. Every animal, bird and insect has also disappeared. What has happened ? Could it be linked to the man's involvement with DNA research ?
It's a moody, slightly scary story of The Last Man's fight against the inexplicable.
Not that The Last Man is particularly likeable. Not likeable enough for me to care what happens to him. Has he been left behind -- by The mysterious disappearing Effect -- because he's been a very naughty boy ?
And is the secret behind The Effect hidden in the mysterious locked box from the secret Research Centre ? And why does he not bother to open the box until the very end of the book ?!
And so...
[ spoiler alert ]
And so, after nothing much has happened for a few chapters, I begin to think, I hope he's not going to wake up and find that it's all a dream !
Surprise, surprise, I was almost right. It's all a dream. But he doesn't wake up.
All the science fiction wondering is a sham. This book is an exploration of the mind of a weirdo. It's all a dream. So the author has no need to provide further explanation.
The "science fiction" plot is a cheap trick.
Though the exploration of the results of the "what if" are quite well done. Interesting. Perhaps challenging. Just, rather dull.
At chapter 21 I gave up. Skipped to the last chapter. Just to get it over with.
Ho hum.
"I want the satisfaction of achievement without the effort of actually achieving" per Ginger Meggs
====
Problems ? Solved
No comments:
Post a Comment