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Original poster

Post apocalyptic fiction - just read The Road by Cormac McCarthy

35 replies

polecat · 12/01/2007 07:12

Wow what a devastatingly bleak story - spent ages thinking about how I would cope etc etc I used to love this kind of thing as a young teenager and I was trying to remember the books I read. There was the Changes Trilogy and Z for Zachariah. I was wondering if anyone could remember anymore?

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Catbabymummy · 13/01/2007 21:53

I remember Z for Zachariah - that was a good book. I also seem to remember reading a book where after a nuclear war some people had become telepathic due to genetic damage? I think it might have been a short story in an anthology.
The Stand is excellent, I have the unabridge version.

christie1 · 13/01/2007 21:45

try this one -The Chrysalids by John Wyndham which is definately post-apocalyptic but not so bleak in a strange way. I should reread it myself. The Beach is good too. Actually we studied it in high school (a long long time ago for me). What is too american by the way? just curious.

Original poster
polecat · 12/01/2007 11:31

I haven't been able to read anything else by McCarthy either...too American or something!

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Original poster
polecat · 12/01/2007 11:29

I dont like Stephen king either but will check out The Stand for when I need a trash fix! I must say I was sad after reading The Road and have annoyed my DH no end with my "when the apocalypse comes, we should...."

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NotQuiteCockney · 12/01/2007 11:27

Oh, and Ballard has done the apocalypse. There's a great apocalyptic (not post so much) story by James Tiptree Jr ...

Oh, and Atwood did a post-apocalyptic book recently.

bran · 12/01/2007 11:26

I read the first book of Children of the star by Sylvia Engdahl when I was a teenager and thought it was great. Not completely bleak though in the way that Z for Zachariah was.

I haven't read The Road but I might give it a go. On the Beach by Nevil Shute was immensely bleak, I was miserable for about a week after I read it.

NotQuiteCockney · 12/01/2007 11:26

I hadn't known Cormac McCarthy did SFy things ... I keep reading about him as the natural successor to Hemmingway, which puts me right off.

I loved Z for Zachariah, is that the one with the weirdy twins?

I think some Wyndham is post-apocalyptic, surely The Day of the Triffids fits.

There are a couple of very good post-apocalyptic comic book series on now: Walking Dead (zombies) and Y: The Last Man (weird virus kills all men, except for one).

Oh, and The Stand, by King. I hate Stephen King really, but this one is good. In a way.

Original poster
polecat · 12/01/2007 11:18

Peter Dickinson I think. Not really post apocalyptic as such but pretty good - England is sent back to Dark Ages when people turn against machines. I can't remember Children of the Dust.

I have to say that the Cormac McCarthy takes it to a whole new level! Way too disturbing for a kid to read.

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Philomena · 12/01/2007 08:06

Children of the Dust was a good one. I loved these books too. Who wrote the changes trilogy?

Original poster
polecat · 12/01/2007 07:56

Anyone? Maybe it is a little early - moscow mule time here in Australia....

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