For Seller

By: Lisa Koosis

When I was about twelve years old, my family purchased an ancient (or so it seemed at the time) set of scientific encyclopedias at a moving sale. Much of the information that filled those musty pages was outdated, even archaic, but one section drew my attention again and again. Perhaps a dozen pages located at the very end of one of the volumes, it was entitled, simply: What to do in the event of a Nuclear War.

Those pages fascinated me, the concept that the world as I knew it could end with the mere push of a button. From elementary school, I remembered air raid drills — hundreds of children kneeling in the hallway, hands clasped over bowed heads…

And from that, my fascination with apocalyptic fiction was born. Even now, in my thirties, that fascination occasionally resurfaces, and on occasion, I’ll still hunt high and low for new novels or something that I might have missed over the years.

I discovered “Earth Abides” a few weeks ago in one of my searches, and I felt like I’d stumbled upon King Solomon’s mine. Here was a real diamond in the rough.

“Earth Abides,” by George R. Stewart, isn’t the story of nuclear holocaust. Rather, it is the story of an earth gone horribly wrong. A disease, now run rampant, has done to mankind what mankind has failed to do to itself — brought it to the brink of extinction.

Young Isherwood, known to most as Ish, is perhaps, the last American. Saved, perhaps, by a perfectly-timed rattlesnake bite, Ish is left to witness a world devoid of people.

Earth Abides is a gem of a book. Grand in scale and epic in scope, “Earth Abides” is gripping literary fiction.

“Earth Abides” is perhaps the most reflective piece of literature that I have read in the last half-dozen years. Through Ish’s eyes, no stone is left unturned, both literally and philosophically. An observer at heart, Ish survives — at least at first — by standing aside and watching.

The prose is deliberate and measured, and style mimics plot beautifully throughout the novel’s pages. Stewart manages to set the mood beautifully from page one — an eerie, desolate mood that is pervasive, and wholly apropos to the book’s theme.

“Earth Abides” is not your typical science fiction novel, and in fact, I would hesitate to call it science fiction at all, “Earth Abides” is perhaps, better classified as speculative fiction — a novel that dares to ask the question: What if?

“Earth Abides” is a philosophical novel, a cyclical novel filled with symbolism and wonder. This is a novel where the term “American” takes on greater meaning, a novel where the first smashing of a window represents so much, a novel where something as simple as a hammer evolves into an object of rare importance.

More importantly, this is a thoughtful, measured novel. There are truly no wasted words.

“Earth Abides” is a piece of little-known but classic literature. Though periodically it dates itself with slightly archaic language, and mentions of near-forgotten things, such as buffalo nickels and DDT being sold in the corner pharmacy, this book still stands the test of time.

What “Earth Abides” is not, however, is a book of action. If earthquakes and nuclear missiles and erupting volcanoes are what you’re looking for, then you’ll need to look further. This is not a book to rush through from thought to finish. This is a book for which you’ll need to wear your thinking cap.

** For those who like this type of literature, be sure to check out “Alas, Babylon” and “A Gift Upon the Shore”.

Lisa is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writing.