Which books Give you the Best Literary Visions of the End of Civilization and end of the World ?

It is in Ireland so it should be in the UK. I picked it up last weekend in my local Easons. Looking to start it tomorrow when I have a bit of free time.
 
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Honestly, I've never read one I thought was good or remotely realistic. But that's just me...
 
BAYLOR said:
Earth Abides is unforgettable, poignant and sad.:(
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The Nazi aspects of Earth Abides really bugged me, only rats avoid the plague as only they are smart enough to kill the ill and disabled, and that physical hygiene directly relates to mental health. Plus the lead was annoying for always complaining the no one else was doing a proper job of preserving society yet did bugger all himself but complain.

Pest House by Jim Crace is very good, something bad happened a few generations ago, no is quite sure what but the weather is screwed and there are some odd plagues/environmental effects.
 
Aetius said:
The Nazi aspects of Earth Abides really bugged me, only rats avoid the plague as only they are smart enough to kill the ill and disabled, and that physical hygiene directly relates to mental health. Plus the lead was annoying for always complaining the no one else was doing a proper job of preserving society yet did bugger all himself but complain.

Pest House by Jim Crace is very good, something bad happened a few generations ago, no is quite sure what but the weather is screwed and there are some odd plagues/environmental effects.
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Earth Abides was written in 1949 , what do you expect? Every book written is product of its era.
 
BAYLOR said:
Earth Abides was written in 1949 , what do you expect? Every book written is product of its era.
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For a book not to claim killing the disabled is good for society, within four years of the death camps being liberated?
 
Aetius said:
The Nazi aspects of Earth Abides really bugged me, only rats avoid the plague as only they are smart enough to kill the ill and disabled, and that physical hygiene directly relates to mental health.
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No, all non-primates avoid the plague- there's a mention that monkeys and apes at the zoo are dying, but no other animals. The increase in the number of of rats comes because they have been parasitical on human beings: the humans die but leave most of their foodstuffs behind (including their bodies); then the rats, like the ants before them, go through a brief population explosion in the cities before their food supplies run out and natural predators take over.

As for physical hygiene leading to mental health, uh, no. Survivors who are mentally healthy take care of physical hygiene, yes- because they have enough of the old knowedge to realise it's important.


Plus the lead was annoying for always complaining the no one else was doing a proper job of preserving society yet did bugger all himself but complain.
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You mean besides trying to pass down mathematics, reading, the calendar, the bow (the latter successfully), and the general accumulated knowledge of the Old Ones? The whole point was that most of it wasn't useful for a small band tryng to stay alive in the wreckage- and their children were also more concerned with staying alive than with the Pyhagorean theorem.
 
Aetius said:
For a book not to claim killing the disabled is good for society, within four years of the death camps being liberated?
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Don't recall any killing of the disabled. They kill the one outsider who wants to move in with them because he's carrying STDs. They prevent one young woman from breeding because she's mentally retarded and the hero worries about her bringing down the level of what is a very small group.
 
pambaddeley said:
Not very literary but The Day of the Triffids creeped me out when read as a kid.
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I like this suggestion, apart from the bit about it not being literary.
I quite enjoyed Dark is the Sun, by Farmer. Hothouse is my favourite end of Earth / super far future novel though. Asimov's Pebble in the Sky comes to mind, though in fact it's rather a weak book (and I say that as a big fan of the good doctor). Would Simak's Cemetery World fit this category?
 
Got a belter for you that I've just finished reading.......

The Silence by Tim Lebbon

I dare you to start it and try putting it down!
 
The Wastelands by Stephen King gives some of the best details of the former civilization that once spanned Roland Deschain's world. The first book in the Gunslinger series offers some good glimpses, but Wastelands takes one through (and under) the rotting city of Lud, providing more tantalizing clues about why and at what stage their world ended. The illustrations in that book are pretty good as well.
 
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki. The manga rather than the movie. (The movie is wonderful but the manga is much more complete and complex.) There are a lot of stories about humanity destroying the earth and there are a lot of stories about a far future after the earth has gone through an apocalypse and everything has changed, but Nausicaa is a story set in a time when the earth is still transitioning and it is uncertain if humanity will survive or if they should survive. As such, it tackles a lot of difficult themes in unique ways.

From the New World by by Yusuke Kishi. I just finished reading an online English translation of this Japanese novel. It presents, at first, a Utopian society of humans with telekinetic ability 1000 or so years in the future. However, it soon becomes obvious that not everything is as it seems as the story follows a group of youths growing up in the society who over time are confronted with all sorts of hidden horrors within themselves and without. The scariest thing about this book is how realistic it seems. The way humanity responds to the rise of TK powers seems all too likely.
 
The Abyss by Jeremy Cunningham. It has a very unforgettable apocalyptic ending.:)
 
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