It remind me a movie I watched couple of months ago called Threads. A nice movie of the 80's. It was a wake up call regarding nuclear war. It was set in a city and the impeding doom that follow a nuclear war and the trials afterwards. Very disconcerting to be honest.
Regarding this novel it was divided in three parts. Each one follow a different character but they were all connected. The first part dealt with the nuclear war and the weeks/months that followed. It was very interesting and even more was a concept of one particular character - the only one that went to part 2 and 3 but never the main character.
The concept was - after a nuclear war a nuclear winter will follow and most society will died. How much ? We don't know. I remember reading that only 5% of the population would survive the nuclear war, fallout and nuclear winter BUT other novels put that number a bit lower or higher.
- It doesn't matter the number to be honest. What matters is that this novel introduced something - a person who right from the beginning was more intuitively more keen to adapt. This was very interesting.
The second part deals with the years that follow and how some groups survived underneath in bunkers. But the politics of the surviving members (this part deals with 20 years or so) and the difference between the under-dwellers and the outsiders. A group leaves and meets some survivors and the deformed mutants afterwards.
The third part and to me not that good - a solid 4 to 5 stars drop to 3. After fifty years a new kind of breed appear - the mutants are no longer deformed per se (like two heads) but change due to nature. Unfortunately besides that view of mutants vs humans which were blamed for the nukes (even this were the descendants). Then the mutants evolved and now had psychic powers and such and were pure communists... never asking and always sharing. They even go that far to say that's evolution.
I've read that his novel had ". It contains graphic violence, profane language, and descriptions of sexual activity, for which it was banned from many school libraries." Where? Sexual activity? My god lol there is none. Graphic violence? What in descriptions or because she killed children? I can accept that but profane language? LOL yeah right.
(Regarding the communist part it doesn't bother - Home Sapiens - are not that capable of communism - but who knows if our evolution Homo Superior can have a life were sharing and non-violence is the way to go.. I hope it was now but alas...)
I only thing that the evolution was too fast. Radiation and the lack of ozone layer would transition to a new "breed" of humans in only 50 years? I don't know and I hope I never found out.
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