Customer Reviews

The Apocalypse Reader

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a fun collection of stories from some well known and serious talent (Gaiman, Lovecraft, Poe) and some newly minted authors. I found myself particularly amused by "These Zombies Are Not A Metaphor," the work of one of the new authors named Jeff Goldberg. I'll be keeping an eye peeled for future work from him.

I was initially excited to discover the collection and didn't see how such a broad-based compilation could go wrong. I'm an avid reader of post-apocalyptic fiction, science fiction and futurism, so I'm no slouch, but this turned out to be quite different from what I was hoping for.

While a few of the pieces are good reads, so many of them are abstract, esoteric, or even reminiscent of the scribblings from slightly disturbed angst-ridden teenage diaries. There's no good "meat" here, no concrete scenarios, suspense or drama to drive fear into your heart and make your mind race. The circumstances under which "apocalypse" occurs are rarely even revealed. Even the subject matter is open to interpretation - "apocalypse" is made to mean many things, not simply the end of the world. Which it does, of course, but that's not what I was hungry for when I picked up this book. The book description should have done a better job of managing those expectations.

Perhaps if you are looking for a broad literary "treatment" of the subject, that kind of interpretation will appeal to you (or if you enjoy the just plain bizarre) then this collection is for you. It was not for me.

"THESE ARE THE WAYS THE WORLD ENDS--THIRTY-FOUR NEW AND SELECTED DOOMSDAY SCENARIOS"

This is a gorgeous book, from presentation to content. The selections are humorous, serious, simple, complex, and much more--thirty-four stories, some short, some long, make for a wide spectrum of apocalypses. Taylor, in the foreword, expounds on his conception of an apocalypse:

"It's worth pointing out that the word Apocalypse comes from the Greek, and literally means "a revelation" or "an unveiling." It can be used to describe cataclysmic changes of any sort. Revolution, for example, or social upheaval. [...] There are micro-Apocalypses that mark moments in our lives: childhood's end, a relationship's sudden implosion, Death."



The selections do span the gamut--some were written so long ago as to be in the public domain, and some were freshly minted in the late 2000's; some focus on religious upheavals, some macro, some micro; there are personal upheavals, student rantings, surreal recountings of madmen; and of course many take the reader through more conventional "end of the world" scenarios. And even with all that diversity, perhaps guided by the introduction, the theme of the anthology runs strong.

If there were a criticism I could make of this volume, that, ironically, would be it. I consider myself a bit of an Apocalypse afficionado--I particularly enjoy reading such stories, along with dystopias--and I would have thought that I could never grow tired of reading well-wrought incarnations of such--and these stories were all well-wrought and well-edited, there is no doubt about that--but this volume overwhelmed me. I was tired, even weary, by the time I had wended my way through the collection (and that in the course of several "sittings")..

The lead story, a piece of flash fiction by H. P. Lovecraft, starts the anthology out elegantly, and slowly. It warns you, implicitly, that you're in for some heavy reading, even if you're a fan of Mr. Lovecraft's writing (and not just his mythos, which more people are familiar with, and is much easier to get into third hand). On that end of the scale, there's also a piece from Edgar Allan Poe that is ponderous but worth an examination, entitled "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion".

Some of my favorites included:

"The Apocalypse Commentery of Bob Paisner" by Rick Moody -- This is an essay detailing the allegorical depths of the Book of Revelation with regard to Bob Paisner's life. The tone is both erudite and a bit delirious, and the piece as a whole is both informative and immersive--I found myself eagerly wondering where Moody was going to take us next, what dark or clinical humor would next be presented.

"Fraise, Menthe, et Poivre 1978" by Jared Hohl -- Another piece of meta-fiction, this follows a group of people through the more traditional trope of being the last survivors in a ruined post-apocalyptic city. What makes this piece stand out is the manic bent of the narrator and the push for the show to go on--the story weaves the primary narrative with a small handful of abbreviated stageplays that emphasize much about human nature, hope, and despair, while retaining a very human humor.

"An Accounting" by Brian Evenson -- An "honest" accounting of how one explorer fell into becoming a reborn Jesus and how he helps his flock survive. I don't want to say too much about this, but the voice is clear, the narrative is well woven and unrolls at a compelling pace, and other than, perhaps, the initial fanaticism he encounters, it is all quite believable.

"Some Approaches to the Problem of the Shortage of Time" by Ursula K. Le Guin -- This is a clever set of abstracts that are ever timely and consider a novel scenario for the end of the modern-day universe. The shortage of time is pervasive, and this story is brief to give you a maximum pleasure for what it takes.

"Think Warm Thoughts" by Allison Whittenberg -- A bite-sized slice of apocalypse that is poetically poignant; every word counts.

"When We Went to See the End of the World by Dawnie Morningside, age 11 1/4" by Neil Gaiman -- This is the end of the world, everyone and everything together, through the playful, somewhat naiive eyes of an eleven year old. It's told in the vein of "What I did over Summer vacation", and is very evocative, sweet, and strange.

"The Escape--a Tale of 1755" by Grace Aguilar -- This is an elegant tale of a woman's love for her husband, religious persecution, and a prison escape. It is written with a very modern feel despite its age (originally published in 1844).

That's not to say I disliked the other stories; and on another day I would have different favorites, though there were some pieces that didn't work for me. But I hope this selection will help give you a feel for the collection as a whole, beyond my simple regard for it. In all, it's a beautiful collection, and I recommend it strongly, with the caveat that you may want to take it in small doses.

Of the 34 stories in this collection I can honestly say that only 9 of them really impressed me. Another 4 just completely confused me while the rest I could take or leave. Those that impressed me had characters that grabbed me from the start as well as a reason revealed for why things were ended. In some stories I couldn't even tell if there was any type of apocalypse or not going on. The creepiest was Jared Hohl's "Fraise Menthe, et Poivre 1978" while the most thought provoking was Brian Evenson's "An Accounting". Since so few of the stories impressed me I had to give it only an average rating as a collection.

Having been an avid reader of non-fiction materials, sprinkled with a number of dystopic novels, for decades, I feel that I have the ability to discern good writings and literature from those of lesser quality. This collection is by far the worst group of short stories that I have ever encountered. With the literary exceptions of Nathaniel Hawthorne and HG Wells (whom must have rolled over in their graves knowing that their short stories were included in this fictional porridge) the rest of the menagerie reads more like esoteric writings created while under the influence of drugs, or stories told around a campfire far too long after the fire went out, or sophomoric essays written by drowsy students the first day of class after a long and forgetful summer, or, sadly, crass verbal pornography written by frustrated tenagers.

Please do not be fooled by the title of the book, these are not tales of the dystopic world after the holocaust. They are more like Alice without the Wonderland or are merely homework assignments scribbled together quickly for the sole purpose of putting them into book form for a highly gullible public.

Unless you are planning on using this book to start your own campfire, your will be spent more wisely elsewhere......

Like other reviewers, I am sadly disappointed by this collection of work. I was (mistakenly) expecting science fiction, which this book is NOT. It's more literary reading, something I do not enjoy. This is my own fault perhaps as I believe now that misunderstood the title.

That however is not the extent of my disappointment with the book. While it did have a couple of excellent stories (perhaps 5% of those included), some work was far to esoteric for my enjoyment. Still others, I didn't understand at all.

This was supposed to be a collection of stories that describe 'apocalyptic situations' but, I felt like I was reading a collection bad poetry disguised as short story work.

I can't recommend it, but there are obviously people out there who enjoy this sort of work.

The Apocalypse Reader was such a colossal disappoint that it has become the only book that I destroyed because I disliked it so much. The book's thirty four stories of doomsday and the end of the world could be shortened to thirty be removing the one/two page "flash" stories that are so short they don't really contribute anything. The author even boasts in his introduction that at least one these aforementioned stories was originally published as a poem. That in and of itself would not disqualify a story but gives the reader of this review a better idea how short some of these stories were. Don't get me wrong, there were a few rays of hope from this collection, namely "These Zombies Are Not A Metaphor", but the good stories are so few and far between as to not redeem the book in any way. The book lacks any order or introduction to the individual stories leading to a confused reading of a random order thought appropriate only by the author of the collection. Save your money and watch an old zombie movie instead, you'll be happier.

Justin Taylor has put together a wide-ranging, mind-bogglingly excellent anthology about one of my favorite subjects. Every piece inspires. I couldn't recommend it more highly.

In over 50 years of reading I have read everything from classics to comic books. In that time I have read some great books, some good books, some not so good and a few that were downright bad. This has to be one of the worst books I have ever had the misfortune to purchase. In fact,I would have to say it is in the top 5 worst books of all time. It is the literary equivalent of "Plan Nine from Outer Space. If I could give it minus stars I would. If it were possible I would demand a refund of the purchase price, plus another $50.00 for the waste of my time and energy. Twice I put this book down and then went back to it in the hopes that it would improve. Much to my dismay it only got worse. About half-way through I finally gave up. Despite what some of the reviewers would have you believe, this is junk, pure and simple. Please, don't waste your money on this piece of trash, buy a couple of comic books instead. At least they have pretty pictures in them.