Malevil [Paperback]

Robert Merle (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 536 pages
• Publisher: Gallimard (April 7, 1972)
• Language: French
• ISBN-10: 2070281930
• ISBN-13: 978-2070281930
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,855,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite book, December 2, 2002

By 

A.E. Smith (Kansas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Malevil (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the one book that stayed with me since the day I read it back in the 70's. A beautiful story of survival and love. I would love to see it reprinted. If you're looking for a great read this is it. As a person who spends most of his free time in a book I will tell you this is in my top five favorites of all time.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating book!, February 18, 2003

By 

Amie (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Malevil (Mass Market Paperback)

For years there have been 2 Reader's Digest Condensed Books sitting on a shelve, untouched and unread. Only recently did I flip through one, straight to Malevil, and decided to read it. I love horses but had not the slightest clue what Malevil was about so there were a few surprises that delt directly with myself. That was the first post-end-of-the-world book I've ever read and it will NOT be my last! I was intrigued enough by it that it took me two days to finish it all. If ever there was a book I think almost anyone can enjoy, it would more than likely be Malevil.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A post-apocalypse subsistence economy, August 5, 2000

By 

Brian Melendez (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Malevil (French Version) (Paperback)

This book was surprisingly good. The title put me off, since I inferred that it attributed the collapse of civilization to some silly supernatural struggle, like "Swan Song" by Robert McCammon, which I bought and barely began reading before I dropped it in disappointment. (Not that all supernaturally inspired apocalypses are bad stories: I really liked "The Stand" by Stephen King.) In fact, Malevil is simply the name of the little French community where the story occurs. It is a pretty good story about a subsistence economy arising after a nuclear holocaust. Unfortunately, you never find out what is happening in the world outside that little community, but it is pretty good nevertheless: there is no backstory about the disintegration or reconstitution of the national government, which is the part that I usually enjoy the most in post-apocalyptic fiction, but there is an amusing thread about the basis for the local ecclesiastical jurisdiction where the protagonist relies on some medieval warrants in order to trump the religious charlatan who has established himself as the ruler in the next town over.