Customer Reviews

The Tide Went Out (Ballantine SF, 290K)

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Charles Eric Maine's _The Tide Went Out_ (1959) invites comparison with another Ballantine novel, John Bowen's _After the Rain_ (1958). Both novels deal with worldwide natural disasters-- the drought of the oceans in the Maine and the Great Flood in the Bowen. The Bowen focuses on the subtle relationships among a limited cast of characters adrift on a raft. It is more literate and original. The Maine is a bit more formulaic and predictable. It deals with scenes of a more Big Screen Epic nature: mobs in the street, the breakdown of government and society, the rise of the black market, an increase in prostitution for survival, the founding of refugee camps, and various political and military double-crosses.

I am not generally fond of the writing of Charles Eric Maine. But I must admit that he does fairly well in his portrayal of Civilization Going Down the Drain and of a flawed hero making one last bid to make it north to the inner circle. Several weeks ago, a town twenty miles from where I live was decimated by tornadoes. We have been hit with tornadoes and severe storms several times since then. In these days of acid rain, hurricanes, cyclones, forest fires, floods, and areas of drought, Maine's novel doesn't seem so far-fetched.

There is an excellent cover by Richard Powers.