Customer Reviews

Tomorrow!

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Several characters are followed through this fascinating novel, setting great groundwork for their experiences when nuclear war suddenly comes to America... and their city.

Wylie wrote this at the time when it was JUST becoming possible for nuclear warheads to be delivered by missiles, so bombers and missiles both come into play. So does germ warfare. And the result is a horrendously realistic account of nuclear war as only such a masterful author and researcher as Philip Wylie could portray it. The TV movie, "The Day After," came along decades later, and scared the wits out of many of its viewers... but that was a Sunday walk in the park compared to THIS story. THIS is the real deal, and when you set this book down, you'll find that it's a story you'll never forget.

By the way, if you enjoy this, then you MUST track down a copy of Wylie's LATER nuclear war novel, "Triumph," and decide for yourself whether or not he topped this earlier work. It's a toss-up!

A moderately well written "end of the world as we know it" book. A great book gets me concerned about the well being of the characters but I just didn't get worked up about them. (Especially the kid who sometimes seemed more a device for exposition than a real child.) The action was good though and the underlying cold war "duck and cover" paranoia seeps through beautifully. Very good with minor flaws.

Some of the descriptions of destruction in "Tomorrow" read almost like the news reports of the World Trade Center tragedy in New York.

Although we now know that the aftermath of a nuclear strike would be much worse than Wylie describes, one of the small points near the end of the book may have a greater significance than the author realized.

After the destruction caused in the downtown area, one character comments about future workplaces. The premise was that since people would no longer want to work in the dense, high-rise buildings that were such an easy target, rebuilding would be done as numerous smaller, scattered buildings on the periphery of the city.

Have we finally discovered what Wylie wrote 30 years ago: an impressive address - whether the WTC in New York or Peachtree Street in Atlanta - may have value only in its ability to attract unwanted attention and create a target?

I first read this book as a fourth grader and it mesmerized me and horrified me both. Now, thirty years later, it's still powerful reading -- the narration of the actual nuclear attack is spellbinding. We know a great deal more about the effects of a nuclear war now -- for example, the book mentions fallout but it is not depicted as a major problem, and sadly things would be much, much worse in what's left of River City and Green Prairie than the book depicts. But considering how little even experts knew at the time, the book is terrifyingly accurate. It's also just a great read, and ranks with Frank's Alas, Babylon and Wylie's own Triumph (which is confoundedly hard to find!) as a classic of the Age of Anxiety.

"Tomorrow" is a good book. However, I thought "Triumph" was a better read, despite being considerably darker. Still, this is worth reading, especially for those of us too young to know about "civil defense" drills firsthand.

"When Worlds Collide" and "After Worlds Collide" are Wylie's best, and I'd recommend them above "Tomorrow." If you can find them.