The Aftermath: A Novel of Survival (Hardcover)

by Samuel C. Florman (Author) "When the comet struck, I was on a cruise with my father..." (more)
Key Phrases: pirate queen, Captain Nordstrom, Planning Subcommittee, Wilson Hardy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In his idea-filled, forward-looking first novel, noted essayist Florman (The Existential Pleasures of Engineering, etc.) shows only passing concern for the nitty-gritty of daily survival in a postapocalyptic world. The story opens with a cosmic "Bang!," when a comet crashes into the Pacific on Christmas Day, 2009. The few people who survive are those fortunate enough to be nearly on the opposite side of the earth. The most notable group consists of a collection of top engineers taking a seminar cruise in the Indian Ocean. Landing in South Africa, these optimistic "Can do!" types quickly cooperate with the mixed communities of so-called Inlanders, trading their knowledge for food and salvaged materials. Establishing "Engineering Village" as their home, they plan on making it the hub of a second Industrial (and later, electronic) Revolution. Much of the book is concerned with the planning needed to reconstitute the lost industries and social structures of the survivors' former lives. Even when the daily fish catch is stolen by the divinely mad pirate leader Queen Ranavolana, their first impulse is to put together a meeting with a "clear, focused agenda." Interleaving a recounting of the new colonists' struggles with selections from the journal of their recording secretary, Florman tries to personalize his story. But, lacking realistic conflict, his narrative remains only a blueprint of an upbeat vision rather than a solid foundation for this hopefulness.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
After a cataclysmic asteroid strike destroys most life on Earth, a cruise ship filled with vacationing engineers and a community of South African villagers sole survivors of the disaster struggle to recover what they can of the world they knew. The author of several paeans to the science of engineering (The Introspective Engineer), first novelist Florman puts his talent as a raconteur to good use in a tale reminiscent of the expository fiction of sf's early writers. Though characters frequently take a backseat to ideas, this story of survival and hope at the end of history belongs in large sf collections and is suitable for YA as well as adult readers.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; 1st edition (December 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312266529
• ISBN-13: 978-0312266523
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,391,224 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars When Bad Books Happen to Good Subjects, August 12, 2002

By	Ian Abrams (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Florman has taken a great idea and drained every drop of interest out of it. Apparently, his subtext was, "What if the world was destroyed except for several thousand really boring wonks? What kind of committees would they form?" Okay, I'm glad that I now know about the preparation of and uses for potash, but a lot of what this book deals with-- the interlocking web of technologies-- is much more entertainingly dealt with in James Burke's "Connections." If you want a good end-of-the-world novel, reread "Alas, Babylon" and give this one a miss.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Great Cure For Insomnia, October 25, 2002

By A Customer

The premise is great: cruise ship passengers survive the end of the world and start anew.
The author is an engineer and this book is written as only an engineer can: dry and boring.
There is no life in the characters (at least in the first couple hundred pages which is as far as I got). It reads like a college textbook.
At one point, the survivors have a contest to name their new city. The author has them choose: "Engineering Village"...Geez, how creative!
I will give this book praise on one point: It cured my insomnia on two occasions. This is the absolute truth. Couldn't sleep, started reading and after about 3 pages I was out.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice try but no cigar, March 27, 2002

By	Peter Lorenzi (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Imagine a "Survivor" series, only this one is for life and half of the tribe members are engineers. Or "Gilligan's Island" but with a huge cruise ship instead of the SS Minnow. Or try this: Cross Disney's "Swiss Family Robinson" with the world's favorite PC game, Sim City. And launch any of these scenarios with an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it event, only without the music from REM.

A cruise ship of esteemed engineers survives a Christmas Day comet that lands off America's Northwest coast and pulverizes, burns or floods almost the entire globe, leaving only a tiny safe zone off the east coast of South Africa. The climate for survival here is ideal, given the abundance of natural resources. Too bad the ship sinks, no surprise given that the charts are worthless after this world-rearranging event. After a brief introduction to the disaster, the book covers the first year of progress in this new world.

Florman knows his technical details. The driving point of the book is the idea that after the world having been subjected to the equivalent of "being bombed back to the Stone Age", how would life recover if the survisors were technical geniuses? Would the last two thousand years of the world's technical progress be replicated in a much shorter time frame, since we already know all the answers, we just don't have the tools, people or resources to be there?

But the people are boring and as colorless as the sterotypical engineers Florman apparently wants to humanize. Even the "artsy" few, like the dance instructor from the cruise, are cardboard characters. Florman attempts to inject drama with a multicultural pirate leader attempting to pillage the island. The dramatic effort fails just as the pillaging attempt does.

This might make a manual for post-Apocalyptic survival kit, if this is it, we're in for a long, tedious repopulation of the planet.