Thursday, June 21, 2007
What I liked about Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon is how straight-forward it is - no flowery poetry to his language - just effective storytelling. In this case, he's telling the story of a nuclear war between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. and the struggle to survive in a small, un-hit town in Florida. What's interesting about this book, is that it was published in 1959 as sort of a wake-up-call. It's compelling reading - and a convincing portrait of how a small, rural community, back then, might have been able to pull through the almost unthinkable. These days I'm not so sure. It's also an interesting portrait of some of the racism and segregation to be found in those small communities at the time (separate white and "colored" drinking fountains! for example). Thankfully, the book doesn't moralize, instead focusing on simply describing real seeming people going through a difficult, terrifying situation. It's a definite page-turner.
