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reading (A Canticle for Leibowitz)
Aug. 21st, 2007 09:20 pmI just finished reading "A Canticle for Leibowitz" this evening. Wow. Just, wow. This book starts in a post nuclear holocaust world, but it's not a simple after the bomb book.
A warning: Miller puts his characters and his readers through the wringer. The start of the book where most of the life has been destroyed by nuclear war, 'tis nothing, that's just a gentle rinse in the bathtub compared to what's to come. There will be triumphs and there will be tragedies. It can be emotionally exhausting.
There is a fair amount of character humor, especially in the first third of the book. The portrait of the monastic mindset rings true. I thought the interplay of Church and secular politics at points was interesting. There are some quibbles I could probably make with the science of the timescale, but still I liked how he handled the passage of time. The shifting of the viewpoints provided a vehicle for the overall progress of the book.
This book was written in the 1950's, but other than a slightly slower beginning than most publishers would permit today, it is not weakened by age.
Wow.
I can't tell you to read this book. You have to choose to read it yourself. Are you human enough to step into the wringer?
57. Walter M. Miller, Jr. "A Canticle for Leibowitz"
A warning: Miller puts his characters and his readers through the wringer. The start of the book where most of the life has been destroyed by nuclear war, 'tis nothing, that's just a gentle rinse in the bathtub compared to what's to come. There will be triumphs and there will be tragedies. It can be emotionally exhausting.
There is a fair amount of character humor, especially in the first third of the book. The portrait of the monastic mindset rings true. I thought the interplay of Church and secular politics at points was interesting. There are some quibbles I could probably make with the science of the timescale, but still I liked how he handled the passage of time. The shifting of the viewpoints provided a vehicle for the overall progress of the book.
This book was written in the 1950's, but other than a slightly slower beginning than most publishers would permit today, it is not weakened by age.
Wow.
I can't tell you to read this book. You have to choose to read it yourself. Are you human enough to step into the wringer?
57. Walter M. Miller, Jr. "A Canticle for Leibowitz"
