World Made by Hand: A Novel
by James Howard Kunstler
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Book Reviews of World Made by Hand: A Novel
Book Review: A realistic if overly andro-centric (and therefore disappointing) tale
Summary: 3 Stars
The Geography of Nowhere and The Long Emergency are two of my very favorite books. They're clear, concise, and compelling. When I saw Kunstler had written a fiction novel, I was curious to see if those qualities would carry over, and I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. While the setting, characters, and narrative are convincing and at times even intriguing, I winced more than once at some of the language. (i.e. His male narrator refers to a sexual encounter he has as a "carnal ceremony" and when a nubile and naive neighbor moves in with him and asks on one occasion if she's made him feel bad, he replies, "No, you've made me whole." EW! It's all I could do not to puke all over the pages of the book). Especially disturbing is Kunstler's depiction and role of women in the post-apocalyptic world. The egalitarian days of yesteryear are dismissed as a high-brow and self-indulgent experiment, as everything returns to "normal" and practical terms where women need men to survive. And so men assume absolute authority and enjoy the benefits of young nubile neighbors willing to trade servitude and sex for survival. While the post-apocalyptic world and the necessity of community it creates is well imagined and even encouraging, the subtext of male supremacy and female dependency seeps in like an aging author's wet dream that dampens the whole party.Book Review: An Entertaining but Flawed Post-Apocalyptic Narrative
Summary: 3 Stars
I was expecting this novel to be somewhat of a cautionary tale against exploitation of poorer countries and the United States' escalating dependence on foreign oil. I was pleasantly surprised to read the story of a struggling community attempting to establish some sort of normalcy in an uncertain time.
I respect how the author only gave brief hints and descriptions of the chaos and events that led to world in its existent state. I agree with many other reviewers that the fictional writing could have used some improvement and the characters were certainly lacking depth, but I saw this more of a story of human nature's responsiveness to harsh realities. Some turned to despair, some religion, and some crime. Women were reduced to their pre-modern status as symbols and objects of trade. It's scary to think that a country as socially advanced as the US can be capable of inhumane actions when given the optimal circumstances.
My main other issues was the confusing reference to a supernatural being in the community and a lack of real motifs by any of the characters. I wanted to dig deeper into what made them tick? What did they think their purpose was in life?
All in all, a fun, quick read which does accomplish want all good pieces of literature should set out to do: it makes the reader think!
Book Review: This is a Ma-aaaan's Woooorld (a la James Brown)
Summary: 2 Stars
I read this book just as an earlier reviewer had recommended --after reading The Road, World Made By Hand seemed more hopeful, less intent on indicting the human race. It struck me several times, though, the world depicted in The Road could logically evolve about 30 years after the story in Kuntsler's book.
I was enjoying the book as a nice train read with a plain-written style suited to the story being told. But then I came upon the scene where the young widow presents herself to Robert (which felt predictable, but I could get past that), and the line, "...she was a perfectly formed woman." And then it hit me (and shame on me for suspending disbelief for as long as I did) that this book completely denies the existence of women except when the men need to drink, eat, or have sex. It's as if they have no other capabilities or reason to live! The sign that one woman has gone mad, in fact, is not what she says or does, but what she serves for food! My whole response to the book changed after that. A good writer, not even a great one, would have found something more interesting to notice about a naked body, whether it was the shape of the breasts, a scar, a scent--but to just put in that it was 'perfectly formed' tells us everything about the author's desires and nothing about either character.
Book Review: Poor fiction, but interesting
Summary: 3 Stars
The novel, while an interesting take a on post-industrial dystopic future, fails as a piece of fiction. The main protagonist is a less than likable chap that is conducting an affair with his best buddy's wife. There is no central conflict to the novel, rather the plot is a series of disjointed conflicts involving characters that are under-developed and exagerated. One would think that the collapse of industrial society would provide drama enough, but Kunstler takes the book in odd and unresolved directions (an obese queen bee cult mother who possesses psychic powers, to cite one such example). I found the novel interesting and worth reading in as much as it delivered a vivid portrait of post-industrial society and the psychological effects of such a collapse upon those that had lived while the United States still enjoyed such luxuries as a central government and an electrical grid. It is a shame that the reader has to trudge through such an awkward plot to get at the anthropologically intersting gems that this book holds. Read this book if you have a strong interest in the topic of post industrial society. You will enjoy the book so long as you don't allow your expectations to exceed the very limited fictional framework that the author has used to show this strange future.Book Review: Not up to Kunstler's non-fiction books
Summary: 3 Stars
I looked forward to reading this novel because I was such a fan of Kunstler's non-fiction books, "The Long Emergency" and "The Goegraphy of Nowhere." Although the book kept my interest, I was disappointed by all the loose ends. What was the point in the Queen Bee? What happened to his relationship with his best friend's wife when the new younger woman enters his life? How did Jobe escape from the jail cell? This last and the Queen Bee thing were like reading Stephen King, instead of reality based fiction.
I also was disappointed that an IT expert would so easily give up all computer technology. Wouldn't a person like that want to be sure this knowledge was not lost to the world? Why couldn't some computer technology be continued with solar power?
Why have the women all faded into the background? The part where the young woman not only begs to live with Robert as his housekeeper, but then offers her body to him, a much older man, seems like a male fantasy.
The premise is facinating and the novel forces consideration of how drasticly different lives could be without oil - including loss of communications, loss of government, and anarchy.