World Made by Hand: A Novel
by James Howard Kunstler
|
List Price: Our Price: $3.84 You Save: $11.11 (74%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.10 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of World Made by Hand: A Novel
Book Review: Was sorely disappointed, but maybe that's just me
Summary: 1 Stars
I found the plot to be uneven and just plain weird in places. For those of you who have read it, what was up with Brother Jobe's mother? Out of the blue, her character gets thrown in, as some kind of cross between Jabba the Hutt and the Oracle in the Matrix, never to be mentioned again later in the book. Just bizarre. The characters were poorly developed and I had a very hard time relating to any of them. The protagonist doesn't consider it to be a moral dilemma to routinely have sex with the wife of his best friend, who is also the town minister, but he naively gets all squeamish about handling a gun, and seems haunted by the prospect of having to use it in self defense. He and the constable later go unarmed to the lair of the villains to serve arrest warrants to the bad guys, who then naturally proceed with inflicting all sorts of nastiness on the hapless pair. A post-apocalyptic scenario where security doesn't seem to enter to the minds of the townspeople is sheer fantasy.Book Review: tripe, and more tripe
Summary: 1 Stars
the author follows the part line, the only difficulty is that the party line is mormon. a group who believe in burkas, only those worn under clothing, as is the infamous mormon underwear that women and men are required to PURCHASE and wear under regular underwear. right...read the Bible again, couldn't find anything about wearing underwear in the Sermon on the Mount or anywhere else. but kuenslter follows the moron propaganda path, women are not heard, but busy cooking and being used in "classic" ways. and of course, the mormon precept of "white and delightful" excoriated from kuenslter's text the "other" races. it's a little bizarre that mormons continue to set out their greased cult sound bites in order to suck in the non-thinkers, other nepotists who are willing to swallow the swill of the (non)-"prophets" and all the "end of the world" stuff that they seem to hope for. the world won't end. but hopefully, mormons in publishing will.Book Review: What the?????
Summary: 1 Stars
Many others have mentioned the things that are particularly annoying so I will just state my agreement with them. Characters are so underdeveloped as to make them meaningless. Story lines as simplistic and boring. The writing is dull. And, in my opinion, the most bizarre bit--the hive aspect of the opposing religious sect is so misplaced, unexplained, illogical, inappropriate to the storyline that it is laughable in retrospect. At the time I was reading it, however, it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. I was out-and-out angry to have wasted my time on this trash. Had this not been my book club's read for the month, I would never have bothered to finish it. A part of me wants to believe the author and editor were just creating a bit of fun by putting in the hive nonsense. THAT would, at least, make some sense.Book Review: A Gentle New World
Summary: 3 Stars
Never had I suspected that the breakdown of our world would be so inviting. I am a fan of post apocalyptic novels (I don't really want to know why) and have read quite a few. Though Kunstler's book has its share of threats and societal challenges it seems relatively bucolic given the circumstances. I really enjoyed the first third of the book and how people and collectives had adjusted in terms of food production, governing, trades. It resembles the 1840's in terms of technology and culture. The remainder of the book goes fairly formulaic for the genre. However, the author's message of hope cannot be discounted and it makes for an interesting read. It made me wonder what I would become after such a change in such a world: carpenter, livestock herder, farmhand?Book Review: Satisfies hunger for a good post-apocalypse story
Summary: 3 Stars
If your into post-apocalyptic stories, this should satisfy your need. The best thing about it was that it was not too far fetched, no mad max nonsense here. These people do the things that people would probably actually do in such a situation; they grow their own food, kill their own meat, repair their own things. The setting is vivid; the author is able to keep us there inside the small town, and in context with the larger world, but isolated from it, as it would be. There is some adventure as well, which is exciting. The only CON i have with the book is the brutal fate of one of the characters. It didnt seem to fit well into the story, i suppose it is possible, but the believability spiked downward at that point for me.