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: How the World Ends
Summary: 4 Stars
I've been surprised at how bitterly some have reviewed this book. It highlights how carelessly many Americans consider the importance of oil, Constitutional law, and population density in their lives. I felt that was one of Kunstler's goals, putting those critical points of American life at risk and seeing what might happen. During the Bush years, I felt that we were on the edge of such a catastrophe practically every day. One major epidemic, a successful terrorist attack on the power grid, the eventual cliff drop after peak oil, or a combination of each and American will suddenly come face-to-face with the demands of the Cat D9 that no longer runs in their basement.
As World Made by Hand demonstrates, there are people who know how to do practically everything humans have ever done. They are hobbyists, today, but after such a catastrophe, they would be craftspeople and artisans and their craft would be necessity. Part of the population drop will be people who simply die because they have no useful skills; no survivability.
Apparently, one of Kunstler's strengths has been taken as a weakness by many readers. He does not hand-hold his readers through these societal changes. He assumes he can provide the big details and literate readers will fill in the details of how society failed. He has a story to tell and those SF-style big picture explanations turn a story into a lecture. Kunstler does not fall to the lecturer style. His characters are believable, hate-able and likeable and in-between. The story sucked me in and I regretted coming to the end of the book, although I stuck with it almost non-stop because it was so captivating.
Book Review: Fails as fiction and non-fiction
Summary: 2 Stars
While "World Made By Hand" is a provocative attempt to fictionalize the future Kunstler laid out in "The Long Emergency", ultimately the story falls flat, hobbled with a poorly drawn plot and one-dimensional characters. The book's ending is rushed and leaves the reader hanging (it feels as though the novel was quite literally chopped in half) and I got the sense that Kunstler was more interested in coming up with vignettes illustrating "Long Emergency" factoids than with formulating a convincing narrative.
One could ignore WMBH's failings as fiction, post-apocalyptic or otherwise, and just read it as a series of short stories illustrating challenges facing a post-Peak Oil U.S., but the book can't even be enjoyed in this non-fictional sense, due to Kunstler's puzzling decision to include fantastical elements in the book (e.g., the bizarre Queen Bee character and the explicitly identical deaths). Neither of these is ever explained and the protagonist (as well as Kunstler himself) seems content to just shrug his shoulders and ask the reader to do the same.
It's a bit much to complain, as Kunstler does in "The Long Emergency" that Americans are living lives pervaded with fantasy and then turn around and write a novel of a Long Emergency future that is...pervaded with fantasy.
If you want a rational description of the challenges facing a post-Peak Oil America, don't waste your time with "World Made By Hand" - pick up "The Long Emergency" instead. If you want a well written (yet plausible) apocalyptic novel, look at "Oryx and Crake" or "The Road".
Book Review: The Long Emergency Comes to Life
Summary: 4 Stars
Leave it to James Howard Kunstler, visionary author of The Long Emergency, to write the first great novel set in a possible Peak Oil future. Expanding on the main themes of his previous book and adapting them for dramatic impact, Kunstler tells a simple story that is simultaneously frightening and yet a bit hopeful. Surprisingly considering that detractors think he is far too pessimistic, World Made by Hand is light and airy compared to say, the utter bleakness of Cormac McCarthy's The Road.
The setting is upstate New York, an area that Kunstler is convinced will survive the oil crash a bit better that the rest of the country. His hero is a former software executive turned carpenter eking out a barely more than subsistence living with his fellow townies. The outside world has become unknown to them as their only sources of news are in the form of travelers' tales and rumors. The status quo of their humdrum lives is shaken up when a new religious sect moves into town and a boatload of local traders goes missing.
Kunstler is a deft writer capable of spinning scenes both moving and dramatic. He also avoids obvious clichés. His religious cult leader turns out to be an okay guy and the inevitable strong arm militia is discovered to be greedily pathetic rather than omnipotent. The one quibble I have about the novel is its small scale. Given the grandiosity of The Long Emergency and its predictions for the future of the world this was a bit surprising. But it in no way detracts from what is an effective and well told story.
Book Review: Couldn't put it down, but. . .
Summary: 4 Stars
I hesitate adding yet another opinion about this book. I must admit, I could not put it down. Another reviewer called the book "seductive" and I agree completely. With all the book's flaws (and there are many) it paints a picture of a life that I believe many of us long for, where we live in tightknit communities where we care for one another and appreciate the immense richness of the everyday.
At first I grew tired of Kunstler's describing every little meal that the characters ate, but the true meaning of this dawned on me: here we are in a country where we can eat foods from across the world, in abundance (to say the least) and we probably don't even realize what we're tasting.
Why does it take disaster for people to learn these lessons? Kunstler seems to think this is so, as do many. From end of the world scenarios such as his to movies like "The Bucket List", we are being told from all quarters to appreciate what we have and savor it. Are these lessons learned only in the face of death and destruction? Oh how sad if this were true.
I'll admit to being a person who has had fantasies of living a pre-industrial revolution lifestyle, and because of this I found the book pure fun. The rewards of the handmade, whether it be music, cloth or a good meal, are many.
But I would have preferred that the world hadn't reverted to the wet dream of a male Baby Boomer - Men in charge, young woman in need of protection, and lots of free flowing marijuana and booze.
Book Review: I didn't want to like this book, but... it ain't bad
Summary: 3 Stars
I've read Kunstler's "Long Emergency", seen his appearances in the various peak oil documentaries, and I read his blog weekly. I liked his writing until I started reading his blog, then he began to grate on me, slowly, and with each passing week I liked his writing less and less.
I saw that this book was released and I couldn't wait to read it and give it a 1-star review. I did read it, but unfortunately, I actually enjoyed it.
The only harsh criticisms I have deal with some odd occurrences that happen later in the book, and I can't really criticize them without giving away some surprises. Suffice it to say that a couple of things happen that made the story less "believable" in a speculative fiction book that you would expect from JHK. He could have done without them. You'll know when you read it (or if someone else here spills the beans).
The comments here that state that women have been downgraded to second class citizen status seem overly nit-picky to me. I read the comments here before I read the book, and believe me, I was ready to hop on the bandwagon and give Mr. Kunstler a few lashes, but I just didn't see it.
I gave it 4-stars, I would have given it 3.5 if that was possible. Some of the dialog is a bit strained, some of the secondary characters are quite one-dimensional, and some parts of the book seem rushed, but this book is a pleasant page-turning read with an interesting plot for those who like to speculate about peak-oil and the future of the USA.