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A review by dinsdale
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
3.0
This book was based on the premise that haunted all of us kids of the 1970s and 1980s - what if Russia decided to nuke the United States? I remember watching the film "The Day After" in my dorm room in 1983 and being freaked out. There were signs in my hometown pointing to where the fallout shelters were.
I've read a few books based on this trope written in this time period (1950s - 60s) in the midst of the Cold War, my favorite of which was probably On the Beach. Alas, Babylon is set in the small Florida town of Fort Repose and is centered on main character Randy Bragg who has to organize his family and fellow townspeople after a nuclear attack which leveled all major cities and military bases in the country. The issues dealt with are predictable: loss of electricity, fear of radiation, and shortages of essentials such as food, gasoline, and clean water. Paper currency becomes worthless. Bartering is the name of the game.
The book's title is the key phrase Randy and his older brother Mark, an Air Force colonel in the SAC, had between them to signal the early warning of a nuclear war. Because of Mark's inside military information about the impending attack he was able to get his wife and children safely from Omaha to Randy's Florida home and give Randy time to stock up on essential goods. Despite the warning, Randy didn't get all the right staples before there was a run on stores and shortages, and it didn't take long before he and Mark's family ran out of food and water. Add in to the mix lawlessness and disease and you have yourself a crisis.
I thought the writing was good and characters interesting. The racism in Jim Crow Florida was irritating, maybe more so because I just finished Gone With the Wind and I just got through 1,000 pages of it. I mean, this took place 100 years after Gone With the Wind and we are still dealing some of the same issues?! I guess we probably were. And the 1950s gender roles....ugh.
There were times in the book where I didn't understand the motivations of the characters, the best example of which was in the climactic scene near the end of the book. I won't give spoilers but the main character decided to expend some of the town's irreplaceable resources on one risky operation rather than conserve and ration.
Overall, I liked this book. It was probably one of the best examples of its genre when it was written in 1959. I'm sure I'll read more like it.
PS. The audio book was expertly narrated by Will Patton. He did did a fantastic job on and was the perfect narrator for another book I recently listened to: Train Dreams. His voice is perfect for books set in the Southern United States.
I've read a few books based on this trope written in this time period (1950s - 60s) in the midst of the Cold War, my favorite of which was probably On the Beach. Alas, Babylon is set in the small Florida town of Fort Repose and is centered on main character Randy Bragg who has to organize his family and fellow townspeople after a nuclear attack which leveled all major cities and military bases in the country. The issues dealt with are predictable: loss of electricity, fear of radiation, and shortages of essentials such as food, gasoline, and clean water. Paper currency becomes worthless. Bartering is the name of the game.
The book's title is the key phrase Randy and his older brother Mark, an Air Force colonel in the SAC, had between them to signal the early warning of a nuclear war. Because of Mark's inside military information about the impending attack he was able to get his wife and children safely from Omaha to Randy's Florida home and give Randy time to stock up on essential goods. Despite the warning, Randy didn't get all the right staples before there was a run on stores and shortages, and it didn't take long before he and Mark's family ran out of food and water. Add in to the mix lawlessness and disease and you have yourself a crisis.
I thought the writing was good and characters interesting. The racism in Jim Crow Florida was irritating, maybe more so because I just finished Gone With the Wind and I just got through 1,000 pages of it. I mean, this took place 100 years after Gone With the Wind and we are still dealing some of the same issues?! I guess we probably were. And the 1950s gender roles....ugh.
There were times in the book where I didn't understand the motivations of the characters, the best example of which was in the climactic scene near the end of the book. I won't give spoilers but the main character decided to expend some of the town's irreplaceable resources on one risky operation rather than conserve and ration.
Overall, I liked this book. It was probably one of the best examples of its genre when it was written in 1959. I'm sure I'll read more like it.
PS. The audio book was expertly narrated by Will Patton. He did did a fantastic job on and was the perfect narrator for another book I recently listened to: Train Dreams. His voice is perfect for books set in the Southern United States.