9: The Pesthouse

Just what you want on a 2-book day: another post-apocalyptical novel.  Yes, The Road was one of my favorite books of last year, but that was last year.  Apparently, though, I'm not quite done with the end of our culture and civilization because I really liked The Pesthouse.

I'd never read anything by Jim Crace before, but I'm looking forward to more of his stuff.  There was something altogether poetic and spare about his writing.  The Pesthouse brings us to another version of a future America, one in which no one even remembers the largeness of the nation.  Lincoln is just a face on a coin -- but there are stories about "Abraham," who will return to them someday. People are trying to head East to get to the shore so that they can somehow cross the sea and get to a land they have been told exists: a new land of milk and honey.  

It's a wonderful story, as seen through the eyes of a young woman who awakens to discover that everyone in her town has died in the night.  She is almost completely alone.

I'm not giving any of the novel away, but it's a nice pairing with The Road. 

Recommended!