The Death of Grass - John Christopher
I saw this book a while ago. It's old, from the 50s - 1956 exactly. I thought the writing would be quite dated and quite reserved. It wasn't. It actually had quite a violent and gritty edge to it, which I wasn't expecting from this period that glorified WW2 in films showcasing how fantastic we British are, and how we just shrugged it all off with a stiff upper lip and a cup of tea.
It's a very short book, but very much to the point. It's also a good look at the British attitude, which may be more of an attitude of the 50s, but that same attitude is very much found amongst the political elite. Imagine the UK parliament trying to deal with an apocalyptic-scale catastrophe when they can't even figure out what Brexit is.
It's not my favourite post-apocalyptic subgenre, which concentrates on the rebuilding of society. It's more about the collapse of towns and cities and of society as it happens, and the fact it's written in the 50s gives a great insight into how John Christopher and his countrymen at the time, may have secretly perceived the world to come. Perhaps the male character in this books show different shades to us as men at the time, albiet from a 50s mentality: the men are Rambo-esque and resort to savagery without much hesitation. They're also sexist which upsets some readers. Do you think if the world and society is collapsing that some alpha-male survival primitivism isn't going to take over? That's what happens when you destroy that which makes us human. We resort to being the animals that we fundamentally are.
The same characters of his, as this book is set in the 50s, were also in WW2. Even those WW2 films celebrating the war effort try to mask the violence and savegery that no likely took place, but it's about survival. Even the most reserved 1950s British gentlemen is going to strangle you with his bare hands if its your life over his and his family's.
I think it's quite reflective of how a society can collapse and how quickly we can resort to violence.
