“Now we have finished with the past,” he thought. These last few months, the tag-end of the year — we shall let the past have them. This is the moment zero, and we stand between two eras. Now the new life begins. Now we commence the Year One. The Year One!
Despite what the above quote might suggest, this is not a dystopian novel, at least not in its traditional sense. This is a masterfully constructed story about an ordinary man who is trying to cope with a sudden change that has happened around him. And that sudden change happened to be the end of the world.
In this genre, the author usually has plenty of time to develop characters. Because, literally, the concept of time has little or no meaning when the world has already ended. And he does use his opportunity well to carve out Ish’s (Isherwood Williams) character. Through Ish’s character, the author raises some profound philosophical questions. In the face of a broken civilization system, we have to ask ourselves, “What does it really mean to be human?” Through Ish, the author explores another viewpoint that people born into the new world do not ask deep questions or have any perspective on the future. We are left with the question, “Is a past necessary to dream of a future?“
In the second part of the story, Ish is empathizing with the new-borns by trying to create a better future for them. He realizes at some point, however, that he himself is projecting his own hopes and dreams that went down the drain when civilization ended.
Parts of the book seemed slow and plodding to me, perhaps because I was trying to figure out my own interpretation of the segment. Additionally, I wish the author had developed Em’s character (Ish’s wife) more, since Em was as much an integral part of the plot as Ish. After all, at the very end of the novel, Em gets the respect she deserves.
“But as for Em, there is no need to explain, for we know that she was the strongest of us all. Yes, we needed many things…But most of all, I think we needed Em, for she gave us courage, and without courage there is only a slow dying not life”
This book probably won’t make you laugh out loud or shed a tear. You will instead be left with a number of psychological and philosophical thoughts that will resonate with you and lead you to question your own reality.
“Perhaps there were too many people, too many old ways of thinking, too many books. Perhaps the ruts of thinking had grown too deep and the refuse of the past lay too heavy around us, like piles of garbage and old cloths. Why should not the philosopher welcome the wiping-out of it all and a new start and men playing the game with fresh rules? There would be perhaps, more gain than loss.”
“The intellect should not run ahead of the rest of the personality.”
“Men go and come, but earth abides”
Image courtesy: Image by storyset on Freepik
