Book Thoughts: One Second After (Book 1 of the John Matherson series) by William R. Forstchen
Blurb: New York Times best selling author William R. Forstchen now brings us a story which can be all too terrifyingly real...a story in which one man struggles to save his family and his small North Carolina town after America loses a war, in one second, a war that will send America back to the Dark Ages...A war based upon a weapon, an Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP). A weapon that may already be in the hands of our enemies.
Months before publication, One Second After has already been cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should read, a book already being discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a truly realistic look at a weapon and its awesome power to destroy the entire United States, literally within one second. It is a weapon that the Wall Street Journal warns could shatter America. In the tradition of On the Beach, Fail Safe and Testament, this book, set in a typical American town, is a dire warning of what might be our future...and our end.
*
This novel is such a mix of fascinating and bad … the subject matter and some parts of it are very interesting and absorbing. Some parts of it are positively ghastly - but I'm still glad I read it and I do intend to finish the trilogy.
That being said, I think the author's probably had a better relationship with cigarettes than he has with women - he certainly writes about them better and more empathetically than he does about women … I wonder if he has ever met a woman?
First of all, this is the first book I've read with a relatively high rating on goodreads that has so many one star reviews! There are more positive reviews than negative, though so I thought I'd reproduce some extracts of the criticisms where I was largely in agreement with the comments.
"Every important adult male character is either military or ex-military. Seriously. As a bonus, several minor characters that are merely alluded to are also ex-military. (For example, at one point we learn that a pharmacist's husband is an ex-ranger and insists that she keep a gun at the pharmacy. Good times.)"
- Timmy
"At some point, the lady character who's there to be a sexual foil for our boy John tells him, "I feel like I'm in some bad novel." In my library copy someone wrote an asterisk next to this & at the bottom of the page wrote "You are." "
- Melissa
"...the obvious parallels between the author's real-life ego and the book's protagonist."
- Joe H
"Unfortunately, though, there’s much more telling than showing throughout the book. We’re told over and over again how ill-prepared the United States was for the attack, how whiny and pampered all us citizens are, and how all the hippies, peaceniks, and white collar professionals are useless and sure to die soon. It gets tiring."
- Alison Looney
"John was described as an average Joe, but he came across more like a character out of a Die Hard movie. The man must be superhuman to have survived all he did relatively unscathed. And his constant rhapsodizing about America and patriotism was excessive, especially since his America seemed to only refer to those who were military/ex-military, Republican, and men. The feminist in me was livid - women in the book were either 1) damsels in distress; 2) nurturers and caregivers; or 3) incompetent, crying weaklings. (And about ninety percent of them were wearing tight-fitting, sweat-drenched blouses.) What could have been a great cautionary tale turned into a reactionary one, in which Forstchen waxed nostalgic for the America of the pre-Civil War South where men were men, war was the height of masculinity, and racism, xenophobia and sexism were de rigueur. "
- Corinne
"On that note, the whole "America" thing. So, the characters in this novel freak out about an EMP making them "not American" anymore. For instance, stores are being looted (as would probably happen in the event of major chaos). The main characters sigh and say things like, "Damn, but this is America." People start to starve due to the lack of food. "Damn, but we're Americans," says almost everyone in the town. I mean, the worst thing that can happen when the End of Days hits is that our national identity starts to slide. Darn those EMPs and the way they make me feel so un-American. Sigh."
"There's more: misogyny (the women in this book can only manage to get pregnant, be confused, or cook for the men); religion (everyone is a Christian, minus the Satan-worshipping cannibalistic outlaws who march into town one day); the military (I mentioned it already, but in case you weren't aware, the only way to survive the apocalypse is by shooting people). The main character is an ex-Marine who hasn't seen combat in over twenty years, but when it comes time to save the town, everyone decides to look up to him and call him "Sir" and "Colonel." Because military. And because America. Oh, and finally, the "outsiders." The strong, white, Christian American men of the small southern (yep, this story takes place in the South) town have to keep their women and children safe from the Posse (I'm not joking, that's the name), which is this gang of "outlaws" (read: people from the city, mainly Atlanta) who used to "pop" civilians in the street and who are now all infected with AIDS, HIV, Hepatitis, ebola ... oh, and they're cannibals. And devil-worshippers. And they have tattoos. And, you can make your own assumptions if you can manage to get that far into the book, but they're almost certainly not white."
- Emily
"Perhaps this novel could be made into a drinking game. Whenever any character talks about “being Americans” or breaks into patriotic song, take a drink. That would make reading this book much more manageable. The main character is a pompous, self-appointed hero who cannot refrain himself from describing the tightness of various women's blouses. Sadly, this is in line with how most women are viewed in this book; there are some strong women but most are in caregiver roles while the men make the decisions and do their best to save the day. ">
- Spectre
"the protagonist was a HUGE hypocrite. This would be fine, but at no point in the novel does he, or anyone else, ever realize that he has this character flaw. On multiple occasions throughout the story he makes, “the tough decisions” regarding rationing of food, medicine and luxuries like running vehicles, but only after he has managed to take, steal or bribe someone so that he has more then his fair share. Again, this would be fine, if it was written as a flaw that he recognizes and feels guilty about, or as something that those around him notice, but on the one occasion that he is actually confronted with his hypocrisy, the person who brings it up ends up apologizing for suggesting that he follow the rule that he himself is proposing."
- Winston Smith
The above does encapsulate what's wrong with this novel.
- Too much exposition instead of showing not telling
- There's a lot of repetition, particularly in relation to explanations of what an EMP is, jingoistic/nationalistic notions of being American/religious devotion, how everything US military is awesome and being in the US military seems to automatically make you a better/trustworthy person …
- Smoking seems to be awesome according to the author - he spends soooooooooooooooooo much time describing smoking, how it feels to smoke, how it feels to not have enough cigarettes …
- The protagonists lack of awareness that he's a bit of a hypocrite … he occasionally feels guilt but overall, he doesn't seem to realise he has a double standard
Nonetheless, I feel that despite the many, many flaws in this book, I also found it extremely thought-provoking. I've read a lot of post-apocalyptic novels and the ones post-EMT in particular, really don’t seem to make it seem that bad … but this novel really made me think about things like …
- Losing all electronics - cars, refrigeration … everything …
- The catastrophic effect on hospitals, nursing homes and medication …
- The fact that people dependent on medications would die off pretty quickly …
- The fact that the mentally ill would deteriorate quickly
- The fact that people would get ill quite quickly because of poor sanitation, eating expired food etc
I still want to read the second and third novels despite the shortcomings :)
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