I love that a book published when I was one year old is both
still available at the library and is also still awesome. It’s written almost
entirely in shorthand (not the squiggles-and-dots kind, just the culling-of-extraneous-words
kind) which I admit, would have put me off if I had know about it prior to
borrowing, but it was surprisingly easy to adjust to.
Encapsulate This
Unspecified future date, USA , blah blah blah. Candidia
Smith-Foster (otherwise known as Candy, I seriously had to look up candida because, gross, who would name
their kid that? I was relieved to discover I had the word wrong) is a survivor
of a bio-nuclear war. She’s mentally and physically precocious (certifiable
genius and at least 5th degree black belt in karate), supremely
motivated and focused and is also only eleven years old. She sets off across
the country to find other survivors and discovers more than just people.
Ruminate on That
I said that this is written is shorthand (also in first
person) and that was weird for like 6 minutes. Then I got over it. Sometimes Candy
comes off just a little too precious, but she is an occasionally funny,
mightily observant, pragmatic, and over-all sympathetic narrator. She definitely makes a few mistakes, but she’s
only eleven, and is still figuring out who she is on top of trying to cope with
the world ending. What I like best about her is her incredibly progressive
approach to life especially regarding sex and non-standard personal relationships
(In a polyamorous marriage? Candy’s got no problem with you). It is a little
uncomfortable to read about an eleven year old making these particular sexual
decisions, but it is better that she consider them and come to her own rational
conclusion than to put it off and be stuck in a bad situation.
Emergence was originally published as a serial in a Sci-fi
magazine and was collected for publication in 1984. Despite its age, it doesn’t
really feel dated, with cassette tapes and NASA being a couple of glaring
exceptions (it is SO SAD that NASA is dated, seriously, it makes me a little
teary). However, I’m in no way a technical person and a lot of the jargon flew
right over my head so maybe it just doesn’t feel dated to a layman. You STEM
types are probably SOL.
Final Reckoning
Should you read this? Yes, do. Yeah yeah, post-apocalyptic,
been done, blah blah. But it’s good and interesting and fun and goes to some
unexpected places. There were at least 2 times I was all like “WHA? What just
happened?” but in a good way. The end was just a little orly ? but still, lots of fun.
Emergence
by David R. Palmer
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