I truly can't believe it, but I came across this book by accident. I'm sure I would've discovered it eventually because I'm a huge fan of environmental or ecological themes/subjects in novels [stuff like A Friend of the Earth by T.C. Boyle or Monkey Wrench Gang]. But I hadn't heard of The Deluge or Stephen Markley. I just like long books! and I happened to pass by it in a book store aisle on the way out of town. The cover caught my attention and it sounded interesting and I needed a book for the trip, so I picked it up.
Now it's quite possibly my favorite novel! The subject is pretty simple: what might the world and especially America look like and go through due to climate change in the next 25 years or so. But it's told from a slew of different characters' perspectives [I usually am not a fan of more than 3ish narrators, but T.D. pulled it off] from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds–a scientist, a wealthy socialite, a young climate activist, etc. It's so spectacularly rendered. The writing is incredible. The characters are even better. And the plot/themes may be best of all.
I've read the 800+ page book in paperback and listened to a third or so of the audiobook–some of the narrators are really good, a couple of them not so much. My wife absolutely could not stand the chapters voiced and "written" by the Asperger's character [Asher], it just grated on her too much.
Do you think it presented a realistic portrayal of things to come? Did you have a favorite chapter/section narrator? I really liked Shane's, and Mathew Stanton [Kate's boyfriend]. I've definitely met woman who have the same kind of intensity and passion and devil-may-care insouciance. WHAT a character! I'm also very curious to hear people's thoughts on the different narrators, and which of them represented, in your mind, the most effective or accurate perspective on things as their world got worse and worse?
I just adore this book so much and want to share the joy and get some other perspectives on it–I certainly come at it from a very particular angle, so it's POSSIBLE I'm more likely than most to fall in love with it…
by JanSmitowicz