Everyone should read this. Really. I read it in one sitting. It is incredably powerful and unbelieveably sad. About the futility of war.
It's set in Australia, the Southern Hemisphere the only place still surviving since nuclear war - just waiting for the radiation to inevitably cover the earth.

Have set up a bookray for this one. The participants so far are:

1. OpheliaPhillips - UK
2. Miss-R - UK
3. nawoo82 - France
4. NMReader - USA
5. Cinnycat - USA
6. Flakes - USA
7. Bartonz - USA
8. Rrrcaron - USA

RELEASE NOTES:

For the start of a bookring!

Thanks for passing this on! I'm halfway through a book at the moment but I'll start on this as soon as possible.

A scary book indeed. Not as in horror scary, but unsettling scary. It's very understated, so the full impact of it doesn't really hit you until the final few pages. The characters faced their imminent demise in such a calm way that made it a little unvelievable at times-why wasn't anyone trying to find ways of avoiding death? Weren't there any nuclear bunkers to shelter in? I would love to know whether anyone did survive, but I don't think there was ever a sequel written. My favourite bit of the book has to be the Grand Prix- I loved the attitudes of the drivers, better to go out doing something they loved than just sit around and wait for the inevitable.

Thanks for passing this on Miss-R. I've just received it.
I'll read it as soon as I finish the book I'm currently in.

I've just finished reading the book and I'm still shaken. It's very unsettling and powerful indeed.
The book was written in 1957, in the middle of the Cold War and the nuclear scare, at a time where people really feared a nuclear war would kill them all. One can feel this tension in the book. I guess what is especially unsettling is that it could all well happen, even still today...

The most amazing thing is the way people face it. They know what will happen, but still try to live a 'normal' life till the end, planning their lives ahead as if none of the radioactivity was real. Some decide to fulfil their dreams before it's too late. Most of them are hoping until the end that something is going to happen to stop it all, that maybe some of them will survive.
As a reader I had the same feeling, right until the last page I was expecting a sudden twist, the author saying something like 'hehe it was all a joke, no-one is going to die'.

It's a great book, I'd recommend it, but I might have to start a 'lighter' book before I go to bed...

Edited to add: The books is off to the USA. I've put it in the post on Saturday 3rd.

Received today. I hope to read while on travel next week.

I read this book when I was in high school. It wasn't an assignment. I found it while wondering in the library and decided to read it. I think I was too much in the immortal state of youth to be much affected.

I started this book last Sunday. I read a few pages after I finished packing for my trip to Chicago and going to bed. The start seemed familar. I couldn't read as I planned on the plane as I had to review some documents for work. I read each night in the hotel as my time allowed after working and group activities. As I read I started feeling a connection to Moira and to Dwight that I could not remember when I read in high school.

I felt very connectred to Moira. Perhaps it is that I have loved now and know what it is to love and only want what will make someone you love happy. I knew exactly how she felt and yet wished that she could have what she wanted but then Dwight would not have been the person she loved.

I had rewritten the ending in my mind over the years I guess or perhaps I just hoped it would end differently.

I finished this last night and realized that the book had brought me down a little - not sure whether it was because it reminded me of how short and precious life is or if it was how futile the characters lives were at the end or...

I am going to start the next book I have for a ray. I hope it is humorous.

This is a good book but it can be slightly depressing.

RELEASE NOTES:

I am going to take to the PO this afternoon.

I got this yesterday! THANK YOU! I'm in the process of reading another ray/ring so I'll get to this when I'm finished!

I am usually a fan of end-of-humanity novels, but this one didn't catch me. There were a couple things wrong with it:

01. The main characters were in the military. I feel that ANY book with characters in the military I just can't relate to. Plus, I don't understand the "private - commander - etc." of it all so it all kind of gets lost for me. (ie: I loved that Catch-22 was about the absurdity of war, but I was getting zombie eyed with all the military talk.)
02. The bombing already happened before the book started! Where is the fun in that?

I appreciate that this was written during the Cold War. That doesn't make up for the fact that the book is cold itself. How can the end of humanity be so boring? Also, this is kind of a man's man's book (ie: the military, the Grand Prix, the fishing). Also, as Miss-R mentioned, why would the characters (especially if they were head-honchos of the military) not be looking for bunkers? These are the people that KNOW this is coming, and have months in order to prepare!

thanks for the opportunity to read this, OpheliaPhillips!

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Flakes

Arrived yesterday. I've got one book to finish ahead of this one, so I hope to start reading this weekend! Thanks for sharing!:)

I originally read this book when I was in high school, and I couldn't remember all of the details of the story, but I COULD remember that I had really liked it. I'm so glad I've had the chance to re-read this one.

I agree with cinnycat a bit about the story being a bit "cold". I kept waiting for the panic to set in, and the fight for survival, but they never came. On the other hand, I did appreciate the way the characters accepted their fate but still went on living for the future. Would the world really end that quietly? No, but it might be nice if it could.

Anyway, thanks for sharing this book, OpheliaPhillips!:) I'll send it on to Bartonz tomorrow!

It's here! I look forward to reading it.

Hello all! Just sneaking in with a quick message. I had a PM from sneakeasy telling me that there's a very good film of this book with Ava Gardner and Gregroy Peck amoungst others in it. I hadn't realised there was a film so I thought I'd quickly spread the news. I know there's a film version of another of his books, A Town Like Alice (which I haven't read myself yet) although I'm told the book is a lot better than that film.

I wept through so much of this story! I had just finished Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and this was such a contrast to that end of the world tale. It's on its way to Rrrcaron.

I received this in the mail today. I have a few to read beforehand, but it shouldn't take long.
Ruth

This book was disturbing yet captivating at the same time. I kept hoping things would end differently due to some miraculous event, but of course that never happened. How would I live my last days? I was thinking about this through the entire read. I hope to God it's not something we will have to decide in our future. Thanks for sharing this book! I'm glad I had the chance to read it.
Ruth