What Came After in Apocalypse Whenever

Mar 23, 2012 ambimb rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-on-iphone, dystopian

This was on its way to being a five star review until about 30 pages from the end. I don't want to spoil it, but I can say that it sort of speeds to an action-packed, I'm-a-writer-hoping-this-might-become-a-blockbuster-movie-series sort of ending that leaves you hanging and, yes, hoping for a sequel. That's actually a good thing because the action is mostly fine and I always love a good sequel. It's great to have something to look forward to. The problem, or the reason this is only 4 stars, is t This was on its way to being a five star review until about 30 pages from the end. I don't want to spoil it, but I can say that it sort of speeds to an action-packed, I'm-a-writer-hoping-this-might-become-a-blockbuster-movie-series sort of ending that leaves you hanging and, yes, hoping for a sequel. That's actually a good thing because the action is mostly fine and I always love a good sequel. It's great to have something to look forward to. The problem, or the reason this is only 4 stars, is that w/o the sequel I can't make up my mind about this book. It has so much promise and it's balanced on the edge of greatness, but is it really going to get there or is it going to go off in some crazy or mundane direction and ruin all my hopes? It's a little like "The Matrix" for me in that sense. The first "Matrix" movie was mind-blowing and seemed to be giving us an incredibly smart and captivating representation of ideology in action. It seemed politically smart in all the right ways and the promise of sequels seemed to suggest that the Wachowski brothers were going to give is some great ideas about how to challenge the dominant ideology of late capitalism that just makes us consumers (copper-tops) and lulls us into ignorance of our lack of freedom and the massive inequalities and injustices on which that ideology exists. Of course, the sequels to "The Matrix" did nothing like that. They were a huge disappointment to almost everyone. I still enjoyed them and don't hate them as much as many people seem to, but they didn't do anything I was hoping for; instead, they just went off on more or less mindless blockbuster hero-worship silliness. In short, they were just pretty much predictable Hollywood money machines.

And then we have "What Came After," which creates an absolutely fascinating dystopian future in which 80% of the population of the world has died, most of the food that grows is poisonous, and unless you are in the super-rich 1%, your life is ugly, brutish, and short. The big trick here is that a big agricultural corporation named Pharm-Agra (think: Monsanto) has bioengineered all crops to kill people; in order to eat them, you have to send them to Pharm-Agra so they can be deengineered. This means Pharm-Agra controls food production and consumption. Another company controls fuel and what's left of the highways, both of which are used primarily by Pharm-Agra for trucking food between the fields and the surviving urban areas. Both of these companies have private security forces to do their dirty work, while, a private army called Black Rose is for hire to do whatever anyone with enough money wants them to do. There is no federal government (which has another interesting and plausible explanation). In this world there is very little paper money anymore; instead, commerce is conducted through credits that are stored in a "brand" embedded in a person's neck. Most people have no "brand." Those people are "Generics." If you have a brand you are branded according to the company you own or work for and you're either "Ownership" or "Management." Management includes everyone who works for a company and is not an owner.

The book is largely a sort of quest story set within this world. The main character, Weller, is a generic who, through happenstance and his love for his daughter, ends up traveling through this dystopia in a way that it seems probably no one else has traveled in possibly decades. In this way he comes to see more of this world and learn more about how it works than possibly anyone else. This includes spending some time in a sort of socialist utopia, which, of course, has its own flaws. I guess the real question I wanted this novel to address comes down to this: Which is better? The flawed utopia Weller stumbles into, or the utter dystopia from which he came? It's never clear that Weller even recognizes this as a real question or issue, which is part of why this book is only getting four stars. Is Winston just waiting for Book 2 to take on this thorny issue, or does he not recognize it either? I guess we'll see. Or at least I hope so.

The book is well-written, the world is brilliant and well-conceived. It's a fast read, a page-turner, and I highly recommend it. I just can't wait to see what happens next.
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May 11, 2012 Andrew rated it really liked it

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, fiction, dystopian

I seem to be on a post-apoc/dystopian reading kick. The plot is easy enough to happen based on current events. Economic collapse and a handful of corporations control everything lead to the US withering down to a handful of coastal cities and Chicago. The last quarter of the story felt rushed by Winston to get elements of the story sort of wrapped up.

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Mar 23, 2012 Michelle rated it it was amazing

Shelves: end-of-world

A different end of the world. No zombies. Many many years after the world has died.
Great story! Hoping for a part 2??

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Jan 17, 2012 Marian rated it really liked it

Shelves: post-apocalypse

This novel became more engrossing the further into it you got. Weller became more and more complicated the more he came into contact with but remained driven by the simple love of a father for a daughter.

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