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Sharon's Reviews > One Second After
One Second After (After, #1)
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The premise of the story is that an EMP (electronmagnetic pulse) is created by the detonation of 3 nuclear bombs above the earth's atmosphere, which renders all electronic, digital, computerized elements in the infrastructure of the U.S. inoperable, which leads to a complete and total breakdown of life as we know it. OK. Now we know. Author's mission accomplished.
From a literary point of view, this scenario could have been rendered as a gripping human interest story in microcosm, but instead the author dissipates the force of the story with (as Publisher's Weekly pointed out in its review) an increasing foray into jingoism, particularly near the end of the novel, and a reliance on pointing out repeatedly which feature films present the suggested ambience for given passages. (And here I was thinking it was the author's job to create the ambience in his own writing.) There were also too many comparisons, again during the latter part of the story, to similaries that happened during the Civil War.
My deepest grievance, however, is that the author seems not to know the difference between using "of" and "have", as in passages such as "It must of cost a fortune", "An accident must of shut it down", "You might not of seen it", "You think they'd of seen this coming", "I'd of used it if you hadn't showed up", etc., etc., etc. I nearly stopped reading because of this grammatical embarrassment which occurred over and over and over again. This author has apparently written more than 40 books and won an award for a young adult novel titled We Look Like Men of War. Hard to believe, given the lack of grammatical control found in the pages of One Second After.
I would like to say this book measures up to classic post-apocalypse novels like Nevile Shute's On the Beach, and Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, among others. But it doesn't.
I read it in large part because I live near the actual scene of the story, which possibly made it even more disappointing. I love a good story of apocalypse, but this isn't one.
From a literary point of view, this scenario could have been rendered as a gripping human interest story in microcosm, but instead the author dissipates the force of the story with (as Publisher's Weekly pointed out in its review) an increasing foray into jingoism, particularly near the end of the novel, and a reliance on pointing out repeatedly which feature films present the suggested ambience for given passages. (And here I was thinking it was the author's job to create the ambience in his own writing.) There were also too many comparisons, again during the latter part of the story, to similaries that happened during the Civil War.
My deepest grievance, however, is that the author seems not to know the difference between using "of" and "have", as in passages such as "It must of cost a fortune", "An accident must of shut it down", "You might not of seen it", "You think they'd of seen this coming", "I'd of used it if you hadn't showed up", etc., etc., etc. I nearly stopped reading because of this grammatical embarrassment which occurred over and over and over again. This author has apparently written more than 40 books and won an award for a young adult novel titled We Look Like Men of War. Hard to believe, given the lack of grammatical control found in the pages of One Second After.
I would like to say this book measures up to classic post-apocalypse novels like Nevile Shute's On the Beach, and Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, among others. But it doesn't.
I read it in large part because I live near the actual scene of the story, which possibly made it even more disappointing. I love a good story of apocalypse, but this isn't one.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
April 17, 2009
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Finished Reading
April 20, 2009
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David
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rated it 2 stars
May 28, 2009 02:54PM
I just finished reading the book and gave my review, which is nearly identical to yours. Glad to see I was not the only reader appalled by the disastrous spelling and grammatical errors present in this novel. Makes you wonder if anybody bothers editing books before they're published.
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Ahhh! The whole "must of" thing is driving me mad!
Was thos commentary as the narrator or a character speaking. Using 'of' instead of 'have' is common dialect in the south. I am not implying everyone does this, just that it is common especially in more rural communities. It took me 10 years to stop saying of instead of have. Also often times its heard as 'of' and therefore written as such because people say things like must've. Just my two cents... I just started the book.
Using "of" instead of "have" is a common occurrence in the dialect of North Carolinians. That's exactly how I have spoken for my entire life, as well as how everyone that I know who has been born and raised in Carolina speaks.
+1 for regional dialect. I'm a NC native. Doesn't everyone talk that way?
Yep it's regional. We *try* not to talk that way but it's hard when the natives do!
Please. Everyone talks this way to some extent. Odd thing for people to get nitpicky about. Then again, I find it annoying when novels use overly correct speech in dialog. Nothing sounds "faker" than that sort of phony "dialog." (Hubby's a dialog editor, must be getting to me!)
When you hear somebody saying what sounds like "could of" -- they're still saying "could have," it's just the way it sounds. In print, it still has to be "could have."
I very much agree with your complaint about the jingoism. It was so cheesy it was embarrassing. After a year of starving to the point of eating the family pets and watching 2 out of 3 people die NO ONE is going to break out singing the national anthem.
Any suggestions for some good realistic (no zombies/vampires/aliens) post apocalyptic novels?
I think he just retold Alas Babylon. Too many similarities.
