Book Group - 'Nod' discussion thread

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Serendippily Jan 2017 7:01pm, 8 Jan 2017 1,037 posts	0 Serendippily I loved the chrysalids I'd forgotten John Wyndham
Little Nemo Jan 2017 10:02am, 10 Jan 2017 7,138 posts	0 Little Nemo Overall I enjoyed this book but it didn't turn out quite as I expected. I think you tend to get 2 sorts of End-of-the-world type books: one where there is going to be some sort of solution or there will at least be a band of survivors that can carry on humanity into the future. Then there are those where it really is the end so it's less about what happened and why and more about how things disintegrate. I was expecting this book to be more of the former, i.e. the narrator would collect up all the kids, find some other sleepers and go off to make a new world. It was a shock when I realised that he was going to go to sleep and never wake up while the children would be left to fend for themselves. Maybe they were returning to an innocent state, like Adam and Eve before they were kicked out of Eden. There were a few omissions to the story in my view. I wasn't expecting anyone to explain why everybody suddenly stopped sleeping but I was puzzled why no one seems to have tried sleeping pills. Even if someone had said that they tried them and they didn't work would have been better than everyone seeming to accept they would never sleep again. And what kept the Cat Nap people going? The narrator said that they weren't sleeping and were faking it but why were they saner than everyone else? It was quite a small book in the end and once they'd failed to get out of Vancouver it became v. claustrophobic in tone. My heart sank a bit when they ended up with mad Charles and I found the first couple of chapters with him the worst part of the book. But once I got used to where the story was going it flowed better. I liked the way it was written although there were some odd descriptions that didn't seem to make much sense. Not sure if that was clumsy writing or me just not understanding what he's trying to say. My favourite section (although it was actually horrible!) was the scene on the beach that was like something out of Hieronymus Bosch. And I liked being introduced to odd words/phrases that have gone out of fashion. I'll look out for any new books he writes and thanks to GregP for choosing it The ending was a slight let-down so I've downgraded my vote from 8 to 7. Now off to read everyone else's comments!
Little Nemo Jan 2017 10:09am, 10 Jan 2017 7,139 posts	0 Little Nemo Interesting comparison with Ballard, I can see some similarities with The Drowned World. But I think overall I prefer this book. And can I just plug Ursula Le Guin and Lathe of Heaven again? And everyone should read The Wizard of Earthsea
GregP Jan 2017 10:39am, 10 Jan 2017 89,027 posts	0 GregP I will I will. Still irritated about the radiation sickness that started to set in around day 13 (with the yellow poo and the grey film) and then ambled off again as it would make the plot a bit hard. If someone driopped a nuclear warhead on Seattle sufficient to momentarily blind people in Vancouver, wouldn't there be a noticeable tsunami-type thing up the Strait of Georgia? And nobody thought to try anaesthesia? Really? Loved the writing. The more I think about it the less I think the story works. I didn't really buy the second euthanasia-cum-murder scene either.
Badger Jan 2017 10:40am, 10 Jan 2017 7,928 posts	0 Badger I agree about Earthsea. I actually thought the best book was the second one, The Tombs of Atuan (might partly be because I happened to read it first).Extraordinarily convincing setting. I think it's a shame she tore Ged down so hard in the later books; yes, she'd built a pretty sexist setting originally, but his portrayal went from flawed, interesting character to somewhere between useless and actively destructive. Going back to Nod, another thing which irritated me was one of the bits of word play; "in addition to 'hanging open', 'agape' also means love, as in the way our mouths go clack when we see Beauty". Well, the same letters do, but the etymology, and more to the point the pronunciation, are completely different; even the number of syllables are different, so it's not something you could easily play on in a poem unless you have a very flexible rhythm scheme.
GregP Jan 2017 10:41am, 10 Jan 2017 89,028 posts	0 GregP The cat sleepers had guns. The Awakened had pointy sticks. Why's that then?
GregP Jan 2017 10:42am, 10 Jan 2017 89,029 posts	0 GregP Yes, the agape thing irritated me too. Took me back to my (entirely unregretted) decision not to go to theological college after finishing CCS.
Little Nemo Jan 2017 12:23pm, 10 Jan 2017 7,140 posts	0 Little Nemo I totally agree re. the later Earthsea books, Badger. Hated the 4th one but I thought the 5th gave a bit more balance. But when I do my re-reads of the series I will probably stop at the 3rd. It's hard for me to choose between the 1st and 2nd, it depends on my mood as to which I prefer. The 3rd isn't quite as good but the trilogy as a whole is wonderful. BTW Radio 4 Extra is doing a dramatisation of the first 2 books. No idea if it's any good though.
westmoors Jan 2017 1:04pm, 10 Jan 2017 1,511 posts	0 westmoors Just finished. Really enjoyed this. I think this is the first apocalyptic novel I've read that actually mentioned the filth, lack of food... I'm going to read back through this thread and then comment some more.
Diogenes Jan 2017 1:15pm, 10 Jan 2017 19,874 posts	0 Diogenes Just finished too. Going to ruminate a little before posting my thoughts. My score is either 5 or 6, probably 5, as I disliked more than I liked.