The Pesthouse Audiobook

" While not my favorite novel to date, this book is a very fascinating take on the dystopian novel. The setting is America, in what seems like pre-industrial era, but it is actually in the future when we've run out of natural resources and everything comes to a stand-still. Machines stop, nothing modern works any longer, and we are reverted back to horse and carriage, water wells and mills, etc. The midwestern states seem to be hit the hardest and have no news of what is happening on the east coast except travelers passing through say that boats are taking people to Europe where jobs, technology, and food abound. The story follows two characters trying to make it to the ships to Europe, who encounter highway bandits, a coastal road made entirely of garbage, an ark filled with a crazy religious cult which shuns anything metal, and people captured as slaves to work digging for metal scraps now regarded as useless treasures. Definitely a worth while read. "

" Another post-apocalypse vision of America. Repeated themes of man at the mercy of nature, religion as construct of man. The Finger Baptists and the Helpless Gentlemen were almost as funny as the Pope. I didn't think the book was as perfect as Quarantine or Being Dead, but almost. One of my favorite writers. I wish I had his imagination. "

" Post apocalytic fiction as it should be. "

" A post-apocalyptic story set in the eastern United States.Franklin and Margaret are refugees. America has been beset by a plague and has descended into lawlessness. The only hope for a good life is to get to the east coast and take a ship to Europe. Franklin and his brother Jackson have set off from their family farm. Margaret lives in a village called ferrytown that provides crossings of a large river required by the flood of refugees. She has taken sick with the plague, and is exiled from the village into a small shack up in the hills. Franklin gets a lame leg on his travels. The two meet in the little shack where Margaret has been exiled to.Together they recover, and eventually set out for the coast. Along the way, they meet a band robbers looking for slaves who takes Franklin captive. Margaret continues along in her journey, and gets to the coast. There she moves into a religious compound where she gets shelter, but has to adhere to their strange beliefs.The story continues like this, with one event after another. Eventually Franklin and Margaret meet up again, and fall in love, and finally figure out that the trip to Europe is not what they really want to do. "

" This novel was very vexing at times because Crace never comes out and says what it is that caused America to go to shit, and at times his pastoralism is saccharine, but the man can do anything, writing-wise, so it's a better novel than most. "

" Compares poorly to Cormac McCarthy's The Road because it devolves into a sort of sci-fi futurism and it's hardly credible that, even 500 years on, Americans will know virtually nothing of today. Also lacks real punch and has no convincing regional or dialectical voice. "

" This book came out at around the same time as Cormac McCarthy's The Road and is very similar, as both books deal with survival in post-Apocalyptic America. I prefered this one, both in style and story. Less gruesome than its more famous counterpart by McCarthy, but all the more gripping in the end. "

" Almost too reflective, too interior even for me, though I liked the sweet love story. I can imagine lots of grad students busily writing analytical papers about biblical symbolism and such. Sorry I missed bookgroup discusssion. "

" This book haunts me. Very different from most of what I read and one of the first post-apocalyptic books I ever read that was not also dystopian (though it does have those elements - see the anti-metal folks). One I imagine I will go back to. "

" A bit like "The Road" for some reason, even though I thought it was ok, it took ages for me to finish. I think I never properly engaged. Ok if youre stuck for something to read "

" A thoroughly enjoyable read...one that certainly cannot escape comparison with Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," but one that trades grinding terribleness with (at times cloying) optimism. All in all a well-realized, past-less end-of-the-world tale. "

" Not what expected--wasn't that grim, despite post-apocalyptic setting. Pretty good story, well-written, some romance. "

" Post-apocalyptic America and love conquers all--or at least enough to get by. Crace is amazing. If you want something more bleak, try Cormac McCarthy. "

" I really liked this book but it would not be everyone's choice. I think what I like about future worlds, usually after civilization ends as we know it, is the imagination of the author. This book has a very hopeful ending about the ability of man to build a good life out of practically nothing. "

" It's not often that the ending to an apocalyptic story makes me smile, but this one did. It had similarities to The Road by Cormac McCarthy (which I loved), but wasn't as dark. I enjoyed The Pesthouse a lot, but now it's time to move onto something more upbeat! "

" Pretty good read so far if you go for the "world ends... now what?" type of book. I like this scenario where it's many years later. It's not as stark as "The Road" which I did NOT like. "

" Very disappointing book. The characters were good and believable but the story could have been so exciting given the subject but it turned out to be laborious and tedious. "

" Interesting book about what our great grand children's future could look like...and it's not the jetsons! "

" Wow. A post-apocalyptic novel that actually gives one hope, with brilliant writing and memorable characters. "

" This was a great story. Maybe not as bleak as I might have wanted, but that's the nature of the genre. At some point the post-apocalyptic setting becomes the status quo for the characters. "

" Interesting book about what our great grand children's future could look like...and it's not the jetsons! "

" I had very mixed feelings about this novel. I really liked "Quarantine" and "Being Dead" by the same author....but this felt more like a fairy tale love story than a cautionary tale...not powerful and poetic like "The Road"...and certainly not realistic. "

" Some parts were a little slow, but still a good read. The Road and Blindness are better. "