≫ Read Gratis The Man Who Watched The World End The Great Deevolution Chris Dietzel 9781484080511 Books

The Man Who Watched The World End The Great Deevolution Chris Dietzel 9781484080511 Books

Download As PDF : The Man Who Watched The World End The Great Deevolution Chris Dietzel 9781484080511 Books

The Man Who Watched The World End The Great Deevolution Chris Dietzel 9781484080511 Books

Just…What? I thought the account of an 80 something year old man in his adventures through the End of the World would be entertaining, but it was just not to be. The author did not think his plot (was there even a plot?) through before he decided to put it into a novel. Please, allow me to present to you a number of reasons why this book is not worth your attention. You can thank me later.
1. The laws of nature are ignored. The main character says it himself that he doesn’t know how this happened. As everyone knows, nature has a way of balancing itself out. Yet this author claims that there are more carnivores roaming about than prey. Packs of once-domesticated dogs now roam the streets. The deer population is sparse. Anything that feeds on deer would be dead. Disease would run rampant and kill off animals once overpopulation occurred. Many would starve. Domestic animals would probably go extinct all together. This was my first red flag in how unrealistic this novel was going to be.

2. Dogs are racist. The main character reminisces about a time he spotted a vicious pack of Chow-Chows racing down the street. Or the pair of Golden Retrievers that lived beneath the porch of an abandoned house. He fears bands of Rottweilers and Dalmations. If domesticated dogs escape into the wild, they breed with other domesticated dogs without discrimination. This world should be inhabited by a bunch of mutts. Their breed would be indistinguishable. Go take a look at any pack of strays. Can you pinpoint their breed?

3. Food Processors/Generators. Apparently food now comes from nothing. This old man doesn’t have to lift a finger to get food. He pushes some buttons on his food processing machine, and BAM! Out comes some mushy lasagna. No need for oven, stove, or refrigerator (except they do have a fridge, for some reason). He doesn’t need to fill it with anything, it just magically makes him dinner.

4. It’s basically a sob story. The book is in journal format, and the protagonist just keeps talking about how the houses are all desolate and dark, Andrew won’t move and is a vegetable, a bear is in the backyard, and he wants the Johnsons to come back. I mean, just how many times does this author think he has to tell me all the houses on the block are dark? I figured it out the first time! This is interspersed with memories of the beginning of the end, how his parents told him he should love Andrew, and so on and so forth. Nothing really happens for the longest time, or ever, really. They just sit around and watch movies and throw comic books on the fire. The entire books seems to be one big flashback. Aren’t journals to record what you’re doing right now, not what you did 20 years ago?

5. The Internet still works. I really don’t think the Internet would still work. It may seem like it, but the Internet does not pop out of thin air. The author hinted at some sort of communication plan the government started, but never explains it, which makes me think he has no idea what he’s doing.

6. Packs of domesticated cats hunt deer. Yeah. That happened. I know cats are pretty much only half domesticated anyway, but are they really going to try to take on a deer? I don’t think so. Mr. Flufflebottoms will stick to small rodents and bugs, thank you.

This entire novel feels like the author is trying to be some great philosopher on society and the human condition, but it just comes off as absurd and ridiculous. Every chapter is akin to the chapter before it: “Today I felt sad and saw dark houses. I saw a pack of Labradors. Here is a memory I just remembered. Now I must go check on Andrew.” The plot holes (there wasn’t really a plot) and unknowns are extensive and distracting. Repetitive and stagnant are the words I would use to describe this piece of work.


Tags : The Man Who Watched The World End (The Great De-evolution) [Chris Dietzel] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The end of man was not signaled by marauding gangs or explosions, but with silence. People simply grew older knowing a younger generation would not be there to replace them. The final two residents in the neighborhood of Camelot,Chris Dietzel,The Man Who Watched The World End (The Great De-evolution),CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform,1484080513,FICTION Science Fiction Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic,FICTION Science Fiction General,Fiction,Fiction - Science Fiction,FictionScience Fiction - Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic,Science Fiction - Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic,Science Fiction - General,Science fiction

The Man Who Watched The World End The Great Deevolution Chris Dietzel 9781484080511 Books Reviews

I first read Dietzel's The Hauntings of Playing God a few years ago and was struck by how unusual a book it was among post-apocalypse novels. It left a lasting impression, and I recommended it to all and sundry. I'm not sure why I waited so long to read the others in the set, but I'm glad I finally did.

There is no huge catastrophe in Dietzel's books no drought, no radiation, no rival warring tribes, no government guilty of misprision, no starvation, no battle against the elements. There is only <i>homo sapiens</i> winding to a slow end, only a lone survivor meditating on what matters when everything is gone. In each of the novels a solitary narrator wrestles with the choices he or she has made, with love and loyalty, grief and anger, regret and hope, and ultimately the question of what gives life meaning.

You might think that an author would have trouble crafting a solid and engrossing story out of such a simple premise, yet Dietzel does it not once but three times. In The Hauntings of Playing God, the lone survivor was an old woman left to care for the last few insensible remnants of humanity; the theme of that one seemed to be the call of duty, the desire within each of us to do what we can to the best of our ability. A Different Alchemy centers on a man whose wife has done the unthinkable; the theme of that one, I think, is regret.

In this book, an old man is left with his unresponsive brother in a decaying subdivision called Camelot; the theme of this one I would say is love. The photo albums that he pages through with his silent brother, the memories he recounts, the movies they watch together (his turning Andrew's chair so that he doesn't have to see unpleasant scenes) -- even though Andrew is utterly incapably of any response whatsoever, that doesn't stop the narrator from wanting both to be a brother and to have a brother. In the end, what matters isn't Andrew's response (or lack thereof) but the narrator's desire to cherish his family. The action is its own reward. That his end ultimately comes from the simple reaching out to touch another living creature is both ironic and fitting, since the world as it is no longer recognizes that connection.
Blocks They are alive in name only. They can’t move, talk, or do anything voluntarily. They have no significant brain activity. Within a short period of time every human pregnancy produces a Block. The population ages and no normal children are born to replace them.

“That’s how the world (at least as man sees it) will end. Not with armies conquering other nations, not with race wars or religious wars, but with people who can’t love or wish, people who can’t give you a hug when you need it, can’t offer advice when called upon. These silent masses will continue to age until the last generation of regular adults gets too old to take care of them, and then everyone will just fade away.”

Needless to say this is a really break (albeit thought provoking) premise and I felt the sadness and hopelessness of the narrator, as he cares for his totally dependent Block brother, Andrew, on a visceral level. This is no doubt due to the superb writing.

The story is told as journal entries written by Andrew’s brother. He constantly worries what will happen to Andrew if he outlives him. With no one to feed him Andrew will starve to death. The narrator watches as his neighborhood empties out with people going south. He wishes they had gone with them, but now it is too late and they are the last residents in Camelot.

The book reminded me a bit of The Last Policeman, in the sense that he keeps going (because it is the only thing to do) despite the imminent end of the world.
Just…What? I thought the account of an 80 something year old man in his adventures through the End of the World would be entertaining, but it was just not to be. The author did not think his plot (was there even a plot?) through before he decided to put it into a novel. Please, allow me to present to you a number of reasons why this book is not worth your attention. You can thank me later.
1. The laws of nature are ignored. The main character says it himself that he doesn’t know how this happened. As everyone knows, nature has a way of balancing itself out. Yet this author claims that there are more carnivores roaming about than prey. Packs of once-domesticated dogs now roam the streets. The deer population is sparse. Anything that feeds on deer would be dead. Disease would run rampant and kill off animals once overpopulation occurred. Many would starve. Domestic animals would probably go extinct all together. This was my first red flag in how unrealistic this novel was going to be.

2. Dogs are racist. The main character reminisces about a time he spotted a vicious pack of Chow-Chows racing down the street. Or the pair of Golden Retrievers that lived beneath the porch of an abandoned house. He fears bands of Rottweilers and Dalmations. If domesticated dogs escape into the wild, they breed with other domesticated dogs without discrimination. This world should be inhabited by a bunch of mutts. Their breed would be indistinguishable. Go take a look at any pack of strays. Can you pinpoint their breed?

3. Food Processors/Generators. Apparently food now comes from nothing. This old man doesn’t have to lift a finger to get food. He pushes some buttons on his food processing machine, and BAM! Out comes some mushy lasagna. No need for oven, stove, or refrigerator (except they do have a fridge, for some reason). He doesn’t need to fill it with anything, it just magically makes him dinner.

4. It’s basically a sob story. The book is in journal format, and the protagonist just keeps talking about how the houses are all desolate and dark, Andrew won’t move and is a vegetable, a bear is in the backyard, and he wants the Johnsons to come back. I mean, just how many times does this author think he has to tell me all the houses on the block are dark? I figured it out the first time! This is interspersed with memories of the beginning of the end, how his parents told him he should love Andrew, and so on and so forth. Nothing really happens for the longest time, or ever, really. They just sit around and watch movies and throw comic books on the fire. The entire books seems to be one big flashback. Aren’t journals to record what you’re doing right now, not what you did 20 years ago?

5. The Internet still works. I really don’t think the Internet would still work. It may seem like it, but the Internet does not pop out of thin air. The author hinted at some sort of communication plan the government started, but never explains it, which makes me think he has no idea what he’s doing.

6. Packs of domesticated cats hunt deer. Yeah. That happened. I know cats are pretty much only half domesticated anyway, but are they really going to try to take on a deer? I don’t think so. Mr. Flufflebottoms will stick to small rodents and bugs, thank you.

This entire novel feels like the author is trying to be some great philosopher on society and the human condition, but it just comes off as absurd and ridiculous. Every chapter is akin to the chapter before it “Today I felt sad and saw dark houses. I saw a pack of Labradors. Here is a memory I just remembered. Now I must go check on Andrew.” The plot holes (there wasn’t really a plot) and unknowns are extensive and distracting. Repetitive and stagnant are the words I would use to describe this piece of work.