Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Rift by Walter J. Williams ISBN: 0-06-105794-0 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 04 April, 2000 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (43 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Life in the China Shop After the Bull Shows Up
Comment: I thoroughly enjoyed this book but I thought of putting it down several times in the 180 pages of character development that precede any action. There are several story lines deftly woven together in this book and in the end I admit it was probably necessary to take up those 180 pages, so hang in there. It's worth it. The book centers around a huge 8.9 quake that takes place along the New Madrid fault in the midwest. It throws the mighty Mississippi right out of its course and generally creates havoc and mayhem. It is a successful "disaster" story with bad guys and heroes galore plus lots of ordinary folk that we can relate to as well. The nine central characters are all sufficiently unique to present a good cross-section of human nature so that we are treated to a well-rounded speculative look at the ramifications of the failure of our society's systems and their effects on individuals. Throughout the book there are quotations from historical documents of the last earthquake on the New Madrid that took place in 1812 which while horrible elude to even greater horrors of the impending disaster of a large scale quake in our more complex and populated world.
The story lines expose several small fractures in our own society such as fundamentalism and the malice of white supremacy that are similar in their own ways to building a nuclear power plant over a major fault line. The plot shows us how foolish our failure to pay attention is and how easily these threats can one day open up and swallow us whole. While imprisoned by crazed KKK members a black man answers the frantic querey of "Why?!" by saying "Because somebody overlooked this damn place, overlooked it for a century, probably. All it took for death to take a grip on a community was a handful of crazy people and a lot of other people who weren't paying attention."
The book is well researched and very scary in its implications. Industry and expediency have caused us to build and invest and grow our civilization right over top of one of the most unstable places on Earth with our usual short-sighted "it can't happen here" attitude and our wishful thinking. There is and has been, for a very long time, plenty of evidence that a disaster of overwhelming proportions is inevidable but we have systematically chosen not to pay attention to the facts.
This book makes for very exciting and entertaining reading. It is full of edge of the seat action and thought-provoking ideas and insights. The characters are rich in detail and the message that floats in and out between the lines is a powerful one. I recommend it.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Big One
Comment: The New Madrid Fault lies in the south central part of the United States right on the Mississippi River. It is very real and very ominous last heard from in 1811-1812 in an 8.9 earthquake. So "The Rift" is not an apocalyptic fantasy, but a meticulously researched epic of what could happen tomorrow. You well may ask why isn't the earthquake of 1812 a part of every American child's history book as famous as the Chicago Fire or the San Francisco earthquake of 1906? The answer is how lightly populated the area was at that time; the number of people who could report on the catastrophe were few, so at present day we have little documentation.
Mr. Williams has done an awesome job of investigation from everything concerning an earthquake to nuclear reactor plants. Every chapter is interwoven with contemporary accounts of the 1812 earthquake. We read what transpired over miles and miles of countryside, and then the author shows us what the same devastation would be like if that "countryside" had the City of Memphis sitting on it as it does today. I learned a little about the Richter scale: an 8.5 is not just a "little" stronger than an 8.3, but a thousand times stronger. An 8.9 (the top of the scale) is just short of affecting the entire planet. For comparison purposes the San Francisco quake registered 8.25 on the Richter scale.
To bring us a story and give us a human's eye view of such mass destruction, Mr. Williams gives us a cross-section of characters, most of whom were sharply defined and realistic. From Jason, a young teenager who is Kalifornia Kool but displaced by his parent's divorce to Cabell's Mound, Missouri to Nick, an unemployed weapons engineer recently separated from his wife. (For some reason, I pictured Nick as Bryant Gumbel in the middle of the earthquake.) The hustling dealmaker Charlie struck me as the most poignant. He only existed in the cyberworld of suppose; when the earthquake hit, all he could think to do was dial 911 on his cell phone.
"The Rift" is a monumental work in all senses of the word, but unlike many worthy tomes, highly readable and entertaining. Grade A
Rating: 3
Summary: Good but not great
Comment: I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't the "end of the world" tale I was expecting. A series of earthquakes strike the Missippi valley of the US, and some well-defined and extremely interesting characters find themselves faced with this calamity.
Mr. William's story is most interesting when he is showing how people react and take advantage of the chaos and peril that now surrounds them. Some milk the situation, some are responsible for trying to clean up the mess, and others simply try to survive and find lost loved ones. Mr. Williams covers each of these extremely well, and while the story is a tad slow in parts, I found myself flying through it.
I gave it 3 stars because even though it was enjoyable story with excellent characters, there was something missing throughout. I think part of it was that even though a significant portion of the US was chaotic and nearly destroyed, you still got the sense that eventually everything would be back to normal.
 |
Title: Earth Abides by George R. Stewart ISBN: 0449213013 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 12 September, 1986 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: The New Madrid Run by Michael Reisig ISBN: 0965124010 Publisher: Clear Creek Press Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
 |
Title: Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank ISBN: 0060931396 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
 |
Title: Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle ISBN: 0449208133 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 12 May, 1985 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
 |
Title: Last Ship by William Brinkley ISBN: 0345359828 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 13 February, 1989 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
