A World Made by Hand: A Novel Book Review

A World Made By Hand: A Novel

I decided to review my first fiction book this week, World Made by Hand: A Novel by James Kunstler. Most of my fiction reading tends to be science fiction, fantasy, or Zombie based. Not all of it is dark but I do tend to be from the “Debbie Downer School” of fiction.

This book is set in post Apocalyptic future. A confluence of Peak Oil, Nuclear Terrorism, and Economic Collapse has led to a general break down of Global Society. The story is based around a small town in Upstate NY (I’m from Long Island, so anything on the otherside of a bridge is Upstate to me) that is muddling along in a bleak future. There is no electricity, communications,  and the infrastructure is crumbling (Sounds a bit like Big Detroit). The main character is thrust into the middle of dispute between the townspeople and the local pseudo-gang running the junk yard.

I found the story to be pretty good. My Doomer fiction tends to be a little more action oriented than this book, but I did keep coming back to it. It was a bit refreshing to have a story where there was no localized violence or cannibals (they are the new zombies in post-apocalyptic stories). I found it interesting that everybody in the book is basically a small scale homesteader and that the one real successful individual in the book is basically running a plantation (bordering on a fiefdom).

I’d give this book a 3 out of 5 stars. It kept me interested but didn’t totally grab me, in other words I could put it down but did plow through it till the end. If you have an interest in Post-apocalyptic fiction you might like this book, but I’ve read better.

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