The Deluge
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The Deluge
Narrated by:
Corey Brill, Danny Campbell, Gibson Frazier, Stephen Graybill, Soneela Nankani, Joy Osmanski, Melissa Redmond, Aida Reluzco, André Santana, Neil Shah, Aven Shore, Shakira Shute, Pete Simonelli, Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Buy Now for £16.99
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By:
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Stephen Markley
About this listen
“This book is, simply put, a modern classic. If you read it, you'll never forget it. Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting.” —Stephen King
From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future approaching collapse and a nascent but strengthening solidarity.
In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired in gridlock while a patient but unrelenting ecological crisis looms. America is in upheaval, battered by violent weather and extreme politics. In California in 2013, Tony Pietrus, a scientist studying deposits of undersea methane, receives a death threat. His fate will become bound to a stunning cast of characters—a broken drug addict, a star advertising strategist, a neurodivergent mathematician, a cunning eco-terrorist, an actor turned religious zealot, and a brazen young activist named Kate Morris, who, in the mountains of Wyoming, begins a project that will alter the course of the decades to come.
From the Gulf Coast to Los Angeles, the Midwest to Washington, DC, their intertwined odysseys unfold against a stark backdrop of accelerating chaos as they summon courage, galvanize a nation, fall to their own fear, and find wild hope in the face of staggering odds. As their stories hurtle toward a spectacular climax, each faces a reckoning: what will they sacrifice to salvage humanity’s last chance at a future? A singular achievement, The Deluge is a once-in-a-generation novel that meets the moment as few works of art ever have.
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Critic reviews
"Each narrator is distinctive and unique, and their styles are sometimes very different. But over so many hours those differences balance out and lend credence to a narrative that spans the globe, and years into the future. Together, these fine performers bring substance to the novel’s human drama and its urgent environmental message."
It's the sort of book I been looking for for a while now, in part to help me mentally clarify (and prepare for) what is probably going to happen in the next decade or so. I think this book has it fairly spot on. It's not the easiest listen, but if you're anything like me and have been paying attention that won't come as a surprise to you. It is entertainingly written, maybe a little long but I was generally engaged throughout.
Someone mentioned audio issues (crappy sound quality) which unfortunately are noticeable in the 1st chapter but most of the rest of the book is better, so it wasn't an issue for me.
The book I've been looking for for a while now.
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I think it works on so many different levels. It's an epic dystopian horror (with a richly imagined portrayal of the likely impact of the world heating up). It's also a thoroughly believable and depressing account of how we will react to the unfolding events. To say that the world faces catastrophic seismic changes but they all pull together and find a solution would have been more reassuring. But, no. That's not how it goes. The political reaction becomes more populist and heads are buried deeper into the sand. In one scene a scientist tells a politician, "But you don't understand the science" and the politician answers, "But you don't understand politics". Society fractures and militias begin to fill the gaps.
And finally, it can be read as a Great American Novel. It is a work of literature. The canvas is vast, with such richly drawn characters, interacting with humour, empathy and cruelty, that it frequently left me in a state of awe. As a non-American there were some broader political passages that were more a bit of a tedious slog. But it was important context, and soon the action would move on. And there are some set-pieces of confrontations that take the breath away. The ending has a kind of future optimism. But the journey through catastrophe and social carnage doesn't instill hope. More like a grave sense of impending gloom and anxiety.
So, this book brings to life a vision of what the future may hold. And it is persuasively real. Let's face it, most scientists are no longer warning of what might happen - they are shifting to say 'this is probably going to happen, and this will be tough'. So, the book carefully creates a scarily persuasive picture of a real-life future. Yes, it's a cliche, but I think everyone should read it. They won't! It's length will be too intimidating for normal busy people. Maybe we should hope for the TV series!
Magnificent Great American Dystopian Novel
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Will it be a Netflix series?
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Climate disruption novel: wake up call!
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The clearest illustration of how we are stealing from the future.
A book that echoes
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