No Blade of Grass
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Book Summary Information
Edition: PaperbackAudio: English (Unknown); English (Published)
ISBN: 0380003198
Number of pages: 190
Publisher: Equinox Books
Book Reviews of No Blade of Grass
Book Review: Also known as The Death of Grass in the UK
Summary: 5 Stars
This was published in the USA as No Blade of Grass, but was originally published in the UK as The Death of Grass. An absolutely awful movie, titled No Blade of Grass, was made in the US and did not do well here, nor did it deserve to.
It was classed as juvenile fiction or Young Adult Sci Fi here in the US and was never considered a classic or a must-read. A few forward-thinking teachers once had it on their reading lists for teens or used it as an alternate in the middle school grades in the 170s and 80s, ie: the kids could choose between this and other, more mainstream fiction.
It is an excellent book, with a believable plot and chillingly accurate details; psycholgical profiles of most characters, for the most part, do not seem intusive, but naturally part of the narrative. These people and their thought proceeses and behaviors, given their circumstances, seem real and unforced.
Though, near the end, the rather broad strokes he paints a few characters with---notably the large, stodgy family who are hangers- on, not leaders and who are not cut out for this new world, where people survive by wit and skill---stand out badly in contrast to the rest. A little preachy there, I thought.
Why it is that this book has not been reprinted or made more easily available to all readers, regardless of age, I will never understand. I did read somewhere that the author, who writes here under the pseudonym of John Christopher, had stated, long after its first publishing in the UK, that he did not wish it to be reprinted (but as he does not own the full international copyright, I am not sure if that alone is enough to prevent it). The author's real name was Christopher Youd. [...]
Unlike On The Beach, which was published in the same vein and time period, it begins not with a devasting man-made accident, but an event completely natural and more realistic---a disease affects all the graminae--grass---plants.
Sounds simple, right? But as the disease organism naturally fights to survive, it mutates, as do many naturally occuring molds and viruses now. Man unintentionally worsens the advancing disease, as they interfere with and ultimately strengthen a strain they hadn't known existed, until its dormant version rears its ugly head.
It reminded me a bit of the current medical and scientific problems we face, one example being MRSA vs the current roster of antibiotics. If that nasty little bug ever gets out of control, we'll all need our own happy valley to retreat to.
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