Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The THINGS THAT KEEP US HERE by C. Buckley ****

The book is definitely readable. It's about an avian flu that decimates the world. But it's viewed from one family, say mid 40s and their 2 daughters. A year after the husband leaves the wife and the flu hits - he moves back in with the ex and brings along his 20 something girlfriend. RIGHT. Like that has a touch of reality. NOT.

So anyways they don't seem to have any sort of physical relationship at all (girlfriend ex husband) they sleep apart. Shazia, the girlfriend, pretty much does nothing for weeks on end but eat their food, let everyone cook and clean up after her and she just mopes around sleeping. She would be walking back to Cairo IRL.

The ex wife lost a baby and just can't stop imagining him every day even tho it's 10 years later. So anyways the flu hits, it's the beginning of winter and 6 feet of snow land destroying power all over the east coast. We can just pile it all on for this fiction novel; it's not fiction for no reason. In any case, I don't mind reading it at all altho so much of it is preposterous. If there's no power for 100 miles, there's no frickin WATER. Doofus...water is pumped...electricity....duh. Plus cars had a pile up on the highway--wouldn'tcha know and of course no one can drive anyplace. Apparently no one has 4 wheel drive or snow mobiles. The snow plows never show up. The power company never shows up. Every store is empty and closed. No one works. No one ever hangs out with anyone else due to the flu killing everyone.

It's got a very narrow focus on the one family and since there's no animosity towards the bimbo it lacks a lot what could have been much better. But it doesn't suck. Finished it and there were some small surprises but by the time you find out this stuff you're beyond caring. So much angst and so little reward for the reader.

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