AccueilGroupesDiscussionsPlusTendances
Site de recherche
Ce site utilise des cookies pour fournir nos services, optimiser les performances, pour les analyses, et (si vous n'êtes pas connecté) pour les publicités. En utilisant Librarything, vous reconnaissez avoir lu et compris nos conditions générales d'utilisation et de services. Votre utilisation du site et de ses services vaut acceptation de ces conditions et termes.

Résultats trouvés sur Google Books

Cliquer sur une vignette pour aller sur Google Books.

Chargement...

The Death of Grass

par John Christopher

Autres auteurs: Voir la section autres auteur(e)s.

MembresCritiquesPopularitéÉvaluation moyenneMentions
1,1735416,690 (3.82)74
At first the virus wiping out grass and crops is of little concern to John Custance. It has decimated Asia, causing mass starvation and riots, but Europe is safe and a counter-virus is expected any day. Except, it turns out, the governments have been lying to their people. When the deadly disease hits Britain, society starts to descend into barbarism. As John and his family try to make it across country to the safety of his brother's farm in a hidden valley, their humanity is tested to its very limits. A chilling psychological thriller and one of the greatest post-apocalyptic novels ever written, The Death of Grass shows people struggling to hold on to their identities as the familiar world disintegrates - and the terrible price they must pay for surviving. With a new Introduction by Robert MacFarlane 'Gripping . . . of all fiction's apocalypses, this is one of the most haunting.'Financial Times Rachael Love, Penguin Classics Editorial Assistant, on The Death of Grass- 'The Death of Grassis more than just a sci-fi novel. It's incredibly prescient - in an age now where we obsess over global responsibility, the destruction of the environment and world-wide pandemics - The Death of Grasswas ahead of its time. The novel sits happily alongside The Day of the Triffids- Wyndham's novel about genetic engineering and giant vengeful plants, but it also sits nicely next to Golding's Lord of the Flies, which was written in response to post-war complacency about superior morality. Christopher's novel picks up speed as the characters begin to have to fight for their lives, paralleling the speed at which, it could be said, their morality disintegrates. The latter half of the novel is about the luxury of morality in the face of fighting for survival; about theft and murder and rape. It's about the family unit, private law, group politics and survival of the fittest. A real page-turner!'… (plus d'informations)
  1. 81
    Le Jour des Triffides par John Wyndham (Rynooo)
  2. 20
    Le dernier rivage par Nevil Shute (KayCliff)
  3. 21
    Déluge par Stephen Baxter (AlanPoulter)
    AlanPoulter: Both are classic disaster novels from British authors.
  4. 21
    La Route par Cormac McCarthy (timspalding)
    timspalding: The Road is the better book, but they share DNA.
  5. 10
    A Wrinkle in the Skin par John Christopher (KayCliff)
  6. 11
    Sa Majesté des Mouches par William Golding (edwinbcn)
  7. 00
    Encore un peu de verdure par Ward Moore (Cecrow)
    Cecrow: The opposite SF premise.
Chargement...

Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre

Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre.

» Voir aussi les 74 mentions

Affichage de 1-5 de 54 (suivant | tout afficher)
La Muerte de la Hierba narra el colapso terrorífico de la civilización y los estremecedores cambios que se producen en la superficie de nuestro planeta a consecuencia de una ruptura del equilibrio ecológico. Su poder de convicción le viene de que la acción tiene lugar, no en un hipotético y lejano futuro, sino en el presente. Los personajes son gente de la clase media que viven su existencia agradable y tranquila hasta que la hierba comienza a morir.
  Natt90 | Jan 13, 2023 |
The Death of Grass is as visceral as it is vivid. John Christopher weaves a spectacular but scientifically grim tale of a pandemic and how it pushes humanity to the brink of its its very existence in a war for survival. The fact I am writing this during the Covid-19 pandemic makes it all the more poignant (one for the future generations).

The tale of John Custance and his battle for survival reflects on all of us. What makes the novel all the more relevant is that it leaves us on a cliffhanger, what's the future of humanity? ( )
  Amarj33t_5ingh | Jul 8, 2022 |
This book was written in 1956, over 60 years ago. There's a lot about this book that hasn't aged well (the casual racism and misogyny), but there's a lot that seems every bit as relevant today (the plant-killing virus that can't be controlled). It's got a rather simplistic view of the rapid decay of society, but I don't think that it's horribly inaccurate (although I really have to question the idea of England mercy-killing it's own people with atomic bombs). The purpose of stories like this is to make you question how you'd behave in a similar situation, hopefully with a sympathetic protagonist. Well, I DID question how I'd behave, and it differed quite a bit from John Cunstance. I did not find him to be a very likable character, and I was not impressed by how quickly he would initiate or condone violence.
Speaking of violence - there's quite a bit more cold-blooded killing in this book than I'm used to seeing in books from this time period. There's even some references to rape and infidelity - topics I'd always assumed were, if not taboo, at least considered Not Dignified.
If you're going to read this book - just a quick warning that it starts off DREADFULLY slow until about the 30% point, and then it keeps moving along rather briskly for the rest of the book.
Finally - I've got to point out that the book has a glossary at the back that I didn't notice until I'd finished the book. It has quite a variety of terms that the reader may or may not know, and they give an interesting insight into 1950's readers. Terms that today would not need to be explained ("aftermath","ammo","hybrid","millennium"), but also some words that I'd never seen before and had looked up the definition while reading the text ("concupiscence" (lust and sexual desire), "phlegm" (meaning calm nature, not nasal mucus), "prodrome" (preliminary book or treatise))
Overall, I'd like to give this book a better rating, but the slow start and the not-aged-well parts are going to keep this from getting any higher than a 3 star. ( )
  KrakenTamer | Oct 23, 2021 |
The Death of Grass is essentially a story about the collapse of human civilization. Since the agricultural revolution 12,000 years ago, humanity has been dependent on grass. Wheat, rice, barley, maize - all members of the Gramineae family - grasses. Even meat is grass, with grass being essential for raising pasture animals.

No matter the form is has or the processing it was subjected to before being finally consumed, grass constitutes more than half of world human calorie intake. John Christopher highlights humanity's dependence and voracious appetite for grass by providing a glimpse into a world without grass, and as you might expect - it ain't pretty. As global famine threatens, the thin veil of civilization is quickly stripped away as the world is consumed by hunger, war, and anarchy.

And all it took was a viral pathogen that targets Gramineae, humanity's primary source of calories.

Even though this story was written in 1956, it remains as relevant and thought-provoking as it was back then. Perhaps even more so today than it had been six decades ago. Despite human ingenuity, something as mundane as grass is as much of a mortal weak point for our civilization as it was thousands of years ago. Gramineae is both our food supply's backbone and our civilization's single point of failure, and the book manages to bring this point across this in a grim, bleak way: Humanity is nothing without grass. And if the grass goes, human civilization will follow. ( )
  fmqa | Sep 5, 2021 |
Still powerful. Very nicely written and structured. The characters are not strongly drawn but that is a strength in some ways as it is easier to believe that (almost) any of them could be any of us. Just after reading I visited several iron age forts in Shropshire and was touched by the ebb and flow of people, peoples, and under that the land itself (ancient and complicated geology in Shropshire). ( )
  Ma_Washigeri | Jan 23, 2021 |
Affichage de 1-5 de 54 (suivant | tout afficher)
An appropriate survival-morality story for our crisis-ridden times. To what lengths should we, and would we, go to ensure our families' survival in the collapse of civilisation?
ajouté par KayCliff | modifierNational Housewives Register Newsletter, Hazel K. Bell (Sep 1, 1976)
 

» Ajouter d'autres auteur(e)s (4 possibles)

Nom de l'auteurRôleType d'auteurŒuvre ?Statut
John Christopherauteur principaltoutes les éditionscalculé
Galli, MarioTraducteurauteur secondairequelques éditionsconfirmé
Gaminara, WilliamNarrateurauteur secondairequelques éditionsconfirmé
García Fluixá, ÁngelTraducteurauteur secondairequelques éditionsconfirmé
Macfarlane, RobertIntroductionauteur secondairequelques éditionsconfirmé
Vous devez vous identifier pour modifier le Partage des connaissances.
Pour plus d'aide, voir la page Aide sur le Partage des connaissances [en anglais].
Titre canonique
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais. Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
Titre original
Titres alternatifs
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais. Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
Date de première publication
Personnes ou personnages
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais. Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
Lieux importants
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais. Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
Évènements importants
Films connexes
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances norvégien. Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
Épigraphe
Dédicace
Premiers mots
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais. Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
As sometimes happens, death healed a family breach.
Citations
Derniers mots
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais. Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
(Cliquez pour voir. Attention : peut vendre la mèche.)
Notice de désambigüisation
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais. Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
Published as The Death of Grass and No Blade of Grass
Directeur de publication
Courtes éloges de critiques
Langue d'origine
DDC/MDS canonique
LCC canonique

Références à cette œuvre sur des ressources externes.

Wikipédia en anglais

Aucun

At first the virus wiping out grass and crops is of little concern to John Custance. It has decimated Asia, causing mass starvation and riots, but Europe is safe and a counter-virus is expected any day. Except, it turns out, the governments have been lying to their people. When the deadly disease hits Britain, society starts to descend into barbarism. As John and his family try to make it across country to the safety of his brother's farm in a hidden valley, their humanity is tested to its very limits. A chilling psychological thriller and one of the greatest post-apocalyptic novels ever written, The Death of Grass shows people struggling to hold on to their identities as the familiar world disintegrates - and the terrible price they must pay for surviving. With a new Introduction by Robert MacFarlane 'Gripping . . . of all fiction's apocalypses, this is one of the most haunting.'Financial Times Rachael Love, Penguin Classics Editorial Assistant, on The Death of Grass- 'The Death of Grassis more than just a sci-fi novel. It's incredibly prescient - in an age now where we obsess over global responsibility, the destruction of the environment and world-wide pandemics - The Death of Grasswas ahead of its time. The novel sits happily alongside The Day of the Triffids- Wyndham's novel about genetic engineering and giant vengeful plants, but it also sits nicely next to Golding's Lord of the Flies, which was written in response to post-war complacency about superior morality. Christopher's novel picks up speed as the characters begin to have to fight for their lives, paralleling the speed at which, it could be said, their morality disintegrates. The latter half of the novel is about the luxury of morality in the face of fighting for survival; about theft and murder and rape. It's about the family unit, private law, group politics and survival of the fittest. A real page-turner!'

Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque

Description du livre
Résumé sous forme de haïku

Discussion en cours

Aucun

Couvertures populaires

Vos raccourcis

Évaluation

Moyenne: (3.82)
0.5
1 3
1.5 1
2 13
2.5 7
3 60
3.5 15
4 132
4.5 22
5 51

Est-ce vous ?

Devenez un(e) auteur LibraryThing.

 

À propos | Contact | LibraryThing.com | Respect de la vie privée et règles d'utilisation | Aide/FAQ | Blog | Boutique | APIs | TinyCat | Bibliothèques historiques | Critiques en avant-première | Partage des connaissances | 202,661,269 livres! | Barre supérieure: Toujours visible