Sean's Odyssey

After Sean graduates from college, he is ready to begin his life. Silly him for assuming he will have one. Word gets out that humanity is doomed: a giant meteorite has been headed toward the Earth for decades, and the government is ill-equipped to stop it. On the final day of human life, Sean must decide who to spend his precious time with. When he opts to hit the road and reunite with a lost love, he encounters a mad society that is rapidly shredding the trappings of civilization.

IT'S ONLY TEMPORARY by Eric Shapiro is an excellent end-of-the-world novella. I read Strawberry Man by the same author a couple of months ago, and I wasn't impressed. I kept wondering why so many readers speak so highly of  Shapiro. I gave this story a chance, and now I understand.

Sean is the narrator, and he moves back and forth between his past and present, giving depth to his relationships in just a few pages. His actions reveal how much insight he has gained when faced with his own mortality. Much like a modern version of Homer's Odyssey, Sean is often side-tracked on his way to reunite with the love of his life.

Unlike many other apocalyptic stories, where the emphasis is placed on how horrific people can be to one another, Shapiro shows the beautiful side of people...the ones who choose to live until their last breath.

As always,

AstraDaemon

Yeet That Man | AstraDaemon

STRAWBERRY MAN by Eric Shapiro made me wish death on Ben Klein before he even made his confession. Unfortunately, he is the narrator, and he is such a self-centered prick, I wonder why the others didn't just break a bottle and jam it into his neck. Needless to say, Ben is toxic, and Beth has more self-control than I do.

As far as storytelling goes, the pace is agonizingly slow and there is very little interaction between the characters. The source of the apocalyptic storm is never revealed, and yet the mere mention of the water rising up to the roof is more interesting than anything going on in Ben's head.

I don't understand the point of the story because there are plenty of guys like Ben in real life, and I'm not keen on spending my leisure time reading about one, fictional or not, justifying his BS. Maybe if aliens had caused the storm and were conducting some kind of moral experiment, I could dig into that, but...oh, well.

I've heard good things about Shapiro's work, so, even though this isn't my cup of tea, I'm going to check out one of his other stories later this month.

As always,

AstraDaemon