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The Death of Grass - Jan 2023 - Book Group discussion thread

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westmoors
westmoors
Jan 2023
11:52am, 14 Jan 2023
7,010 posts
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westmoors
Great review Peregrinator. I wish I could review like that. For me its either liked or disliked!
Peregrinator
Peregrinator
Jan 2023
10:26pm, 14 Jan 2023
1,109 posts
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Peregrinator
Thank you - but done to cover up my not being able to give anything a mark out of ten.....
LindsD
LindsD
Jan 2023
9:03am, 15 Jan 2023
59,353 posts
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LindsD
God this was bleak. I kinda liked it, although it reminded me a bit of Janet and John at times:

"John cocked his rifle. Ann looked at him."

I'm sure it was really shocking and innovative at the time of writing but 'world descends into brutality' has been done so many times. Mind you, it was a lot better than High Rise.

The parallels with Covid were interesting, and it was genuinely shocking and disturbing at times, especially at the beginning. The gender politics were interesting. Could have done with lore characterisation for me, especially for the women.

I gave it a 7.
LindsD
LindsD
Jan 2023
9:06am, 15 Jan 2023
59,354 posts
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LindsD
*more

And I agree with Pere. Not for the first time
Diogenes
Diogenes
Jan 2023
9:08am, 15 Jan 2023
75,873 posts
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Diogenes
Yes, the gender roles were very outdated. This was basically a Famous Five story with guns.
Diogenes
Diogenes
Jan 2023
9:18am, 15 Jan 2023
75,874 posts
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Diogenes
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. I doubt people’s ability to adapt and cope with such a change in morals and to cope with witnessing and participating in such terrible events.

“Buck up, Ann, the rape and murder were yesterday. Now make us a nice cup of tea and give us a smile, there’s a love.”

The overarching message was that force prevails, but brutality will meet a fatal end.
LindsD
LindsD
Jan 2023
10:12am, 15 Jan 2023
59,356 posts
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LindsD
Agree
McGoohan
McGoohan
Jan 2023
8:00pm, 16 Jan 2023
52,312 posts
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McGoohan
I dunnae have The Death of Grass yet, so while I await the library delivering it, I started an in-lieu re-read of John Christopher's The Tripods (Book 1: The White Mountains). I'd blogged before about not being sure whether or not I'd actually read them, but I'm now pretty sure I did. I would have been 12 or 13 I suppose.

It's very odd to read dated sci-fi. It dates much worse than other things, I find. It was about 120 pages before we got a speaking part for a female character. It's not so much directly sexist either - there's not so much of the 'oh do stop crying Susan' attitude - it's just as if he never even considered the possibility of female characters. They're just... absent.

The plot and his prose are all very good in a 1967 sort of way but it is essentially reading a Boys Own Ripping Yarns adventure.
Vixx
Vixx
Jan 2023
8:42pm, 16 Jan 2023
1,792 posts
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Vixx
McGoohan - in the late 80s he did a prequel story to the Tripods, and he must have learned his lesson as female characters were quite different in that, although the main character is a young boy.
McGoohan
McGoohan
Jan 2023
8:52pm, 16 Jan 2023
52,313 posts
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McGoohan
Ah, I'd heard there was a 4th book. Didn't realise it was a prequel.

About This Thread

Maintained by McGoohan
January 2023's book is The Death of Grass by John Christopher as chosen by BintMcSkint.

Owing to the book's title, I suppose you'll be expecting me to make some sort of marajuana/grass/drugs pun here. But I won't, I tell you, I won't. And if you don't like it, you can stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Damn!
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