Rob Price
Gutbrain Records
rob + gutbrain.com = email

2015 March 04 • Wednesday

Here's yet another great mid-century British apocalypse novel, The Death of Grass by John Christopher.

In this one a virus destroys all kinds of grass plants. These include rice, wheat, barley, etc. The resut is famine, rioting, cannibalism and an almost immediate abandonment of all the niceties of civilization and social order.

The main plot concerns a small group determined to get to a safe haven in the north of England, a valley where the main character's brother is growing potatoes and beets and raising pigs. The valley is such that a small group could successfully defend it from an army.

It takes almost no time at all for these decent, ordinary people to become murderers and thieves. It takes less time for many others, of whom some are attracted to more vicious crimes.

The Death of Grass is quite gripping, and gruesome and brutal as well, all the more effectively because it's understated and restrained. Once again it's demonstrated that nightmarish situations can be more disturbing if a substantial amount of their content is left to your imagination.

This edition has an introduction by Robert Macfarlane that's worth reading. (Not all such introductions are.)

The first line is "As sometimes happens, death healed a family breach".