Past list view

Changing pace and page count, we pick one of National Book Award-winning Denis Johnson's lesser known novels. Published during the Cold War's last gasps (1985), Fiskadoro focuses on survivors of a nuclear blast who have huddled on the Florida Keys. As the society gives way to a new generation (including the title character) who have no pre-war memories, a conflicting narrative emerges among the junk heap of the past. One blogger called this "sci-fi as written by Samuel Beckett." That is more succinct than what the New York Times said at publication: "the sort of book that a young Herman Melville might have written had he lived today and studied such disparate works as the Bible, 'The Waste Land,' 'Fahrenheit 451' and 'Dog Soldiers,' screened 'Star Wars' and 'Apocalypse Now' several times, dropped a lot of acid and listened to hours of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones."

Due to popular demand, we will have another book discussion before the summer is out. Far more than a cozy Oprah pick, Cormac McCarthy's The Road is an atmospheric, spare, and bleak work of literature that has exposed many new readers to the peculiar charm of the post-apocalyptic tale. Not to mention inspired, in part, the formation of this club. Join us for some more fun (weather permitting) in our backyard on July 23rd, to debate the novel's merits, contemplate the film adaptation releasing later this year, and perhaps nosh on some grilled food.

Taking a break from the nihilistic works of Margaret Atwood and Michel Houellebecq, we will read a contemporary novel called Night Work by Thomas Glavinic. Set in Vienna (the author is Austrian), Night Work follows the routine of Jonas, a young professional who wakes up one morning to discover that he may be the last living being on earth. Setting off across Europe in search of his girlfriend or any sign of life, Jonas's harrowing expedition is a dark reflection of man's private journey. A fast-paced, psychological thriller exploring the darkness within us all, Night Work explores issues of paranoia, madness, and fear.

Here's what the Independent of London said:

"Confronted with Thomas Glavinic's marvellously convincing urban landscapes, entirely devoid of people, you're as likely to be reminded of Giorgio de Chirico's paintings of sun-drenched empty squares, flags fluttering silently in the 'occasional puff of wind'...With its emphasis on doubles and its focus on the familiar world defamiliarised, Night Work functions both as an outstanding fictionalisation of Freud's essay 'The Uncanny', and as a superior literary thriller packed with invention and suspense."

Valentine's Day will be the one year anniversary of the Freebird Brooklyn Post-Apocalyptic Book Club, so to mark the occasion we will postpone the next actual discussion to March (to give a little more time to read the book) and pause to watch a couple of post-apoc themed short films on February. More info to come. But let's just say they involve the Dewey Decimal system.

March's discussion will be Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake. Told from the perspective of the world's last human survivor, it recounts civilization's final days when an obsessed scientist (named Crake) genetically engineers hybrid animals and docile humanoids to replace earth's warring population. As much a commentary on technology run rampant as a satire of our own commodified culture, Oryx and Crake raises intriguing questions about science's ethics.

Directions: Bergen stop of the F train--approx. 8 blocks to the waterfront (http://www.freebirdbooks.com/directions.html). The B61 bus also stops directly in front of the store.

Book discussions take place at the store (on the Brooklyn waterfront of Cobble Hill/Red Hook) at 7:30 pm.

Monthly meetings will revolve around a particular post-apocalyptic theme (nuclear annihilation, ecological catastrophe, pestilence, alien invasion...you get the idea).

November's discussion will be Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America. The author, Brian Francis Slattery, will be on hand to answer questions.

Liberation is a speculation on life in near-future America after the country suffers an economic cataclysm that leads to the resurgence of ghosts of its past such as the human slave trade. The possible saviors are an unlikely group of international criminals named the Slick Six--none of whom are named Greenspan or Paulson. For additional info about the book and Brian Francis Slattery, check out this recent interview on the Huffington Post.

The next month's pick is John Wyndham's classic novel The Chrysalids, just being reissued by the New York Review of Books.

Directions: Bergen stop of the F train--approx. 8 blocks to the waterfront (http://www.freebirdbooks.com/directions.html). The B61 bus also stops directly in front of the store.

Book discussions take place at the store (on the Brooklyn waterfront of Cobble Hill/Red Hook) at 7:30 pm.

Monthly meetings will revolve around a particular post-apocalyptic theme (nuclear annihilation, ecological catastrophe, pestilence, alien invasion...you get the idea).