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The Man Who Lived at the End of the World
Armageddon has never been so colourful.
Watch it unfold through the jaded yet childlike eyes of Silas Stanley, a recently escaped psychiatric patient who must travel hundreds of miles across a devastated Britain to find his dying daughter before the world ends.
Through ruined and deserted cities, flooded countryside and burning fields, Silas makes his way from an evacuated London all the way to his old home town in the Lake District. Startled and amazed by the world around him, and feeling the depth of regret at memories of his life so far, he must avoid the strict martial law that is in force, and steer clear of the huge nuclear explosions being set off by the military in a last-ditch attempt to correct the earth's faltering orbit.
Less grim survival and more a one-way journey toward redemption, The Man Who Lived at the End of the World is a story for those who prefer their apocalypse to be more personal.
Watch it unfold through the jaded yet childlike eyes of Silas Stanley, a recently escaped psychiatric patient who must travel hundreds of miles across a devastated Britain to find his dying daughter before the world ends.
Through ruined and deserted cities, flooded countryside and burning fields, Silas makes his way from an evacuated London all the way to his old home town in the Lake District. Startled and amazed by the world around him, and feeling the depth of regret at memories of his life so far, he must avoid the strict martial law that is in force, and steer clear of the huge nuclear explosions being set off by the military in a last-ditch attempt to correct the earth's faltering orbit.
Less grim survival and more a one-way journey toward redemption, The Man Who Lived at the End of the World is a story for those who prefer their apocalypse to be more personal.
348 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 2, 2015
I Will Never be Able to Read Apocalyptic Novels Again...
This book has truly ruined the apocalyptic genre for me. I never dreamed that someone would write something so powerful, so beautiful, so moving, so tragic, so incredible that I can't imagine any other novel measuring up. I just finished reading, and I'm struggling to find the words, as I'm still overwhelmed by the story.
It is the story of Silas, a dreamer, a writer and an imaginative personality, who, through the vicissitudes of life, finds himself in a locked ward of a mental hospital. In the book' s opening scene, he is fleeing captivity only to find that London has been demolished worse than in WWII. Every building has toppled, every window smashed, every roadway has buckled. His first thought after seeing the devastation is that he must find his daughter Lucy, and so his journey begins at the end of the world.
We follow Silas in two ways: forward on his way to find Lucy, and backward in memory as he relieves and remembers important parts of his life. These forward and backward looking scenes are interleaved; woven together as the warp and weft of Silas' life slowly merge, becoming a human tapestry woven by the word master, Davies. I don't believe I have ever seen a characterization done as well as Silas. From start to finish, you can see the tempests inside him, driven by a multitude of things, but primarily by those he loves, his freedom and his writing.
Silas is incredibly articulate and imaginative. His running commentary on his journeys is lyrical, haunting, disturbing and powerful. He has come out of the fog of antipsychotic medication by the time the story starts and slowly regains his memories and identity as new experiences trigger past events. Brave, selfless, optimistic, determined and stubborn, Silas will risk everything to get to Lucy.
The imagery in the story is so strong that each paragraph carries its own 3D surround sound, cinematic image. If ever a book should be brought to the screen, it should be this one. Between the story, the images and the action, I believe it would have wide appeal.
Davies has his own writing style - almost a type of free verse in prose that illuminates images he's describing; essentially a lyrical flow of long sentences using multiple, unconventional yet effective metaphors to create each full blown image. Going back through the book, I find that each paragraph is its own vignette; capturing a scene, specific actions and emotions. The end result is a powerful, luxuriant prose that creates its own atmosphere. The reader simply breathes in the prose and finds themselves in a world that is ours, but from a wholly different perspective. It is the type of prose that one dives into and comes back up, only at the very last second when all your air has run out.
I finished the book in a single night. I am rereading now. It's even better the second time.
Mr. Davies plumbs the depths of Silas' character to the very core and displays all the gorey details on paper with each layer of his heart and soul through different stages of his life. The result is a full spotlight tour of every nook and cranny of Silas that is sentient The same is true of his daughter Lucy, though only for a single stage of her life. It's a brilliant portrayal of someone with a chronic pain condition. I have personal experience, so I can guarantee that when it is bad, it is much like what Mr. Davies describes. If I could give another star, it would be be for this.
Silas is impetuous. While he likes to think he plans things, he is actually very good at spontaneous risk taking. When presented with a new challenge, he rises to meet it in new and unconventional ways. In his travels from London to get Lucy in the Lake District, Silas not only keeps himself in one piece, but helps others that are abandoned.
Bottom Line: I know it is the biggest cliche in Amazon Land. All the fake reviews use it, as do paid reviewers, but for this particular novel, I actually mean it.
I L o v e T h I s B o o k !
I recommend this book to everyone, ( yes, that's right, you heard me correctly.) Everyone!
The book has action, romance, violence, insanity, dreams, EotW, bombs, murder, crazy boating, a flying car and a man trying to find his daughter.
Highly Recommended!
Good Thumping Read!
This book has truly ruined the apocalyptic genre for me. I never dreamed that someone would write something so powerful, so beautiful, so moving, so tragic, so incredible that I can't imagine any other novel measuring up. I just finished reading, and I'm struggling to find the words, as I'm still overwhelmed by the story.
It is the story of Silas, a dreamer, a writer and an imaginative personality, who, through the vicissitudes of life, finds himself in a locked ward of a mental hospital. In the book' s opening scene, he is fleeing captivity only to find that London has been demolished worse than in WWII. Every building has toppled, every window smashed, every roadway has buckled. His first thought after seeing the devastation is that he must find his daughter Lucy, and so his journey begins at the end of the world.
We follow Silas in two ways: forward on his way to find Lucy, and backward in memory as he relieves and remembers important parts of his life. These forward and backward looking scenes are interleaved; woven together as the warp and weft of Silas' life slowly merge, becoming a human tapestry woven by the word master, Davies. I don't believe I have ever seen a characterization done as well as Silas. From start to finish, you can see the tempests inside him, driven by a multitude of things, but primarily by those he loves, his freedom and his writing.
Silas is incredibly articulate and imaginative. His running commentary on his journeys is lyrical, haunting, disturbing and powerful. He has come out of the fog of antipsychotic medication by the time the story starts and slowly regains his memories and identity as new experiences trigger past events. Brave, selfless, optimistic, determined and stubborn, Silas will risk everything to get to Lucy.
The imagery in the story is so strong that each paragraph carries its own 3D surround sound, cinematic image. If ever a book should be brought to the screen, it should be this one. Between the story, the images and the action, I believe it would have wide appeal.
Davies has his own writing style - almost a type of free verse in prose that illuminates images he's describing; essentially a lyrical flow of long sentences using multiple, unconventional yet effective metaphors to create each full blown image. Going back through the book, I find that each paragraph is its own vignette; capturing a scene, specific actions and emotions. The end result is a powerful, luxuriant prose that creates its own atmosphere. The reader simply breathes in the prose and finds themselves in a world that is ours, but from a wholly different perspective. It is the type of prose that one dives into and comes back up, only at the very last second when all your air has run out.
I finished the book in a single night. I am rereading now. It's even better the second time.
Mr. Davies plumbs the depths of Silas' character to the very core and displays all the gorey details on paper with each layer of his heart and soul through different stages of his life. The result is a full spotlight tour of every nook and cranny of Silas that is sentient The same is true of his daughter Lucy, though only for a single stage of her life. It's a brilliant portrayal of someone with a chronic pain condition. I have personal experience, so I can guarantee that when it is bad, it is much like what Mr. Davies describes. If I could give another star, it would be be for this.
Silas is impetuous. While he likes to think he plans things, he is actually very good at spontaneous risk taking. When presented with a new challenge, he rises to meet it in new and unconventional ways. In his travels from London to get Lucy in the Lake District, Silas not only keeps himself in one piece, but helps others that are abandoned.
Bottom Line: I know it is the biggest cliche in Amazon Land. All the fake reviews use it, as do paid reviewers, but for this particular novel, I actually mean it.
I L o v e T h I s B o o k !
I recommend this book to everyone, ( yes, that's right, you heard me correctly.) Everyone!
The book has action, romance, violence, insanity, dreams, EotW, bombs, murder, crazy boating, a flying car and a man trying to find his daughter.
Highly Recommended!
Good Thumping Read!
May 26, 2022
This is a beautiful, moving, heartbreaking book. Absolutely wonderful.
August 21, 2013
This is the author's second book and the writing is quite good. The plot is sound but a little lacking plausibility. "what is the mystery illness suffered by the daughter, we never find out. The love story is well handled. The basic premise of the book is OK but it does call for the suspension of disbelief to a large degree.
The characters are believable and I really liked the way the author handled the relationships. It's difficult to say more without including spoilers. For me the book could have been improved with a little research, like finding an illness to fit the symptoms of Lucy and having invented a cataclysm finding out what the effects of that might be. However, that is probably just me nit picking.
I am bugged by the fact that an English girl living in England refers to her mother as Mom instead of Mum, or in t'north mam. Then there is the frequent use of leaped instead of leapt. i.e. he leaped from the jeep. Yes I know both are correct but in U.K. English leapt is the norm.
The characters are believable and I really liked the way the author handled the relationships. It's difficult to say more without including spoilers. For me the book could have been improved with a little research, like finding an illness to fit the symptoms of Lucy and having invented a cataclysm finding out what the effects of that might be. However, that is probably just me nit picking.
I am bugged by the fact that an English girl living in England refers to her mother as Mom instead of Mum, or in t'north mam. Then there is the frequent use of leaped instead of leapt. i.e. he leaped from the jeep. Yes I know both are correct but in U.K. English leapt is the norm.
November 4, 2015
This is emotional rollercoaster of a book. At times I wanted to cry or scream for poor Silas who seemed to have everything bad happen to him.
All Silas wants is to see his daughter again but after a multitude of bad happens and lands him imprisoned in a mental institute, he loses hope until Ruth. She tries to get him word on his daughter and in the end helps him escape......but not without the help.of mother nature.....or more accurately the meteors.
Silas battles through rubble, floods and the army to make his way to his daughter.
Written in such a way that you can't help but feel sorry for Silas
All Silas wants is to see his daughter again but after a multitude of bad happens and lands him imprisoned in a mental institute, he loses hope until Ruth. She tries to get him word on his daughter and in the end helps him escape......but not without the help.of mother nature.....or more accurately the meteors.
Silas battles through rubble, floods and the army to make his way to his daughter.
Written in such a way that you can't help but feel sorry for Silas
February 8, 2014
Fantastic, but often sad, story of a man who, in the midst of his great love for his wife and daughter, loses his grip on reality. Locked up for many years in an asylum, he is released just as the world is ending due to asteroid impacts, nuclear explosions, and other forces to try to find his daughter before everything ends. The story advances on many fronts to converge on the final ending. Good writing.
May 5, 2014
Beautiful,sad and funny. One for my best of list....
September 13, 2015
No words!!
I have no words to describe how awesome this book was!!! Even though the ending was so sad, it ended as it should have!! Awesome Robert Davies!!
I have no words to describe how awesome this book was!!! Even though the ending was so sad, it ended as it should have!! Awesome Robert Davies!!
June 29, 2013
Just found this rather depressing
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews