What do you think?
Rate this book
Денят на възраждането
В един от секретните институти в Англия са получени нов вид бактерии — страшно оръжие за унищожение. Поради неволна грешка на създателя им образците стават притежание на чужди агенти, които отнасят със самолет „новата смърт“. Самолетът катастрофира… В района на злополуката пламва епидемия и бързо обхваща целия свят. Учените от най-модерните лаборатории се оказват безсилни пред непознатите микроорганизми.
Романът „Денят на възраждането“ е доказателство как един талантлив писател фантаст, какъвто е Сакьо Комацу (род. 1931 г.), чрез силата на своето въображение и прогностичната си интуиция може не само умело да изгради завладяващо и динамично повествование, но и да внуши, че не бива да се допуска една нелепа случайност да предизвика гибелта на човечеството.
Романът „Денят на възраждането“ е доказателство как един талантлив писател фантаст, какъвто е Сакьо Комацу (род. 1931 г.), чрез силата на своето въображение и прогностичната си интуиция може не само умело да изгради завладяващо и динамично повествование, но и да внуши, че не бива да се допуска една нелепа случайност да предизвика гибелта на човечеството.
328 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
20 people are currently reading
1038 people want to read
About the author
Sakyo Komatsu
56 books35 followersBorn Minoru "Sakyo" Komatsu in Osaka, he was a graduate of Kyoto University where he studied Italian literature. After graduating, he worked at various jobs, including as a magazine reporter and a writer for stand-up comedy acts.
Komatsu's writing career began in the 1960s. Reading Kōbō Abe and Italian classics made Komatsu feel modern literature and science fiction are the same.
In 1961, he entered a science-fiction writing competition: "Peace on Earth" was a story in which World War II does not end in 1945 and a young man prepares to defend Japan against the Allied invasion. Komatsu received an honourable mention and 5000 yen.
He won the same competition the following year with the story, "Memoirs of an Eccentric Time Traveller". His first novel, The Japanese Apache, was published two years later and sold 50,000 copies.
In the West he is best known for the novels Japan Sinks (1973) and Sayonara Jupiter (1982). Both were adapted to film, Tidal Wave (1973) and Bye Bye Jupiter (1984). The story "The Savage Mouth" was translated by Judith Merril and has been anthologized.
At the time of publication, his apocalyptic vision of a sunk Japan wiped out by shifts incurred through geographic stress worried a Japan still haunted by the atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was inspired to write it thinking of what would happen if the nationalistic Japanese lost their land, and ironically prefigured the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear plant disaster decades later on March 11, 2011 - the result of which he was interested in "to see how Japan would evolve" after the catastrophe.
Komatsu was involved in organizing the Japan World Exposition in Osaka Prefecture in 1970. In 1984, Komatsu served as a technical consultant for a live concert in Linz, Austria by Japanese electronic composer Isao Tomita. He won the 1985 Nihon SF Taisho Award. Komatsu was one of two Author Guests of Honor at Nippon 2007, the 65th World Science Fiction Convention in 2007 in Yokohama, Japan. This was the first Worldcon to be held in Asia.
With Shin'ichi Hoshi and Yasutaka Tsutsui, Komatsu was considered one of the masters of Japanese science fiction.
Komatsu died shortly after the destruction that followed the themes of his first and hugely successful novel. In the issue of his quarterly magazine published on July 21, Komatsu said he hoped to see how his country would evolve after the catastrophe. "I had thought I wouldn't mind dying any day," he wrote. "But now I'm feeling like living a little bit longer and seeing how Japan will go on hereafter." He died five days after publication, aged 80.
Komatsu's writing career began in the 1960s. Reading Kōbō Abe and Italian classics made Komatsu feel modern literature and science fiction are the same.
In 1961, he entered a science-fiction writing competition: "Peace on Earth" was a story in which World War II does not end in 1945 and a young man prepares to defend Japan against the Allied invasion. Komatsu received an honourable mention and 5000 yen.
He won the same competition the following year with the story, "Memoirs of an Eccentric Time Traveller". His first novel, The Japanese Apache, was published two years later and sold 50,000 copies.
In the West he is best known for the novels Japan Sinks (1973) and Sayonara Jupiter (1982). Both were adapted to film, Tidal Wave (1973) and Bye Bye Jupiter (1984). The story "The Savage Mouth" was translated by Judith Merril and has been anthologized.
At the time of publication, his apocalyptic vision of a sunk Japan wiped out by shifts incurred through geographic stress worried a Japan still haunted by the atomic devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was inspired to write it thinking of what would happen if the nationalistic Japanese lost their land, and ironically prefigured the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that triggered a nuclear plant disaster decades later on March 11, 2011 - the result of which he was interested in "to see how Japan would evolve" after the catastrophe.
Komatsu was involved in organizing the Japan World Exposition in Osaka Prefecture in 1970. In 1984, Komatsu served as a technical consultant for a live concert in Linz, Austria by Japanese electronic composer Isao Tomita. He won the 1985 Nihon SF Taisho Award. Komatsu was one of two Author Guests of Honor at Nippon 2007, the 65th World Science Fiction Convention in 2007 in Yokohama, Japan. This was the first Worldcon to be held in Asia.
With Shin'ichi Hoshi and Yasutaka Tsutsui, Komatsu was considered one of the masters of Japanese science fiction.
Komatsu died shortly after the destruction that followed the themes of his first and hugely successful novel. In the issue of his quarterly magazine published on July 21, Komatsu said he hoped to see how his country would evolve after the catastrophe. "I had thought I wouldn't mind dying any day," he wrote. "But now I'm feeling like living a little bit longer and seeing how Japan will go on hereafter." He died five days after publication, aged 80.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
June 1, 2025
Interesting, rather than engaging, this was an intriguing story told in a detached clinical manner.
3.5/5
3.5/5
March 11, 2014
I coincidentally read this book right after reading Jaques Cousteau's The Human, the Orchid and the Octopus. It was a really lucky choice, since Cousteau's book gave me some really good context for the political climate that is present in Virus and the era it was written in (esp. regarding cold war and nuclear weapons). Thematically, the two books were also surprisingly similar. They both have a strong faith in humanity and science, but don't fail to show their darker sides as well. Both books also criticize the way in which most of scientific research is made or used for warfare purposes, and how the secrets that are kept for the sake of "national security" could endanger the whole planet we live on. And both of them are reminders of how small we actually are on a universal scale.
There is something almost soothing to the way Virus is written. Pages of scientific jargon here and there might not be the best way to tell a story, but somehow they helped to create a strong effect of immersion. There wasn't a single character that I would have cared that much about, but there was still something very human about the way their inner lives, and the eventual demise of human society, were portrayed. I enjoyed the atmosphere that had hints of bittersweetness and irony, and yet some sort of hope as well.
Too bad the second part of the book wasn't as enjoyable as the first one. Towards the end it started to feel a bit too much like some silly Hollywood action film, but I guess even those scenes had their purpose. The latter part of the book was also less enjoyable because of the way women were treated in the remaining population, but then again this is a Japanese book written in the 60s, so it could have been a lot worse too. This wasn't a book without flaws, but it was an interesting read with strong and pretty well-executed themes.
There is something almost soothing to the way Virus is written. Pages of scientific jargon here and there might not be the best way to tell a story, but somehow they helped to create a strong effect of immersion. There wasn't a single character that I would have cared that much about, but there was still something very human about the way their inner lives, and the eventual demise of human society, were portrayed. I enjoyed the atmosphere that had hints of bittersweetness and irony, and yet some sort of hope as well.
Too bad the second part of the book wasn't as enjoyable as the first one. Towards the end it started to feel a bit too much like some silly Hollywood action film, but I guess even those scenes had their purpose. The latter part of the book was also less enjoyable because of the way women were treated in the remaining population, but then again this is a Japanese book written in the 60s, so it could have been a lot worse too. This wasn't a book without flaws, but it was an interesting read with strong and pretty well-executed themes.
January 13, 2013
I was not really interested in science fiction books before I read this book. It shows what a small virus can turn into. This Japanese Apocalyptic story was about a virus which ultimately caused people to stop getting influenza shots. It caused panic and death. In the end, the population was low. Scientists, with the low amount of resources that they have. But it would be hard for them. This book was epic and extremely enjoyable. Although it is a very long book, I finished it in one day because I just could not put it down. This book is recommended to everyone by me.
November 14, 2020
"Tears overflowed inside his goggles. Wouldn’t it bring him far greater peace, he wondered, just to stand up now and go walk among the bones, among that great multitude of skeletons that had once been his countrymen, and become one of them? Wouldn’t that be so much easier than going back to the sanitized air of that six-thousand-ton sewage pipe? Vankirk tugged on his arm, indicating that it was time to go back to the ship. They departed as they had come, crawling on all fours, making for deeper water. Again, the thought had begun to gnaw at Yoshizumi’s heart: Why in the world? Why did such a thing have to happen?"
Well that was bleak.
This is very epic in scope, there isn't really a main character, instead you get a lot of perspectives, starting from the beginning of a pandemic to the literal end of humanity. This was written around the time of the cold war and the Cuban missile crisis and many of those anxieties are present here. The sense of dread as the deaths ramp up(not just human, the virus also starts killing every other land based mammal) combined with the snippets of politicians and scientists not really understanding just how dangerous the situation is, definitely makes it a page turner. Beyond that, there's also the hopes and fears of the thousand or so uninfected people, living in scientific outposts in Antarctica or stationed underwater in military submarines.
Well that was bleak.
This is very epic in scope, there isn't really a main character, instead you get a lot of perspectives, starting from the beginning of a pandemic to the literal end of humanity. This was written around the time of the cold war and the Cuban missile crisis and many of those anxieties are present here. The sense of dread as the deaths ramp up(not just human, the virus also starts killing every other land based mammal) combined with the snippets of politicians and scientists not really understanding just how dangerous the situation is, definitely makes it a page turner. Beyond that, there's also the hopes and fears of the thousand or so uninfected people, living in scientific outposts in Antarctica or stationed underwater in military submarines.
November 29, 2020
Not a great read during a pandemic but certainly recommended.
January 28, 2020
This book keeps coming back to me. I’m writing this review more than two years after I finished reading it.
A lot of the time when I read books, I’m reading them as much for the style as for the story itself. The style is typically what stays with me and what keeps me going. In Virus, the writing is standard, it wasn’t really beautiful or engaging stylistically, but I have never read anything else by the author so i don’t know if that’s because of the author or the translator.
The story just seems forever relevant, and the ideas brought up in the story come back to my brain so often. The fears expressed in the story are those we experience daily, but they have a different name now—we edge closer and closer to midnight on the doomsday clock, and the way the author talks about this, abstractly, gives some insight into what’s happening from the perspective of the earth, at least for me.
I have personally recommended this book to several people, none of whom have read it. Hopefully you will.
A lot of the time when I read books, I’m reading them as much for the style as for the story itself. The style is typically what stays with me and what keeps me going. In Virus, the writing is standard, it wasn’t really beautiful or engaging stylistically, but I have never read anything else by the author so i don’t know if that’s because of the author or the translator.
The story just seems forever relevant, and the ideas brought up in the story come back to my brain so often. The fears expressed in the story are those we experience daily, but they have a different name now—we edge closer and closer to midnight on the doomsday clock, and the way the author talks about this, abstractly, gives some insight into what’s happening from the perspective of the earth, at least for me.
I have personally recommended this book to several people, none of whom have read it. Hopefully you will.
June 25, 2022
Just a little light reading in the fallout of a global pandemic. Komatsu’s Virus: Day of Resurrection had a great cinematic adaptation made in 1980 by the heavy-hitting Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku, but interestingly, the film concentrates almost solely on what happens once most of the world has already been wiped out by a mysterious virus, where the novel spends the bulk of its time in the midst of the pandemic as it wreaks its merciless consequences on billions. Published in 1964, it’s an unnervingly prophetic look at the impacts of a biological catastrophe on the world, and actually made for distressing reading at times. The psychic trauma inflicted around the globe by the spread of COVID-19 is foretold in these pages, and then taken to the extreme thanks to an ineffective human response to a fast-spreading virus with a 100% mortality rate. If things weren’t depressing enough, we’re also forced to face the bitter irony that is the nature of man—we cannot help but ensure our own undoing with the highest pinnacles of humanity within reach.
April 16, 2013
The premise of the book was interesting - a deadly virus is released and decimates the globe's population. However, I couldn't get past the scientific arrogance and blatant chauvinism interlaced in the storytelling. There were pages devoted to what felt like the author showcasing his advanced knowledge of virology and there were absolutely no female characters of import in the book. I was disappointed but not entirely surprised by his depiction of women becoming glorified hookers or 'mamas' in the interest of repopulating the Earth. 1960's Japan was not known for it's advanced treatment of or equity for women. In the end, I actually had to laugh at the preposterous final chapter. If you love sci-fi as I do and want to pick this up for a historic and cultural perspective on the genre, be my guest but there are so many other better options.
April 6, 2020
Very science heavy but also quite a learning experience and very prescient. Terrifying. Definitely a must read.
February 26, 2017
A true classic. It's hard to believe this book was written in 1964 and so much of it is so relevant. The parts about armageddon coming after the destruction of humankind is a bit hard to swallow, and the treatment of the few remaining women of the race is backwards and disturbing, but I'd still recommend this one to anyone who likes end-of-the-world scenario books as a genre so that you can see where we started from.
November 7, 2018
A good read, especially if you're into fictional virus diseases and such. Though, in my opinion, it's a bit of a slow read, not that it should take away from the story itself.
October 29, 2017
Very good, describes the end of the world due to a virus, and even though it was written in 1964 it doesn't feel dated.
June 25, 2020
I didn't know that it's about viruses. It's quite boring, nonetheless. To much explanations, combined with naïveté
September 29, 2020
Sakyo Komatsu's Virus: The Day of Resurrection is a science fiction novel that asks the big questions that have ever-present significance in our own time about the relationship between politics and science. As Komatsu's Cold War era novel about the dangers of militarism and nationalist competition shows, science has never been apolitical, and has always been intimately linked with power and the ability to wield power. The Cold War's obsessive pursuit of Mutually Assured Destruction leads the American side of the conflict to unleash a deadly virus intended to be a bioweapon on Earth and brings the human species to the brink of literal extinction. Even as the meagre surviving population of scientists stranded in the Antarctic landmass is forced to reckon with their new reality and find means of continuing their survival, the fallout of those old conflicts threaten their fragile existence as the remaining human population forego old nationalist loyalties and solve problems in a more cooperative manner.
The different scientist figures of different nationalities and beliefs about the world in the novel point to the different relations that scientists have had with politics and power, and the novel seems to have no qualms about dressing down the naiveté of scientists who are unable or unwilling to discern the political significance of their research and allow, for various reasons, those in positions of power with malicious intent to misuse their work.
There was a part of the novel that left me with some dilemma. It was a small bit, but I am not sure how I feel about the strategy for repopulation of the earth with humans that the survivors in this novel agree on. It is all depicted as consensual and perhaps in 1964, when the novel was published, the political climate on questions of reproductive rights was different, but from the perspective of 2020 and the current discourse on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy it hit differently and left me with some discomfort.
The different scientist figures of different nationalities and beliefs about the world in the novel point to the different relations that scientists have had with politics and power, and the novel seems to have no qualms about dressing down the naiveté of scientists who are unable or unwilling to discern the political significance of their research and allow, for various reasons, those in positions of power with malicious intent to misuse their work.
There was a part of the novel that left me with some dilemma. It was a small bit, but I am not sure how I feel about the strategy for repopulation of the earth with humans that the survivors in this novel agree on. It is all depicted as consensual and perhaps in 1964, when the novel was published, the political climate on questions of reproductive rights was different, but from the perspective of 2020 and the current discourse on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy it hit differently and left me with some discomfort.
April 10, 2023
Very good and not what I expected.
What is most surprising is the quantity of research which must have gone into understanding the microbiology for a man with a linguistics degree. The microbiology he is explaining would have been very cutting edge in 1964 and while the Japanese education system is probably better than most western education systems, I doubt they were covering this content in high school at that time. He has done a remarkable job of explaining what was well outside his personal area of expertise and must have been an extremely intelligent man. The other remarkable side of this story is that no one country is blamed for history. 1964 was still a time when the effects of WWII were fresh in people's minds and the author must have lived through at least some of those effects.
The story clearly raises the possible unintentional issues associated with use of germ warfare and nuclear warfare. He makes it clear that it would be very easy for things to go wrong and that power-hungry dictators in charge of such developments are a possible nightmare scenario for the whole world. Humans are fallible and often greedy.
I did have a wry smirk as his description of the previous US president (fictional) was so similar to Trump and he was describing it as insane that anyone like that (racist, sexist, divisive and power-hungry) had ever been elected to be in charge of a country with nuclear weapons. The author was respectful towards the real ex-presidents and used this fictional one as an exaggerated example of the worst that could happen yet in 1964 he almost perfectly described Trump and his policies. Probably a good thing Komatsu was not alive to see a superpower of the free world choose the embodiment of his fictional worst-case scenario.
Corruption, accidents, political cover-up and stupidity all combine across multiple countries in this apocalyptic fiction which is a little too close to the world we live in right now for comfort.
The only reason it is 4 rather than 5 stars is because it was a bit heavy going at times with all the diversions to explain history and concepts. There could have been a few less.
What is most surprising is the quantity of research which must have gone into understanding the microbiology for a man with a linguistics degree. The microbiology he is explaining would have been very cutting edge in 1964 and while the Japanese education system is probably better than most western education systems, I doubt they were covering this content in high school at that time. He has done a remarkable job of explaining what was well outside his personal area of expertise and must have been an extremely intelligent man. The other remarkable side of this story is that no one country is blamed for history. 1964 was still a time when the effects of WWII were fresh in people's minds and the author must have lived through at least some of those effects.
The story clearly raises the possible unintentional issues associated with use of germ warfare and nuclear warfare. He makes it clear that it would be very easy for things to go wrong and that power-hungry dictators in charge of such developments are a possible nightmare scenario for the whole world. Humans are fallible and often greedy.
I did have a wry smirk as his description of the previous US president (fictional) was so similar to Trump and he was describing it as insane that anyone like that (racist, sexist, divisive and power-hungry) had ever been elected to be in charge of a country with nuclear weapons. The author was respectful towards the real ex-presidents and used this fictional one as an exaggerated example of the worst that could happen yet in 1964 he almost perfectly described Trump and his policies. Probably a good thing Komatsu was not alive to see a superpower of the free world choose the embodiment of his fictional worst-case scenario.
Corruption, accidents, political cover-up and stupidity all combine across multiple countries in this apocalyptic fiction which is a little too close to the world we live in right now for comfort.
The only reason it is 4 rather than 5 stars is because it was a bit heavy going at times with all the diversions to explain history and concepts. There could have been a few less.
May 21, 2022
I'll be screening a copy of the film adaptation for my film club in the future, so wanted to give this a read. Ever since Japan Sinks, I've become fascinated with the works of Komatsu, and this pandemic apocalypse doesn't disappoint. I love the macro, genuinely omniscient view he takes on the story, looking down on the world and philosophizing about the parallels between the spread of civilization and the spread of the virus which destroys it, about all the little things that can go wrong to compound a problem into a disaster. I've seen criticisms that it doesn't have enough of a through-line of characters and arcs, but I'm okay with that. It's a story of the world, and when it does zip down to play out a scene between characters, it's an important moment that contributes to the broader picture. In the third act, as we focus on the pocket of survivors, it's more intimate because the world itself has shrunken down to this group, and every decision they make will determine the course of the species. It's gripping, mournful, but also hopeful in the end. While a little 60s scifi pulp at times with the outer space origins of the virus, and the big, silly combination earthquake / nuclear disaster that springs up, it never loses the story, charging through them with its deep human focus. This is a really good book that holds up well, and I hope someone will translate more of Komatsu's work some day.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
November 1, 2023По книгата има направен японско-америкабски филм. VIRUS Day of resurrection.
Гледах него 2:30:00ч.
Филма е слаб и скучен, и кринжд.
Книгата няма да я чета.
Хвана ми погледна заради заглавието.
Филма с 2 думи се разказва за вирус, който трепе сичко, но студа го трепе него. База на Антарктида са единствените живи хора на земята.
Но трябва да изключат атомните бомби във Вашингтон защото ще има земетресение и то ще ги активира, което че доведе до ответн удър от руснаците и цялостно огре.
Нашия човек отива да спре бомбите и в последния момент не успява, те се изстрелват включително и към базата в Антарктида и огре.
Ама накрая и той и базата оцеляват, а вируса е алергичен към радиация. Плюс, че разработиха ваксина.
...
Трябва да се направят резюмета на подобни книги за да не си губи времето човек с тях. Цялата история можеше да бъде разказана в 5-15 мин.
Тъй като не съм чел книгата не е справедливо да и слагам звезда. Може да е много по-интересно от филма, но няма как да знам.
Гледах него 2:30:00ч.
Филма е слаб и скучен, и кринжд.
Книгата няма да я чета.
Хвана ми погледна заради заглавието.
Филма с 2 думи се разказва за вирус, който трепе сичко, но студа го трепе него. База на Антарктида са единствените живи хора на земята.
Но трябва да изключат атомните бомби във Вашингтон защото ще има земетресение и то ще ги активира, което че доведе до ответн удър от руснаците и цялостно огре.
Нашия човек отива да спре бомбите и в последния момент не успява, те се изстрелват включително и към базата в Антарктида и огре.
Ама накрая и той и базата оцеляват, а вируса е алергичен към радиация. Плюс, че разработиха ваксина.
...
Трябва да се направят резюмета на подобни книги за да не си губи времето човек с тях. Цялата история можеше да бъде разказана в 5-15 мин.
Тъй като не съм чел книгата не е справедливо да и слагам звезда. Може да е много по-интересно от филма, но няма как да знам.
January 3, 2024
After reading this I was surprised by how faithful of an adaptation the 80's film was. That being said, I think I prefer the steps the film takes at condensing the overall narrative. While jam packed with information and some intensive analyzation of post-war 60's culture, politics and humanity, it can get a bit too into its topics, teetering on the fanatical. Which if fair considering the consequences each country has on the downfall of the human race, but its got tiring at points.
I hadn't realized that Komatsu also wrote Japan Sinks, which was adapted several times, with my favorite being the memorable 2020 anime Japan Sinks 2020. I was thinking of re-watching the series and comparing the original novel along with the rest of the written and filmed adaptations. A summer adventure, perhaps.
I hadn't realized that Komatsu also wrote Japan Sinks, which was adapted several times, with my favorite being the memorable 2020 anime Japan Sinks 2020. I was thinking of re-watching the series and comparing the original novel along with the rest of the written and filmed adaptations. A summer adventure, perhaps.
December 31, 2022
Extremely scary and almost unbearably dark. This has an added element of uncanny prescience because of recent real-world events, but even without that boost it would be a very powerful work. I was surprised to find that this story predates both Crichton’s ANDROMEDA STRAIN and King’s THE STAND. Komatsu’s meticulously detailed account of a global breakdown is gorgeous. Even if it sometimes delves a bit too far into techno-speak and long speeches, I’m blown away by this book! Definitely going to recommend.
すごく怖いや暗い話。昨今みっちゃリアルな感じもあるね。世界のゆっくり倒ることがとても面白かった。そしてこの本はクライトン作者やキング作者のウィルス本の前に公開した？すごいです！
I read this book through a recommendation in Hideo Kojima’s book THE CREATIVE GENE.
すごく怖いや暗い話。昨今みっちゃリアルな感じもあるね。世界のゆっくり倒ることがとても面白かった。そしてこの本はクライトン作者やキング作者のウィルス本の前に公開した？すごいです！
I read this book through a recommendation in Hideo Kojima’s book THE CREATIVE GENE.
August 13, 2022
An interestingly told tale; its focus on extremely detailed technical explanations calls to mind some of Neal Stephenson's science fiction works, though Komatsu's writing is more Wikipedia-esque to the extent that descriptive language outweighs the narrative a lot of the time. While this probably won't delight all readers, I found this more detached approach worked fairly well here, and the descriptions of human complacency in the face of calamity were at times frighteningly realistic.
February 18, 2023
In the late 1960s, an bioengineered virus is released accidentally and eventually wipes out most of mankind. There is a community of scientists in Antarctica that survive and research the problem. This looks at multiple points of view, so we the crisis on many levels of society. It does feel like the 1960s when it was written. There are some great ideas here. I hope we see more Komatsu novels in English.
April 11, 2020
Reading this book during the Covid 19 pandemic was NOT a good idea.
Especially reading it right after the declaration of a state of emergency.
Now I'm SO scared to go out.
I thought the author did a great job predicting what the world is going to be when the pandemic happened, and the whole WHO thing is just... bizarrely accurate.
But alas, the fictional president of the US is much much more competent than the current one we've got.
... Oh, and it explains why this book was on so many goodreads updates this January...
Especially reading it right after the declaration of a state of emergency.
Now I'm SO scared to go out.
I thought the author did a great job predicting what the world is going to be when the pandemic happened, and the whole WHO thing is just... bizarrely accurate.
But alas, the fictional president of the US is much much more competent than the current one we've got.
... Oh, and it explains why this book was on so many goodreads updates this January...
January 14, 2018
A decent story, even if the ending did seem just a little convenient, but way, way, WAY too much exposition and literal lecturing! I found myself skimming large sections just to bet back to the story. I cannot recommend it.
July 24, 2022
* Virus seems very well researched
But for me:
* The story feels too linear to keep my attention
* It lists a lot of facts, and listings of facts don't keep a story going
* There's no emotion to keep it interesting. No soul written into the characters.
But for me:
* The story feels too linear to keep my attention
* It lists a lot of facts, and listings of facts don't keep a story going
* There's no emotion to keep it interesting. No soul written into the characters.
July 24, 2020
Много научна терминология и на моменти доста зацикля с някои описания, но идеята на книгата е добра и си заслужава прочита.
August 9, 2022
A grim story of a fatal virus wiping nearly of humanity. And the struggle to survive.
September 3, 2022
In some ways really impressed with this book - like the virology and scientific explanations. But other bits are a bit tedious.
November 5, 2022
2022#72 冷战背景下的大流行病与核威胁为题材的科幻
July 14, 2022
Reading this during a pandemic certainly puts a different perspective on things. Ours, of course, won't be the end of humanity, but specfic is all about taking things just a little bit further.
It was so interesting to see how the disease progressed and people reacted in the book compared to real life. Komatsu did an amazing job of predicting some things (things that I never would have thought of until I lived them!), while being off in some other ways.
The book itself reminds me a lot of European/Slavic stories, in that it's more people sitting around giving monologues and lectures, rather than action-oriented plot. There are narrative vignettes scattered throughout the story, though most are framing for another long speech.
The lectures were quite interesting, albeit a little dated. The narrative segments were haunting. Right from the start, where a character is looking through a periscope and trying to figure out what these white things lying in a street might be, until he suddenly realizes that they are a small child's bones... The translation is a bit stilted at times, but that imagery shines through perfectly clear.
It was so interesting to see how the disease progressed and people reacted in the book compared to real life. Komatsu did an amazing job of predicting some things (things that I never would have thought of until I lived them!), while being off in some other ways.
The book itself reminds me a lot of European/Slavic stories, in that it's more people sitting around giving monologues and lectures, rather than action-oriented plot. There are narrative vignettes scattered throughout the story, though most are framing for another long speech.
The lectures were quite interesting, albeit a little dated. The narrative segments were haunting. Right from the start, where a character is looking through a periscope and trying to figure out what these white things lying in a street might be, until he suddenly realizes that they are a small child's bones... The translation is a bit stilted at times, but that imagery shines through perfectly clear.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews