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The Last of Us
When a pandemic wipes out the entire population of a remote Scottish island, only a small group of children survive. How will they fend for themselves?
Since the last adult died, sensible Elizabeth has been the group leader, testing for a radio signal, playing teacher and keeping an eye on Alex, the littlest, whose insulin can only last so long.
There is ‘shopping’ to do in the houses they haven’t yet searched and wrong smells to avoid. For eight-year-old Rona each day brings fresh hope that someone will come back for them, tempered by the reality of their dwindling supplies.
With no adults to rebel against, squabbles threaten the fragile family they have formed. And when brothers Calum Ian and Duncan attempt to thwart Elizabeth’s leadership, it prompts a chain of events that will endanger Alex’s life and test them all in unimaginable ways.
Reminiscent of The Lord of the Flies and The Cement Garden, The Last of Us is a powerful and heartbreaking novel of aftershock, courage and survival.
Since the last adult died, sensible Elizabeth has been the group leader, testing for a radio signal, playing teacher and keeping an eye on Alex, the littlest, whose insulin can only last so long.
There is ‘shopping’ to do in the houses they haven’t yet searched and wrong smells to avoid. For eight-year-old Rona each day brings fresh hope that someone will come back for them, tempered by the reality of their dwindling supplies.
With no adults to rebel against, squabbles threaten the fragile family they have formed. And when brothers Calum Ian and Duncan attempt to thwart Elizabeth’s leadership, it prompts a chain of events that will endanger Alex’s life and test them all in unimaginable ways.
Reminiscent of The Lord of the Flies and The Cement Garden, The Last of Us is a powerful and heartbreaking novel of aftershock, courage and survival.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2016
17 people are currently reading
985 people want to read
About the author
Rob Ewing
1 book16 followersRob Ewing is a GP who spent several years living on Barra, a small island in the Western Isles with a population of just over 1,000 people. His poetry and short fiction have been published by New Writing UK and New Writing Scotland, and performed on BBC Radio. The Last of Us is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
September 17, 2017
Five children on a Scottish island are the sole survivors of a plague. The novel is narrated by Rona, an eight year old girl.
There’s not much plot to this novel. Instead there’s a lot of largely irrelevant chit chat among the children and flashbacks to when the plague began which don’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. It’s one of those novels which abounds in creative writing. The voices of the children never quite rang true for me. Always they seemed the voice of an adult pretending to be a child. Another problem I had was the narrator never seemed like a girl to me. I kept thinking of her as a boy and every time I was reminded she was a girl it came as a jolt. And she’s not very likeable which didn’t strike me as a wise move on the part of the author. Why make your narrator, an eight year old girl, unlikeable? The result was I found myself not caring very deeply what happened to her. The constant stream of poetically framed philosophical musings were also hit and miss for me. I can’t say I felt much love for this.
There’s not much plot to this novel. Instead there’s a lot of largely irrelevant chit chat among the children and flashbacks to when the plague began which don’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. It’s one of those novels which abounds in creative writing. The voices of the children never quite rang true for me. Always they seemed the voice of an adult pretending to be a child. Another problem I had was the narrator never seemed like a girl to me. I kept thinking of her as a boy and every time I was reminded she was a girl it came as a jolt. And she’s not very likeable which didn’t strike me as a wise move on the part of the author. Why make your narrator, an eight year old girl, unlikeable? The result was I found myself not caring very deeply what happened to her. The constant stream of poetically framed philosophical musings were also hit and miss for me. I can’t say I felt much love for this.
November 25, 2020
I picked up this little gem while on my usual charity shop book rummage and I'm so glad I did, slow, bleak, yet utterly compelling, it tells the story of a tiny group of children left on a remote Scottish Island after a pandemic has killed all the adults. Narrated by eight year old Rona, we gradually get the story and it's a heartbreaking one. We are party to what the children have to do to survive and also their grief. So much touched a nerve, their memories of all the adults wearing face masks, the regular temperature checks, the distancing, the fear, it was eerie as this was written in 2016, obviously before our current situation. The story of Alex broke my heart, the youngest of the group, Type 1 Diabetic and running out of insulin, this was very well written and accurate, I know as my son was diagnosed with Type 1 when he was six. This story is a slow burn and one that remains with you, 5 stars.
June 2, 2021
A timely read, dealing as it does with a plague that affects the older generation and kills them off, the surviving children do not escape unscathed as this unnamed, undescribed virus leaves them with deep, disfiguring scars.
We follow Rona one of only 5 children that are left as survivors on a remote Scottish island. The narrative of their days reads very much like I Am Legend, where each day they must go on raids to source supplies and avoid the hungry packs of dogs (though like the Matheson book they do befriend one). Unlike Matheson this tale does not deal with the living dead, instead it is the rotting dead, the corpses of the adults they once knew that they must avoid and live in terror of stumbling across. There are also overtones of Lord of the Flies with the eldest child, Elizabeth, trying to take on the adult role and implement some structure to their days while the others are inclined to moments of spite that have far reaching repercussions.
A sad, bleak tale that offers no heroic, happy ending.
We follow Rona one of only 5 children that are left as survivors on a remote Scottish island. The narrative of their days reads very much like I Am Legend, where each day they must go on raids to source supplies and avoid the hungry packs of dogs (though like the Matheson book they do befriend one). Unlike Matheson this tale does not deal with the living dead, instead it is the rotting dead, the corpses of the adults they once knew that they must avoid and live in terror of stumbling across. There are also overtones of Lord of the Flies with the eldest child, Elizabeth, trying to take on the adult role and implement some structure to their days while the others are inclined to moments of spite that have far reaching repercussions.
A sad, bleak tale that offers no heroic, happy ending.
November 5, 2023
Titulo: The Last of Us
Autor: Rob Ewing
Motivo de lectura: #Horror52Weeks
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Mi edicion: Electronico
Puntuacion: 2.5/5
Por alguna extraña razon nunca logre conectar con el libro, y por ende no pude disfrutar de esta lectura.
Aun cuando tiene una premisa muy interesante creo que el fallo principal es que los personajes son muy aburridos (por lo menos a mi me parecieron aburridos).
Igualmente intentaria volver a leer alguna obra de Rob Ewing ya que su prosa me gusto.
Autor: Rob Ewing
Motivo de lectura: #Horror52Weeks
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Mi edicion: Electronico
Puntuacion: 2.5/5
Por alguna extraña razon nunca logre conectar con el libro, y por ende no pude disfrutar de esta lectura.
Aun cuando tiene una premisa muy interesante creo que el fallo principal es que los personajes son muy aburridos (por lo menos a mi me parecieron aburridos).
Igualmente intentaria volver a leer alguna obra de Rob Ewing ya que su prosa me gusto.
June 1, 2016
Though there have been many post apocalyptic / mass pandemic novels in the last few years I think it is extremely difficult to write a good one.
I wasn't a fan of McCarthy's The Road, though it thrilled many and on the big screen also. Tom Perotta's The Leftovers and Josh Malerman's Bird Box also entertained but ultimately disappointed. The best of my little crop in Patrick Ness's More Than This, a type of apocalypse I hope you'll agree.
Here therefore Ewing has pulled something considerable off. The story of a small group of young children surviving a pandemic on a small remote Scottish Island is a captivating one. The island setting is clever and appealing. It is not for the squeamish either. As we join the 9 year old narrator the children have already discovered most of the bodies in their village.
Some things are done especially well by Ewing. There is a 5 year old struggling with diabetes for example, not many novels have had that feature and raised awareness in the last years. Comparisons may be made to Lord of the Flies, as the children bicker, bully and grieve across the months the story covers. The children are younger than that though, so their innocence exaggerated. The ending also provides just enough information to reward the reader.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable read.
I wasn't a fan of McCarthy's The Road, though it thrilled many and on the big screen also. Tom Perotta's The Leftovers and Josh Malerman's Bird Box also entertained but ultimately disappointed. The best of my little crop in Patrick Ness's More Than This, a type of apocalypse I hope you'll agree.
Here therefore Ewing has pulled something considerable off. The story of a small group of young children surviving a pandemic on a small remote Scottish Island is a captivating one. The island setting is clever and appealing. It is not for the squeamish either. As we join the 9 year old narrator the children have already discovered most of the bodies in their village.
Some things are done especially well by Ewing. There is a 5 year old struggling with diabetes for example, not many novels have had that feature and raised awareness in the last years. Comparisons may be made to Lord of the Flies, as the children bicker, bully and grieve across the months the story covers. The children are younger than that though, so their innocence exaggerated. The ending also provides just enough information to reward the reader.
This is a thoroughly enjoyable read.
July 8, 2017
Dystopian novel about a group of children who find themselves isolated on a Scottish island when the adults succumb to an unknown illness. A little more realistic than The Lord of the Flies, the young protagonists must navigate a familiar world that has become cold and frightening in the aftermath of untold horrors. Elizabeth, the eldest, takes on the responsibility of their care, education and medical needs. Brothers, Calum Ian and Duncan, live apart as they wait for their father to return. Young Alex, reliant on insulin, is more vulnerable than most. And Rona, our narrator, tells their story interspersed with her memories of life before.
It's a suspenseful and atmospheric novel that kept me guessing.
It's a suspenseful and atmospheric novel that kept me guessing.
May 28, 2018
It's hard to do post-apocalyptic stories well, but this manages it. Heartbreaking, scary, sad and really beautiful, this is a story about children from a remote Scottish community struggling to survive on their own, and all of the ways they do and don't manage to cope. (12+)
*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*
*Please note: this review is meant as a recommendation only. Please do not use it in any marketing material, online or in print, without asking permission from me first. Thank you!*
May 10, 2023
Well executed portrayal of a group of very young viral plague survivors dealing with isolation and survival. Right up my apocalyptic alley.
April 24, 2016
This is a really powerful and moving story of a group of children on a remote island who have been left alone after some sort of pandemic has wiped everyone else out – certainly everyone in their part of the world, and who knows how much farther the disease has spread? We follow them as they struggle to survive, and their struggle is both convincing and heart-breaking. This is not “Lord of the Flies”, as some other reviewers have (somewhat lazily I think) implied. Here the children really do want to do what’s best, but how to decide what is best? How to balance selfish desires against selfless ones? The story is related in a calm and measured way, which actually has the effect of emphasising the horror and the children’s loneliness. It’s well-plotted and very well-paced, and the gradually revealing of the children’s back stories is well integrated into the narrative. All in all, this is a fine piece of writing, storytelling at its best and very impressive indeed.
July 31, 2016
***I was sent the book by Harper Insider in exchange for an honest review. This review is also what I have used for Waterstones.com***
The Last of Us is Ewing's first novel and, quite frankly, it better not be his last.
The plot surrounds 5 children on a Scottish island, the last survivors of a gruelling virus that wiped out the population. Elizabeth, the eldest, takes the role of teacher, mother and doctor, doing everything to keep the other 4 alive. Two brothers, Calum Ian and Duncan, don't agree with the English girl, the doctors daughter, leading their lives and do everything they can to express their independence and resistance against her. Young Alex, the smallest of the group, a type 1 diabetic with little understanding of what's truly happening who looks up to Elizabeth for complete guidance. Finally, our protagonist, Rona, whose actions set up a disastrous chain of events which leaves the group struggling more than ever for survival.
Together, these 5 must 'shop' in the houses for supplies and survival tools. Good houses, those without a smell, are marked 'G', and bad houses, which contain that all too familiar smell, are marked 'B'. But both must be shopped in to survive. These children are left with no other hope.
When Rona's behaviour makes things turn for the worse, shopping is obsolete. They're in need of something more than what the houses, the shops, the school, the post office and the hospital can give them. They need to find an adult and get to mainland. Somehow.
The Last of Us is gritty and it's real. Ewing doesn't sugar coat the sight of death and destruction, the way he writes is so convincing, you'd think he's lived in the children's world. With haunting scenes and description unparalleled to anything I've read before, The Last of Us stands out as one of, possibly even the best dystopian novels out there. It's not for the faint hearted or weak stomaches and I found myself creasing and wincing at the scenes laid before me in the book, which made me love it even more than I thought was possible.
Perfect for those who loved the concept of Lord of the Flies but prefer a dark, disaster-movie style. I cannot recommend it enough. 5 stars without any hesitation.
May 26, 2016
This book is wonderfully unsettling.
I have seen a couple of reviews that complain that nothing really happens, or that the pace is slow and boring. For me, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
This post-apocolyptic-style story is played out through diary-like accounts told by Rona. They jump around the timeline of events in a way that feels consistent with her loss of a sense of time, and her perception of the reality as she faces. Her eight-year-old comprehension is endearing, insightful, and never unrelatable.
All of the characters are vividly portrayed. They are not a group that would chose each other under normal circumstances, and their backgrounds and vastly different personalities cause immense friction.
As the story unfolded, I couldn’t help thinking that this group of kids, whilst behaving exactly as you would expect of children of their age, handle their bleak situation with much more civility and sense than many adults would. Perhaps this was part of the author’s decision to tell a disaster story through the eyes of children. (I think here of The Stand by Stephen King, and recall the violence, fear, and hatred that stood between the survivors and their future.)
It is hard to talk in much depth about the contents of the book without spoiling the plot. So, I will finish by saying that The Last of Us was a gripping read that lingered in my mind for days after I finished reading it.
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for supplying me with a copy of this title.
I have seen a couple of reviews that complain that nothing really happens, or that the pace is slow and boring. For me, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
This post-apocolyptic-style story is played out through diary-like accounts told by Rona. They jump around the timeline of events in a way that feels consistent with her loss of a sense of time, and her perception of the reality as she faces. Her eight-year-old comprehension is endearing, insightful, and never unrelatable.
All of the characters are vividly portrayed. They are not a group that would chose each other under normal circumstances, and their backgrounds and vastly different personalities cause immense friction.
As the story unfolded, I couldn’t help thinking that this group of kids, whilst behaving exactly as you would expect of children of their age, handle their bleak situation with much more civility and sense than many adults would. Perhaps this was part of the author’s decision to tell a disaster story through the eyes of children. (I think here of The Stand by Stephen King, and recall the violence, fear, and hatred that stood between the survivors and their future.)
It is hard to talk in much depth about the contents of the book without spoiling the plot. So, I will finish by saying that The Last of Us was a gripping read that lingered in my mind for days after I finished reading it.
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for supplying me with a copy of this title.
March 18, 2016
I gobbled this book up in one go because once I'd started I just couldn't put it down. I've read lots of 'survivor' novels for want of a better term but what I liked about this one was the lack of big moments of shock or horror that would have been too easily dropped in. Instead it's the slow inevitability of the plot that builds the tension and the vividly drawn, sympathetic characters. Flash backs create a contrast between the vibrant, adult life of the island and the post-pandemic desolation in what is a very atmospheric book.
Honest review in exchange for an advanced review copy via Netgalley
Honest review in exchange for an advanced review copy via Netgalley
March 8, 2016
I was lucky enough to get hold of a proof copy of this wonderful book and couldn't recommend it highly enough. It is beautifully written and so atmospheric - it really captures the feeling of a remote Scottish island - but also a page turner. I finished it (with tears flowing) in the bath - after ploughing through the last 100 pages, unable to put it down. Am looking forward to recommending it to my book club when it comes out.
August 20, 2016
The Road meets Lord of the Flies. Bleak as fuck. Good book.
June 27, 2017
Con la quantità di romanzi post apocalittici che si sono scritti ci si potrebbe fare una torre di Babele, ma questo risulta davvero piacevole.
Innanzitutto, nonostante il personaggio narrante sia solo una bambina non è stucchevole da leggere: si può dare la voce principale di un racconto ad una bimba di otto anni senza che il tutto diventi una parodia al diabete di una narrazione adulta.
La storia è interessante, sebbene abbia i suoi alti e bassi e pecchi ogni tanto di prevedibilità. Si lascia leggere volentieri, pur non essendo stato -per me- un romanzo che mi ha tenuto sveglia la notte.
Delicato, ma senza peccare di superficialità. Tre stelline e mezzo.
Innanzitutto, nonostante il personaggio narrante sia solo una bambina non è stucchevole da leggere: si può dare la voce principale di un racconto ad una bimba di otto anni senza che il tutto diventi una parodia al diabete di una narrazione adulta.
La storia è interessante, sebbene abbia i suoi alti e bassi e pecchi ogni tanto di prevedibilità. Si lascia leggere volentieri, pur non essendo stato -per me- un romanzo che mi ha tenuto sveglia la notte.
Delicato, ma senza peccare di superficialità. Tre stelline e mezzo.
April 16, 2021
Outo tauti leviää ja tappaa ihmisiä. Etäisellä skotlantilaisella saarella henkiin jää vain viisi lasta, joista kahdeksanvuotias Rona on kirjan kertoja. Nykyhetken ja takaumien vaihdellessa lukija muodostaa pikku hiljaa kuvan, mitä tapahtui ja miksi Rona on viimeinen saaren lapsista.
Tämä on julkaistu jo 2016, mutta tässä oli paljon samaa koronapandemian kanssa: outo tauti, jota ei aluksi aivan ymmärretä, käytetään kasvomaskeja, pestään käsiä, hamstrataan tarvikkeita, ihmisiä kuolee... Silti kirja ei ole tapahtumilla mässäileva, vaan hyvin melankolinen.
Tästä tulee mieleen mm. K.K. Alongin Kevätuhrit, Chris Weitzin The Young World - Kaaoksen päivät ja Jean Heglandin Suojaan metsän siimekseen.
Muisteleminen on kirjan henkilöille tärkeää, joten tällä saan ruksittua Helmet haasteen kohdan "joku kertoo muistoistaan".
Tämä on julkaistu jo 2016, mutta tässä oli paljon samaa koronapandemian kanssa: outo tauti, jota ei aluksi aivan ymmärretä, käytetään kasvomaskeja, pestään käsiä, hamstrataan tarvikkeita, ihmisiä kuolee... Silti kirja ei ole tapahtumilla mässäileva, vaan hyvin melankolinen.
Tästä tulee mieleen mm. K.K. Alongin Kevätuhrit, Chris Weitzin The Young World - Kaaoksen päivät ja Jean Heglandin Suojaan metsän siimekseen.
Muisteleminen on kirjan henkilöille tärkeää, joten tällä saan ruksittua Helmet haasteen kohdan "joku kertoo muistoistaan".
June 2, 2025
I heard, on Reddit, people talking about a show on HBO called The Last of Us. I heard it's also a video game. We don't have HBO, and I actually don't like to watch tv; I'd rather read..
I found a book that I thought was the original story that it was taken from. This book is about five children on a Western Island off the coast of Scotland who have survived a plague that took all of the adults and children on their island. these five children are the last survivors. They had gotten sick, then gotten better. However, their faces and bodies are marked with scars from the blisters caused by the disease.
There's elizabeth, the daughter of two medical doctors, who's the oldest and takes the role of leader. Then there's the protagonist, Rona, whose mother was the postmistress. Then there's little alex, who is a diabetic. Then there are two brothers, Calum ian, and duncan.
Calum Ian and Duncan have their own house and don't stay with the other children. Elizabeth makes sure that Alex gets his injections but he's running out of insulin.
She sets rules for them, making them take lessons everyday, and going out on New shopping trips and old shopping trips. New trips are going to a store and or other places that aren't people's homes. Old shopping trips are trips to people's homes to try and scrounge what they can of food and medicine.
Elizabeth and Rona are bullied by the older of the two brothers. Calum Ian goes around siphoning gas from all the vehicles, filling glass milk bottles with the gas and burying them in his garden. He never talks about why he's doing this.
On a shopping trip they all split up: Calum Ian and Duncan go on their own way, Elizabeth towards another way, and Rona and Alex together. Rona and Alex find a can of hot dogs and some broth. When they get back together and compare what they found, Calum Ian takes the can of hot dogs and broth from rona. She gets angry, and one day decides to go look for it in the boys' family home while they aren't there. She explores their house and finds a camera:
"It's got batteries. It's working. It takes me ten or twenty seconds to work it out. AUTO to get snappy, to look.
I take a picture of my knees, both feet, then my big toes.
Then the back of my throat to show the thingamabob that Alex was talking about. That looks weird.
I choose GALLERY, and find loads of other pictures besides the ones I just did. There's one of Calum Ian and his mum. Duncan and his mum. Then the boys and their little sister Flora, who was nearly at school. Then a picture of their mum on the front step with a big stomach, holding around it with proud hands.
I go through the photos, up and down. The dates go from March to November last year. By December everything bad had started to happen, so the family snaps here must be the last they took.
In a box at Calum Ian's side of the bed are some real pictures.
A marrying one of his mum and dad. He's wrapped them in clingfilm for keeping good.
I put the camera back, and go back downstairs. Their kitchen is like after a bomb. Skyscrapers of dirty plates and cups. Maybe Elizabeth was right about using paper plates. And mouldy tins in a bin overflowing.
Then I find that the cupboards are completely stuffed with food - which they should have shared. There is about a hundred packets of digestive biscuits! Plus crackers galore! And UHT milk, in proper-sized cartons!
Then I see our tins of broth and hot dogs, already opened, eaten.
And I get very, very angry."
Rona deletes all the pictures. This starts a war.
They come back to their house, Elizabeth and rona, and find Total destruction:
"...covered in blue paint. This isn't so terrible. But my pencils: snapped. My pillow: jam spilt on it.
This is enough to make me sad - but then I see that Elizabeth is staring at something else. For the first time, for me, a bit of good news. They got my bed, but the wrong bedside cabinet. Alex must've left his book - there it is, Dr Dog - on my cabinet. Thinking wrongly, they tipped up and smashed all the stuff in his instead.
Me: 'It's better news for me.'
'Shut up,' Elizabeth hisses. 'Shut your face up.'
This shocks me: she never talks like this. I want to tell her how sad she makes me feel by saying that, but she's just staring at the floor beside Alex's cabinet.
'There's red on the floor,' I say, taking my chance to talk again. 'It's a very bad thing to spill the food dye for our water, isn't it?'
Elizabeth: 'You know what this is? On the floor, over here?'
Me: 'No.'
Elizabeth: 'It's Alex's insulin.'
Me: 'But what's it doing down over there?'
Elizabeth: 'It's smashed that's what!'
Me: 'Well... but did you not keep it in the cool box?'
Elizabeth: 'I did. But that was before I brought it here for safe keeping.'
She doesn't want to hear me say he might be all right without it. She isn't interested when I act brave and start to clean my pillow. Instead, Elizabeth looks furious."
They find a little girl hiding in a house: Maire. She's built herself a little nest out of old clothes and sleeping bags. Her brother is in a bedroom across from the one she's in, but she has piled rocks on top of his body. She won't speak; she's traumatized. They finally convinced her to come along with them.
Now everyone knows that Alex is probably going to die. They search everywhere for any insulin that may have been left behind in a home, or in the clinic. But it's hopeless.
One day the two boys come running up to the others, saying that they have to come see what they found. Their father was a fisherman, and he had an inflatable boat locked in a shed. When they broke the door and check the boat, it's only semi-inflated and they have no way to fill it with more air. They decide they're going to try to make it to another island, but it will only hold two of them. Duncan and Elizabeth decide to go.
" 'The deal is: you take me.'
'Or the deal is: one of us takes you. Then at the other side it's me and Duncan. We leave together, and go to the next island to find help, fast as we can, for Alex.'
The deal is everyone sticks together'
Then you and Alex get sick. Because we can't all leave Somebody has to stay, the boat won't take everyone. And it needs a strong person to go looking for help - and a strong person to sail it back. Are you strong?
Elizabeth can't think of an answer. I notice her hair is damp. with sweat coming off her forehead. [She has been cut on the leg, and it'snow infected.]
Then at the other side we look for medicine.' Calum Ian holds his hand out. 'We already know there's none here. Deal?
She doesn't say if it is or not. She just shrugs, which Calum Ian takes for a yes.
'So Duncan can sail with you.' Now he turns to us. 'Which makes it me and the kids. Isn't that right, kids?
Now he has surprised us. Nobody shows a sign of agreeing I look at Elizabeth for guidance, for what she thinks, but she doesn't seem to want to make any more arguments.
'Why do you want us? Alex asks.
'It isn't that I want you, not one bit. It's that you've got me.
Duncan gets his shot with the boat first: fine. He goes first. But then it's me for the main crossing. That's what you're getting
More on purpose he puts out his hand, and gets Elizabeth to shake it: 'I take the kids. OK? End of story.
Then to us: 'We'll go as a team. Isn't that right, kids? Who wants to walk with me? With their Uncle Calum lan?
We don't say: Yes please." "
They get to the other side of the island, where they had agreed with Elizabeth and Duncan to meet up. They see the raft but they don't see Elizabeth and duncan. Calum Ian goes searching for them.
"After this we see him dip it again: and the bigness and the bright colours start over.
For hours we hear him shouting - and shining up and along, up and along, like a lighthouse that hasn't ever found its boat.
But he does find them. We don't want to look. He kneels beside what must be Duncan. Pokes him with a stick, shakes his shoulders to see if that will be enough to wake him up.
We don't see Elizabeth's body until the sky begins to brighten. It's on the far away beach, around the point.
The tide has gone out, leaving her face down, sand in her hair and in her mouth."
Maire makes hand signals and let them know that on the side of her house, there's a boat. they find it; it's a kayak. They try to figure out how they can all go in it to another island, but they simply won't fit. Maire and Alex will fit with Calum ian, but Rona will have to stay behind.
She keeps watching for the kayak and finally gives up. She figures she's going to die. In anger, She lights Calum Ian's and Duncan's family home on fire, and all of the bottles of gas buried in the garden make a huge bomb go up and the whole row of houses on that street are burnt.
Rona almost dies, but Rescuers in a boat looking for survivors see the smoke from her fire.
"...looked like petrol gathering: cars sprayed, caps open. Doors of houses marked up: G, B. Had to be kids.
So now everyone interested, even Skip.
Plastic bags on the shore, close to the pier. Had they set a fire for a beacon and then left? No sign on the road. The dogs weren't cared for, cats feral, half-away.
Ended up house-to-house. Lots of dead at home, they never had time. Checked the mortuary, field hospital at the school.
Children's refuge: someone covered in stones and flowers. The hospital, only the early dead. GP surgery: doors forced, empty.
Supermarket: empty. Coastguard's office: empty. Council offices: empty.
Kids are great trash-gatherers; they build nests just like birds.
Seen it on the other islands. Just follow the trails of rubbish, tins, plastic. So there was this one house.
Kid tried to hide at first. Scared. Murdo reminded me to stay wee, kneel down, let the kid come.
There was a marine VHF not cabled. She wanted a drink.
Drank and drank. Face pocked, so safe enough. Scrawny, bad teeth, not starved. Somebody cared.
Asked if we were real. Here to take you home, Murdo says, and the kid goes: I am home. Nice start.
Slow to give her story. Kept asking if we were real.
Scabbed burns to her arms. Gave her a shot of penicillin and tetanus when we got back to the boat.
She started to talk. That's when we found out about the others. Skip radioed Stornoway: a band of us there - about half a dozen adults - who still had access and could sweep..."
It seems likely that the three children and the kayak are dead. This was such a sad book, except when Rona got rescued. And it's certainly wasn't like anything that you find when you look up her show.
I often think about what will happen when the civilization breaks down, or when a nuclear war happens and I have the bad luck to be a survivor. Then I just think I hope I'm one of the ones that's killed.
I found a book that I thought was the original story that it was taken from. This book is about five children on a Western Island off the coast of Scotland who have survived a plague that took all of the adults and children on their island. these five children are the last survivors. They had gotten sick, then gotten better. However, their faces and bodies are marked with scars from the blisters caused by the disease.
There's elizabeth, the daughter of two medical doctors, who's the oldest and takes the role of leader. Then there's the protagonist, Rona, whose mother was the postmistress. Then there's little alex, who is a diabetic. Then there are two brothers, Calum ian, and duncan.
Calum Ian and Duncan have their own house and don't stay with the other children. Elizabeth makes sure that Alex gets his injections but he's running out of insulin.
She sets rules for them, making them take lessons everyday, and going out on New shopping trips and old shopping trips. New trips are going to a store and or other places that aren't people's homes. Old shopping trips are trips to people's homes to try and scrounge what they can of food and medicine.
Elizabeth and Rona are bullied by the older of the two brothers. Calum Ian goes around siphoning gas from all the vehicles, filling glass milk bottles with the gas and burying them in his garden. He never talks about why he's doing this.
On a shopping trip they all split up: Calum Ian and Duncan go on their own way, Elizabeth towards another way, and Rona and Alex together. Rona and Alex find a can of hot dogs and some broth. When they get back together and compare what they found, Calum Ian takes the can of hot dogs and broth from rona. She gets angry, and one day decides to go look for it in the boys' family home while they aren't there. She explores their house and finds a camera:
"It's got batteries. It's working. It takes me ten or twenty seconds to work it out. AUTO to get snappy, to look.
I take a picture of my knees, both feet, then my big toes.
Then the back of my throat to show the thingamabob that Alex was talking about. That looks weird.
I choose GALLERY, and find loads of other pictures besides the ones I just did. There's one of Calum Ian and his mum. Duncan and his mum. Then the boys and their little sister Flora, who was nearly at school. Then a picture of their mum on the front step with a big stomach, holding around it with proud hands.
I go through the photos, up and down. The dates go from March to November last year. By December everything bad had started to happen, so the family snaps here must be the last they took.
In a box at Calum Ian's side of the bed are some real pictures.
A marrying one of his mum and dad. He's wrapped them in clingfilm for keeping good.
I put the camera back, and go back downstairs. Their kitchen is like after a bomb. Skyscrapers of dirty plates and cups. Maybe Elizabeth was right about using paper plates. And mouldy tins in a bin overflowing.
Then I find that the cupboards are completely stuffed with food - which they should have shared. There is about a hundred packets of digestive biscuits! Plus crackers galore! And UHT milk, in proper-sized cartons!
Then I see our tins of broth and hot dogs, already opened, eaten.
And I get very, very angry."
Rona deletes all the pictures. This starts a war.
They come back to their house, Elizabeth and rona, and find Total destruction:
"...covered in blue paint. This isn't so terrible. But my pencils: snapped. My pillow: jam spilt on it.
This is enough to make me sad - but then I see that Elizabeth is staring at something else. For the first time, for me, a bit of good news. They got my bed, but the wrong bedside cabinet. Alex must've left his book - there it is, Dr Dog - on my cabinet. Thinking wrongly, they tipped up and smashed all the stuff in his instead.
Me: 'It's better news for me.'
'Shut up,' Elizabeth hisses. 'Shut your face up.'
This shocks me: she never talks like this. I want to tell her how sad she makes me feel by saying that, but she's just staring at the floor beside Alex's cabinet.
'There's red on the floor,' I say, taking my chance to talk again. 'It's a very bad thing to spill the food dye for our water, isn't it?'
Elizabeth: 'You know what this is? On the floor, over here?'
Me: 'No.'
Elizabeth: 'It's Alex's insulin.'
Me: 'But what's it doing down over there?'
Elizabeth: 'It's smashed that's what!'
Me: 'Well... but did you not keep it in the cool box?'
Elizabeth: 'I did. But that was before I brought it here for safe keeping.'
She doesn't want to hear me say he might be all right without it. She isn't interested when I act brave and start to clean my pillow. Instead, Elizabeth looks furious."
They find a little girl hiding in a house: Maire. She's built herself a little nest out of old clothes and sleeping bags. Her brother is in a bedroom across from the one she's in, but she has piled rocks on top of his body. She won't speak; she's traumatized. They finally convinced her to come along with them.
Now everyone knows that Alex is probably going to die. They search everywhere for any insulin that may have been left behind in a home, or in the clinic. But it's hopeless.
One day the two boys come running up to the others, saying that they have to come see what they found. Their father was a fisherman, and he had an inflatable boat locked in a shed. When they broke the door and check the boat, it's only semi-inflated and they have no way to fill it with more air. They decide they're going to try to make it to another island, but it will only hold two of them. Duncan and Elizabeth decide to go.
" 'The deal is: you take me.'
'Or the deal is: one of us takes you. Then at the other side it's me and Duncan. We leave together, and go to the next island to find help, fast as we can, for Alex.'
The deal is everyone sticks together'
Then you and Alex get sick. Because we can't all leave Somebody has to stay, the boat won't take everyone. And it needs a strong person to go looking for help - and a strong person to sail it back. Are you strong?
Elizabeth can't think of an answer. I notice her hair is damp. with sweat coming off her forehead. [She has been cut on the leg, and it'snow infected.]
Then at the other side we look for medicine.' Calum Ian holds his hand out. 'We already know there's none here. Deal?
She doesn't say if it is or not. She just shrugs, which Calum Ian takes for a yes.
'So Duncan can sail with you.' Now he turns to us. 'Which makes it me and the kids. Isn't that right, kids?
Now he has surprised us. Nobody shows a sign of agreeing I look at Elizabeth for guidance, for what she thinks, but she doesn't seem to want to make any more arguments.
'Why do you want us? Alex asks.
'It isn't that I want you, not one bit. It's that you've got me.
Duncan gets his shot with the boat first: fine. He goes first. But then it's me for the main crossing. That's what you're getting
More on purpose he puts out his hand, and gets Elizabeth to shake it: 'I take the kids. OK? End of story.
Then to us: 'We'll go as a team. Isn't that right, kids? Who wants to walk with me? With their Uncle Calum lan?
We don't say: Yes please." "
They get to the other side of the island, where they had agreed with Elizabeth and Duncan to meet up. They see the raft but they don't see Elizabeth and duncan. Calum Ian goes searching for them.
"After this we see him dip it again: and the bigness and the bright colours start over.
For hours we hear him shouting - and shining up and along, up and along, like a lighthouse that hasn't ever found its boat.
But he does find them. We don't want to look. He kneels beside what must be Duncan. Pokes him with a stick, shakes his shoulders to see if that will be enough to wake him up.
We don't see Elizabeth's body until the sky begins to brighten. It's on the far away beach, around the point.
The tide has gone out, leaving her face down, sand in her hair and in her mouth."
Maire makes hand signals and let them know that on the side of her house, there's a boat. they find it; it's a kayak. They try to figure out how they can all go in it to another island, but they simply won't fit. Maire and Alex will fit with Calum ian, but Rona will have to stay behind.
She keeps watching for the kayak and finally gives up. She figures she's going to die. In anger, She lights Calum Ian's and Duncan's family home on fire, and all of the bottles of gas buried in the garden make a huge bomb go up and the whole row of houses on that street are burnt.
Rona almost dies, but Rescuers in a boat looking for survivors see the smoke from her fire.
"...looked like petrol gathering: cars sprayed, caps open. Doors of houses marked up: G, B. Had to be kids.
So now everyone interested, even Skip.
Plastic bags on the shore, close to the pier. Had they set a fire for a beacon and then left? No sign on the road. The dogs weren't cared for, cats feral, half-away.
Ended up house-to-house. Lots of dead at home, they never had time. Checked the mortuary, field hospital at the school.
Children's refuge: someone covered in stones and flowers. The hospital, only the early dead. GP surgery: doors forced, empty.
Supermarket: empty. Coastguard's office: empty. Council offices: empty.
Kids are great trash-gatherers; they build nests just like birds.
Seen it on the other islands. Just follow the trails of rubbish, tins, plastic. So there was this one house.
Kid tried to hide at first. Scared. Murdo reminded me to stay wee, kneel down, let the kid come.
There was a marine VHF not cabled. She wanted a drink.
Drank and drank. Face pocked, so safe enough. Scrawny, bad teeth, not starved. Somebody cared.
Asked if we were real. Here to take you home, Murdo says, and the kid goes: I am home. Nice start.
Slow to give her story. Kept asking if we were real.
Scabbed burns to her arms. Gave her a shot of penicillin and tetanus when we got back to the boat.
She started to talk. That's when we found out about the others. Skip radioed Stornoway: a band of us there - about half a dozen adults - who still had access and could sweep..."
It seems likely that the three children and the kayak are dead. This was such a sad book, except when Rona got rescued. And it's certainly wasn't like anything that you find when you look up her show.
I often think about what will happen when the civilization breaks down, or when a nuclear war happens and I have the bad luck to be a survivor. Then I just think I hope I'm one of the ones that's killed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2016
All adults are wiped out after a terrible virus, leaving only six of children stranded on a Scottish island to fend for themselves. The Last of Us is compared to The Lord of The Flies and there are clear common themes between them. It's quite a strong comparison to make, and I wondered if it could live up to such a classic but the book doesn't disappoint. It's not just children stranded on an island, but an exploration of group dynamics, grief, and the struggle to survive.
The narrator of the book, Rona, adds a wisdom to the story. She is looking back at what happened and telling her mum all about it. Knowing she is on the other side of it all makes you wonder where she really is. Did she survive? Did all of them? What are the terrible things she says she has done? It adds atmosphere as she talks of mistakes made, regrets she has, and lessons learned the hard way. She tells the story of how it happened; when the adults were struggling to save as many people from the virus as possible. This is in stark contrast to the bleak world of surviving day by day, hoping to be rescued, whilst they struggling with the grief of losing their families.
I found the book quite slow to get going, but soon understood some of the detail that seemed too much at the beginning was what really made the story later on. Rob Ewing has really thought through this deeply depressing world of being stranded on an island as a child and what it would take to get by. The details of the outbreak itself haunted me for a few days as I considered how I would cope, what it must feel like to see death all around you, and to keep that determination whilst trying to escape what seems inevitable.
Read more of my reviews here https://mrsredsreviews.wordpress.com
The narrator of the book, Rona, adds a wisdom to the story. She is looking back at what happened and telling her mum all about it. Knowing she is on the other side of it all makes you wonder where she really is. Did she survive? Did all of them? What are the terrible things she says she has done? It adds atmosphere as she talks of mistakes made, regrets she has, and lessons learned the hard way. She tells the story of how it happened; when the adults were struggling to save as many people from the virus as possible. This is in stark contrast to the bleak world of surviving day by day, hoping to be rescued, whilst they struggling with the grief of losing their families.
I found the book quite slow to get going, but soon understood some of the detail that seemed too much at the beginning was what really made the story later on. Rob Ewing has really thought through this deeply depressing world of being stranded on an island as a child and what it would take to get by. The details of the outbreak itself haunted me for a few days as I considered how I would cope, what it must feel like to see death all around you, and to keep that determination whilst trying to escape what seems inevitable.
Read more of my reviews here https://mrsredsreviews.wordpress.com
April 3, 2016
I received a copy of this via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
It's hard to believe this is a debut novel. It draws you in from the very beginning with interesting characters and a compelling story.
Told from the point of view of Rona, an eight year old who lives on a remote Scottish island along with four other children. The story jumps to before and after a pandemic which has wiped out everyone else on the island. It's fascinating to see how the children adapt and try to survive without any adults.
I highly recommend this book and will definitely be looking out for more of Rob Ewing's books in the future.
It's hard to believe this is a debut novel. It draws you in from the very beginning with interesting characters and a compelling story.
Told from the point of view of Rona, an eight year old who lives on a remote Scottish island along with four other children. The story jumps to before and after a pandemic which has wiped out everyone else on the island. It's fascinating to see how the children adapt and try to survive without any adults.
I highly recommend this book and will definitely be looking out for more of Rob Ewing's books in the future.
November 27, 2016
This is the sort of book that people are going to love. A gripping and heartbreaking story of 5 children on a remote Scottish island, the only survivors of a pandemic, told from the point of view of 8 year-old Rona. Having read plenty of those global pandemic/apocalypse novels over the last few years there were clearly always going to be moments in this that felt all too familiar. But the rural setting and the children's POV made for something different and highly engaging. Once I started reading this I couldn't put it down. Just what I was needing after all these more cerebral novels I've been reading.
January 23, 2016
Entirely captivating and engrossing, I read this book none-stop, spellbound for long after I finished reading it. These characters get in your head and it is brilliant. At once so easy to read and so well written, this novel includes the (arguably) best things to have in a story: human nests, lots of lists and the apocalypse. I cannot recommend this this book enough. It is magical.
December 15, 2016
The dullness of post apocalyptic life mixed with a child's desire to survive. After everyone on their Outer Hebridean Island dies of a mysterious illness, Rona and her 4 friends band together to stay alive and find a way off the island.
March 27, 2017
I found this book in the library when I wasn't expecting to find anything. I picked it up at first thinking it would be a novel version of the Play Station game (Which is about a virus and a girl who had a cure...really beautiful game...go and play it!)
Anyway, not what I was expecting when I picked it up and found out that the story was from the point of view of an eight year old (girl which I didn't realise for ages afterwards because I was clearly not paying to much attention.)
The Last of Us is a story of a survival and determination, as only a group of children are left alive in their village when a deadly disease claimed the citizens. Cut off from the rest of the world the children spend their days trying to live normal whist sending messages into the ocean for help from people on the outside, savaging through houses for food and clothing and trying to keep their spirits high.
Eventually the plot steadies to finding insulin for Alex, a little boy who had Diabetes and needs to inject daily to prevent him becoming ill, the group gradually begin to leave their village in search of more after a revenge attack from one of the boys of the group is misdirected.
Overall I found this story to be inspired by the well read novel Lord of the Flies and also Michael Grant's Gone series which also features children and gangs without parents. The Last of Us was a steady read, though nothing truly interesting happens and I found myself getting rather bored of it at times. The author lightly touches the surface on description of decay and destitution and it works as the story is from a child's perspective.
I did find the writing style a bit off putting for the first few chapters, as it reads very similar to a play when reading communication between the characters, and it did at first come across as lazy to me, but it does help speed up the entire story that does drag out a little for no real climatic finish.
Its not a book I would read again as both Lord of the Flies and Gone offer much more appealing characters and story development, though the character in The Last of Us were rather well written with their own traits, I just found the story less compelling.
Overall rating 3/5
Anyway, not what I was expecting when I picked it up and found out that the story was from the point of view of an eight year old (girl which I didn't realise for ages afterwards because I was clearly not paying to much attention.)
The Last of Us is a story of a survival and determination, as only a group of children are left alive in their village when a deadly disease claimed the citizens. Cut off from the rest of the world the children spend their days trying to live normal whist sending messages into the ocean for help from people on the outside, savaging through houses for food and clothing and trying to keep their spirits high.
Eventually the plot steadies to finding insulin for Alex, a little boy who had Diabetes and needs to inject daily to prevent him becoming ill, the group gradually begin to leave their village in search of more after a revenge attack from one of the boys of the group is misdirected.
Overall I found this story to be inspired by the well read novel Lord of the Flies and also Michael Grant's Gone series which also features children and gangs without parents. The Last of Us was a steady read, though nothing truly interesting happens and I found myself getting rather bored of it at times. The author lightly touches the surface on description of decay and destitution and it works as the story is from a child's perspective.
I did find the writing style a bit off putting for the first few chapters, as it reads very similar to a play when reading communication between the characters, and it did at first come across as lazy to me, but it does help speed up the entire story that does drag out a little for no real climatic finish.
Its not a book I would read again as both Lord of the Flies and Gone offer much more appealing characters and story development, though the character in The Last of Us were rather well written with their own traits, I just found the story less compelling.
Overall rating 3/5
March 16, 2023
I found this book in the library when I wasn't expecting to find anything. I picked it up at first thinking it would be a novel version of the Play Station game (Which is about a virus and a girl who had a cure...really beautiful game...go and play it!)
Anyway, not what I was expecting when I picked it up and found out that the story was from the point of view of an eight year old (girl which I didn't realise for ages afterwards because I was clearly not paying to much attention.)
The Last of Us is a story of a survival and determination, as only a group of children are left alive in their village when a deadly disease claimed the citizens. Cut off from the rest of the world the children spend their days trying to live normal whist sending messages into the ocean for help from people on the outside, savaging through houses for food and clothing and trying to keep their spirits high.
Eventually the plot steadies to finding insulin for Alex, a little boy who had Diabetes and needs to inject daily to prevent him becoming ill, the group gradually begin to leave their village in search of more after a revenge attack from one of the boys of the group is misdirected.
Overall I found this story to be inspired by the well read novel Lord of the Flies and also Michael Grant's Gone series which also features children and gangs without parents. The Last of Us was a steady read, though nothing truly interesting happens and I found myself getting rather bored of it at times. The author lightly touches the surface on description of decay and destitution and it works as the story is from a child's perspective.
I did find the writing style a bit off putting for the first few chapters, as it reads very similar to a play when reading communication between the characters, and it did at first come across as lazy to me, but it does help speed up the entire story that does drag out a little for no real climatic finish.
Its not a book I would read again as both Lord of the Flies and Gone offer much more appealing characters and story development, though the character in The Last of Us were rather well written with their own traits, I just found the story less compelling.
Overall rating 3/5
Anyway, not what I was expecting when I picked it up and found out that the story was from the point of view of an eight year old (girl which I didn't realise for ages afterwards because I was clearly not paying to much attention.)
The Last of Us is a story of a survival and determination, as only a group of children are left alive in their village when a deadly disease claimed the citizens. Cut off from the rest of the world the children spend their days trying to live normal whist sending messages into the ocean for help from people on the outside, savaging through houses for food and clothing and trying to keep their spirits high.
Eventually the plot steadies to finding insulin for Alex, a little boy who had Diabetes and needs to inject daily to prevent him becoming ill, the group gradually begin to leave their village in search of more after a revenge attack from one of the boys of the group is misdirected.
Overall I found this story to be inspired by the well read novel Lord of the Flies and also Michael Grant's Gone series which also features children and gangs without parents. The Last of Us was a steady read, though nothing truly interesting happens and I found myself getting rather bored of it at times. The author lightly touches the surface on description of decay and destitution and it works as the story is from a child's perspective.
I did find the writing style a bit off putting for the first few chapters, as it reads very similar to a play when reading communication between the characters, and it did at first come across as lazy to me, but it does help speed up the entire story that does drag out a little for no real climatic finish.
Its not a book I would read again as both Lord of the Flies and Gone offer much more appealing characters and story development, though the character in The Last of Us were rather well written with their own traits, I just found the story less compelling.
Overall rating 3/5
August 1, 2018
This book is stunning. The last book I read was Age of Miracles, & I suggested the problems with it were to do with an 11 year old narrator. I'm very glad I read this book next to remind me just how effective a child narrator can be when done well. This book is narrated by Rona, an 8 year old scottish island girl who is left alone with 4 other children when a pandemic sweeps over the world. The 5 children come together & led by Elizabeth they try to have as normal life as possible, they go to school & they write down their memories. Elizabeth had 2 doctor's for parents so she knows to read up in books about medicines & tries to mother them all as best she can. Rona doesn't like seeing Elizabeth's toys as they remind her Elizabeth is still a kid too. Things start to go bad for the children when minor childhood squabbles get out of hand. It is beautifully written & has a gripping plot, a rarity I wish I had savoured more slowly. It is heartbreaking but I do enjoy a well written dystopia/apocalypse story & this is one of the best I have read.
May 11, 2016
Review originally published here: http://girlwithherheadinabook.co.uk/2...
Well. This is by far and away the most depressing book that I've read this year. I started it in my lunch break (I'm knitting a blanket at the moment so have been using my Kindle at lunch as it's easier than having to use something to hold the pages down), then continued on the bus ride home and then completed that evening, flapping my arms whenever anybody tried to stop me. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but it is hard to fault Ewing's claustrophobic and bewildering version of an apocalypse brought about the mysterious 'Guangdong virus'. Left to fend for themselves are a group of five children on a remote Scottish island - somewhere similar to Barra. Like The Lord of the Flies meets The Day of the Triffids, The Last of Us depicts mankind on the brink and provides little in the way of reassurance. This book unsettled me, perhaps because I found so much of Ewing's observations about children under pressure entirely plausible.
The five survivors of the epidemic are the narrator eight yer-old Rona, the sensible Elizabeth (P7), then the MacNeil brothers Carl Ian (P6) and Duncan (P4 like Rona) and then the youngest, Alex who is diabetic and is thus something of a ticking time bomb. Elizabeth is the daughter of the two village GPs, holder of Eco Student badge and the winner of the Gaelic Speaking Prize (Bronze Level) and it is she who attempts to marshal the others into something resembling a normal routine. What's going to work? Team work!
Still, while Elizabeth may seem a paragon, she is still not a parent. She keeps up with Alex's insulin injections, holds his hand when they go for walks and formulates a list of rules, as well as acting as teacher during their 'school days' but Rona is unnerved to see Elizabeth playing with toys. Elizabeth is supposed to be in charge and the cracks begin to show over time.
This is no Enid Blyton adventure and the survivors are certainly not the Famous Five. Rona asks if they are going to go 'throwing bottles' and she is reminded that this is not a game, that it is a serious effort for them to be rescued because 'we've lost all our adults'. They go Old Shopping, meaning looting the shops but are forced by circumstance to try the unsettling New Shopping, which means looking the homes of the dead. A visited house gets a a B on the door if it has a corpse inside and a G if clear. Elizabeth has rules for everything.
Carl Ian struggles to submit to Elizabeth's regime, insisting that his father will return and still bitter at the failure of Elizabeth's parents to keep everyone alive. Tensions rise between the Macneils and the other three, unleashing a series of events which cause the destruction of Alex's insulin, reuniting the group once more as they have to scour the island to find a replacement supply.
Despite the horror of what has befallen them, the reader is protected by Rona, who is trying not to think about it. The children share memories but agree not to talk about the outbreak. They try to steer clear of the dead, to avoid upsetting one another and Elizabeth has a reward system in place designed to keep spirits up. When Carl Ian takes over from Elizabeth as teacher, he draws a bum on the whiteboard and the children all giggle. When they get the portable DVD player working, Alex gets so excited by the menu that Carl Ian calls him Bonus Features for the rest of the book. They are still children.
Presenting the apocalypse from a child's level is a daring idea - we watch as the children walk round the long abandoned shops, trying to figure out which food is still safe to eat. Rona reads the back of the packaging and wonders about statutory rights or wrongs - this feels like a perhaps an overly-mature observation but the point is that Ewing is exploring the practicalities of their situation in detail.
There are some truly haunting set-pieces though - in the course of the search for Alex's insulin, the children realise that they need the keys to the GP surgery. The problem is that they know that they will be in the possession of Elizabeth's father, who died in the field hospital within the community centre. It is Carl Ian who has to suit up to retrieve them, putting on swimming goggles, bicycle clips and covering himself with plastic bags to avoid the flies from the piles of the dead. The children wait outside for him to re-emerge, and indeed he does - gasping. The second-hand descriptions of what he has seen, the statutory corpses which Elizabeth advises him to navigate by - it sent shivers down my spine.
The children are fleshed-out characters, they are not the rosy-cheeked and stout-legged adventurers of vintage children's fiction but they do bear more than a passing resemblance t the children I taught a few years ago.. Their allegiances are complex, their disputes may seem petty but they are children lost and alone and longing to be back in a world where the decisions are not in their hands.
Stuck on an island, this was a castaway story with a difference - Rona even likens it to disappearing in reverse. Her mother always remarked that Rona liked her own company, that she liked to be alone but over the course of the story,, we see how this is not true. Rona can be a disorientating narrator, she keeps up a constant dialogue with her mother and her timeline switches back and forth - we have a little girl here who is not wanting to deal with reality too closely
This was not an uplifting read by any stretch of the imagination. It was uncomfortable, portraying a world where patents cannot keep their children safe. Courage and bright ideas will get these young ones nowhere and our final glimpse only highlights how fragile their sanctuary truly is. A novel to make you cuddle your loved ones closer.
Well. This is by far and away the most depressing book that I've read this year. I started it in my lunch break (I'm knitting a blanket at the moment so have been using my Kindle at lunch as it's easier than having to use something to hold the pages down), then continued on the bus ride home and then completed that evening, flapping my arms whenever anybody tried to stop me. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but it is hard to fault Ewing's claustrophobic and bewildering version of an apocalypse brought about the mysterious 'Guangdong virus'. Left to fend for themselves are a group of five children on a remote Scottish island - somewhere similar to Barra. Like The Lord of the Flies meets The Day of the Triffids, The Last of Us depicts mankind on the brink and provides little in the way of reassurance. This book unsettled me, perhaps because I found so much of Ewing's observations about children under pressure entirely plausible.
The five survivors of the epidemic are the narrator eight yer-old Rona, the sensible Elizabeth (P7), then the MacNeil brothers Carl Ian (P6) and Duncan (P4 like Rona) and then the youngest, Alex who is diabetic and is thus something of a ticking time bomb. Elizabeth is the daughter of the two village GPs, holder of Eco Student badge and the winner of the Gaelic Speaking Prize (Bronze Level) and it is she who attempts to marshal the others into something resembling a normal routine. What's going to work? Team work!
Still, while Elizabeth may seem a paragon, she is still not a parent. She keeps up with Alex's insulin injections, holds his hand when they go for walks and formulates a list of rules, as well as acting as teacher during their 'school days' but Rona is unnerved to see Elizabeth playing with toys. Elizabeth is supposed to be in charge and the cracks begin to show over time.
This is no Enid Blyton adventure and the survivors are certainly not the Famous Five. Rona asks if they are going to go 'throwing bottles' and she is reminded that this is not a game, that it is a serious effort for them to be rescued because 'we've lost all our adults'. They go Old Shopping, meaning looting the shops but are forced by circumstance to try the unsettling New Shopping, which means looking the homes of the dead. A visited house gets a a B on the door if it has a corpse inside and a G if clear. Elizabeth has rules for everything.
Carl Ian struggles to submit to Elizabeth's regime, insisting that his father will return and still bitter at the failure of Elizabeth's parents to keep everyone alive. Tensions rise between the Macneils and the other three, unleashing a series of events which cause the destruction of Alex's insulin, reuniting the group once more as they have to scour the island to find a replacement supply.
Despite the horror of what has befallen them, the reader is protected by Rona, who is trying not to think about it. The children share memories but agree not to talk about the outbreak. They try to steer clear of the dead, to avoid upsetting one another and Elizabeth has a reward system in place designed to keep spirits up. When Carl Ian takes over from Elizabeth as teacher, he draws a bum on the whiteboard and the children all giggle. When they get the portable DVD player working, Alex gets so excited by the menu that Carl Ian calls him Bonus Features for the rest of the book. They are still children.
Presenting the apocalypse from a child's level is a daring idea - we watch as the children walk round the long abandoned shops, trying to figure out which food is still safe to eat. Rona reads the back of the packaging and wonders about statutory rights or wrongs - this feels like a perhaps an overly-mature observation but the point is that Ewing is exploring the practicalities of their situation in detail.
There are some truly haunting set-pieces though - in the course of the search for Alex's insulin, the children realise that they need the keys to the GP surgery. The problem is that they know that they will be in the possession of Elizabeth's father, who died in the field hospital within the community centre. It is Carl Ian who has to suit up to retrieve them, putting on swimming goggles, bicycle clips and covering himself with plastic bags to avoid the flies from the piles of the dead. The children wait outside for him to re-emerge, and indeed he does - gasping. The second-hand descriptions of what he has seen, the statutory corpses which Elizabeth advises him to navigate by - it sent shivers down my spine.
The children are fleshed-out characters, they are not the rosy-cheeked and stout-legged adventurers of vintage children's fiction but they do bear more than a passing resemblance t the children I taught a few years ago.. Their allegiances are complex, their disputes may seem petty but they are children lost and alone and longing to be back in a world where the decisions are not in their hands.
Stuck on an island, this was a castaway story with a difference - Rona even likens it to disappearing in reverse. Her mother always remarked that Rona liked her own company, that she liked to be alone but over the course of the story,, we see how this is not true. Rona can be a disorientating narrator, she keeps up a constant dialogue with her mother and her timeline switches back and forth - we have a little girl here who is not wanting to deal with reality too closely
This was not an uplifting read by any stretch of the imagination. It was uncomfortable, portraying a world where patents cannot keep their children safe. Courage and bright ideas will get these young ones nowhere and our final glimpse only highlights how fragile their sanctuary truly is. A novel to make you cuddle your loved ones closer.
September 4, 2017
I love libraries, cos you can wander around, spot a book, read the blurb, and think, yeah, could be good, and pick it up to read, without having to consider if it's good enough, or worth the cost, cos the worst that can happen is it's not good, and you return it unfinished, and all it cost you was a little time, and so, thanks to the cavalier, it's not costing anything attitude, I found this gem!
Dystopian novels about kids surviving something and having to fend for themselves is not an original premise, but this book definitely stands out from the crowd, it's sparse storytelling, the slow unfolding of what happened, and the great characterisation all blend into a powerfully moving tale of a group of children, isolated from the world, by both a pandemic and geography, and trying to get by, any way they can.
Highly recommended!
Dystopian novels about kids surviving something and having to fend for themselves is not an original premise, but this book definitely stands out from the crowd, it's sparse storytelling, the slow unfolding of what happened, and the great characterisation all blend into a powerfully moving tale of a group of children, isolated from the world, by both a pandemic and geography, and trying to get by, any way they can.
Highly recommended!
February 17, 2020
This novel had an interesting subject: five children, the only survivors from a pandemic on a remote island in the Western Isles, left to their own devices in order to survive. It was written in the first person by one of the survivors, in an unusual style. The language and thought processes were as perceived by the children. It took a while to become accustomed to the style of writing but being interested in the Western Isles and its culture, helped me maintain my interest in the story. There wasn’t a huge story content, more a description of how they survived on the island and the interactions with the characters.It was quite different to “Lord of the Flies” and not so thought provoking. A good enough read for a somewhat unusual novel.
June 18, 2020
Not a good book for Covid-19 reading because its too close for comfort. Interesting read. I found some things didn’t quite work - like if the bodies were still stinking, why were buildings already falling in and rubbish all along the beach? And as everything fell to bits I would have thought that the two doctors (If not the other adults) on the island would at least have made some provisions for these kids to get out - UNLESS it had all happened incredibly fast. As this was written by a doctor who knows these very rural areas I am reluctant to make these a real criticism, and therefore I will just accept it as a “could happen” scenario. Frightening to think of how young kids would have to think to survive.
July 11, 2018
This book gives another side of the pandemic end of the world scenario. We get to see it from the view of a group of children who are the only survivors on a remote Scottish island.
The story is intimate in a way I don't think I have ever seen in a book like this before, and though there isn't really a lot of progression in the story, there is a fair amount happening.
For me, this was an interesting read, though not an easy one. Following the thoughts and actions of children can be frustrating from time to time, and that made it tougher for me to get through, though I'm very glad I did. I would recomend this to everyone, even those who don't usually read pandemic books.
The story is intimate in a way I don't think I have ever seen in a book like this before, and though there isn't really a lot of progression in the story, there is a fair amount happening.
For me, this was an interesting read, though not an easy one. Following the thoughts and actions of children can be frustrating from time to time, and that made it tougher for me to get through, though I'm very glad I did. I would recomend this to everyone, even those who don't usually read pandemic books.
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