After the Apocalypse. by Maureen F. McHugh. 2011
Each of the stories in this collection is influenced by an apocalyptic event, but it is the characters that take center stage. Maureen F. McHugh’s focus on how people react to shattering events is what prevents this collection from falling into the bleaker elements of the premise. These are stories of ‘small people’ who deal with their daily lives under situations that are very challenging.
If I have any criticism is it that the characters are too realistic. We delve briefly into their lives for a few pages, but McHugh has given them more depth than most writers would embed in the hero of a three-book-series.
The stories here were originally published between 2007 and 2010 with three tales appearing here for the first time.
After the Apocalypse by Maureen F. McHugh is rated 83%.
6 good / 3 average / 0 poor.
How do I arrive at a rating?
The Naturalist
Good. A man starts a series of macabre experiments while living in a zombie-prison Cleveland
Special Economics
Good. In a devastated future China, a young woman finds herself trapped in corporate servitude and drawn into political intrigue.
Useless Things
Good. In post-apocalyptic New Mexico, a woman tried to make a small living designing high quality dolls, but a chance encounter will change how she views her world.
The Lost Boy: A Reporter at Large
Average. A dirty bomb and a young man with separate personalities. Told in the style of a newspaper article.
The Kingdom of the Blind
Good. Computer software systems may be starting to become aware, but how will anyone prove it?
Going to France
Average. A group of people fly to France by levitation, which leads a woman to decide to fly to France on an airplane.
Honeymoon
Average. A strange hurried story centering around a poor woman whose marriage ends before the honeymoon and she makes money volunteering for medical testing.
The Effect of Centrifugal Forces
Good. A young woman watches her mother die from a food-based-disease and is surrounded by adults who are barely holding themselves together. Painful and vivid.
After the Apocalypse
Good. Fraught relationship dynamics between a mother and daughter who struggle across an america falling apart after an apocalyptic event.
