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The Deluge

By: Stephen Markley
Narrated by: Corey Brill, Danny Campbell, Gibson Frazier, Stephen Graybill, Soneela Nankani, Joy Osmanski, Melissa Redmond, Aida Reluzco, André Santana, Neil Shah, Aven Shore, Shakira Shute, Pete Simonelli, Shaun Taylor-Corbett
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Summary

A New York Times Notable Book
“This book is, simply put, a modern classic. If you read it, you'll never forget it. Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting.” —Stephen King

From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future approaching collapse and a nascent but strengthening solidarity.

In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired in gridlock while a patient but unrelenting ecological crisis looms. America is in upheaval, battered by violent weather and extreme politics. In California in 2013, Tony Pietrus, a scientist studying deposits of undersea methane, receives a death threat. His fate will become bound to a stunning cast of characters—a broken drug addict, a star advertising strategist, a neurodivergent mathematician, a cunning eco-terrorist, an actor turned religious zealot, and a brazen young activist named Kate Morris, who, in the mountains of Wyoming, begins a project that will alter the course of the decades to come.

From the Gulf Coast to Los Angeles, the Midwest to Washington, DC, their intertwined odysseys unfold against a stark backdrop of accelerating chaos as they summon courage, galvanize a nation, fall to their own fear, and find wild hope in the face of staggering odds. As their stories hurtle toward a spectacular climax, each faces a reckoning: what will they sacrifice to salvage humanity’s last chance at a future? A singular achievement, The Deluge is a once-in-a-generation novel that meets the moment as few works of art ever have.

©2022 Stephen Markley. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved
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What listeners say about The Deluge

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Climate disruption novel: wake up call!

Long time frame and multiple (unlikeable) characters require commitment from the reader. It is worth the long listen through a rollercoaster of increasingly disturbing events narrated by key players. Some tired tropes creep in, but the scope of the novel is impressive. Our grandchildren will ask us what we did about climate change but the wider question is what did we force our governments to do. TW racist characters, ecocide, violence, torture.

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Astonishing overview of our imminent future and the decisions we can still make

A novel that resonated as much with classic American lit like John Dos Passos’ USA as much as with more contemporary climate fiction a la Kim S Robinson. Powerful, incisive and at times quite overwhelming as ecodrama and with some strong and complex female characters to boot - I can so easily see this as a multi-episodic TV spectacle that actually confronts the climate crisis and its intricate ethics and politics without any of the banal oversimplification that showrunners find so tempting. The politocs are woven so closely into the drama and the character driven scenarios that arise. It’s Americo-centric, certainly, but easily translatable to a more global context.

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Terrifying

An incredible journey into the near future of climate collapse and civilisational struggle. Not the easiest to get into initially because of the mixture of voices, characters and styles but worth persevering with - as you get into the story the different strands come together much more clearly and it's much easier to tie them together in the narrative arc. Some good science in there too - the author has clearly done his research. Not a relaxing listen by any stretch of the imagination but one that anyone who cares about the future should read.

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cloudy... with a chance of apocalypse

Stephen King mentioned this book in a tweet suggesting it was as good, if not better than 'The Stand: well I had to find out.
So... there's a lot going on and a dizzying aray of characters to keep up with but do stick with it.
Essentially this book is written over several decades as climate change tightens its grip and how civilisation is effected and struggles to cope.
I won't pretend to understand the science that is written but it feels very convincing and feels very fresh and up to date. There's a few nods to "The Stand' which was a nice touch.
At over 40 hours it's a long listen, but for me, the author has produced something that will stay with me for a long time, I suspect it'll be a film or box set in the future.

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Will it be a Netflix series?

I’ve ended this book with mixed emotions. Yes, it’s tackling climate crisis/disaster in a new way. Did it have to be so long and have so many characters though?

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Ok wow…that felt like a documentary

An oh so real insight into how things might just go down. Lovely range of voices brought the characters to life.

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Excellent, scary, epic

I loved this. Very long but never feels overstretched. Plausible and frightening. Action and scientific rigour. What more do you want?

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Engrossing and compelling

A very credible imagining of the climate and societal breakdown in our near future, heavy going stuff but made very intriguing through the eyes of a range of recognisable characters. It offers much food for thought about why Western political systems are paralysed and unable to meet the challenge of the climate crisis.

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Simply the most important novel of our time

This is the finest example we have yet of actually imagining our future. Imagining A FUTURE.
I found it far more realistic than ‘Ministry for the future’. And thus ultimately more Thrutopian. (Some call this novel of Markley’s a dystopia. That is clearly a mistake.)
This needs to be widely widely read / listened to. And to become a tv or film series.
It points us towards what we need. Towards our full selves. Towards what is coming. Towards us.

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Magnificent Great American Dystopian Novel

Basically, we follow a number of characters as the reality of climate change unfolds with drought, severe heat, catastrophic floods and storms. And then the consequent disruptions to life style, home security and financial turbulence. The action moves from the present day to around 2040. The characters are all separate at the outcome but during the events that unfold their paths cross and coalesce. They consist of political activists, junkies, advertising executives, scientists and other ordinary folk.

I think it works on so many different levels. It's an epic dystopian horror (with a richly imagined portrayal of the likely impact of the world heating up). It's also a thoroughly believable and depressing account of how we will react to the unfolding events. To say that the world faces catastrophic seismic changes but they all pull together and find a solution would have been more reassuring. But, no. That's not how it goes. The political reaction becomes more populist and heads are buried deeper into the sand. In one scene a scientist tells a politician, "But you don't understand the science" and the politician answers, "But you don't understand politics". Society fractures and militias begin to fill the gaps.

And finally, it can be read as a Great American Novel. It is a work of literature. The canvas is vast, with such richly drawn characters, interacting with humour, empathy and cruelty, that it frequently left me in a state of awe. As a non-American there were some broader political passages that were more a bit of a tedious slog. But it was important context, and soon the action would move on. And there are some set-pieces of confrontations that take the breath away. The ending has a kind of future optimism. But the journey through catastrophe and social carnage doesn't instill hope. More like a grave sense of impending gloom and anxiety.

So, this book brings to life a vision of what the future may hold. And it is persuasively real. Let's face it, most scientists are no longer warning of what might happen - they are shifting to say 'this is probably going to happen, and this will be tough'. So, the book carefully creates a scarily persuasive picture of a real-life future. Yes, it's a cliche, but I think everyone should read it. They won't! It's length will be too intimidating for normal busy people. Maybe we should hope for the TV series!

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