Book of the Week, 1 – The Death of Grass
The Death of Grass by John Christopher
Each week I want to highlight what I am reading at the moment. To start with is a great book. The Death of Grass.
The Death of Grass
An easy choice this week. I first read this years ago, it must have been in the 60s. It was ahead of its time. An infection starting in China watched with amused detachment in the West that becomes a world wide issue. Society disintegrating told by focusing on one family and their struggle for survival.
In this case the infection is a rust virus that affects rice but then jumps species and come to infect and kill all grasses. Think about it, no grains, no fodder for animals, there would be mass starvation and society would fail.
What I find chilling is that there are infections that are spreading through our cropsright now, Coronavirus just happens to be another virus but one that affects humans directly.
Written in the mid fifties the tone of this book can appear stilted to our eyes. I know some people can find this a problem. I do not find it a problem at all, in some ways it makes the book more affecting. It reads a bit like John Wyndham (a good thing to me). It has that old British tone that is of sensible Sci Fi that is not Sci Fi at all. I can imagine it being read by a 60s BBC continuity announcer in a standard English voice and that only making the book more apocalyptic.
Prescient is a word that describes this quietly chilling book exactly.
I am so glad that I found this book again, and so sorry that it is so apposite now.
you can find it at Amazon by following this link;
The Death of Grass
Phil’s British Heart Foundation Donation – you know it makes sense
