The Deluge by Stephen Markley
Published: 2022
Genre: Fiction; Dystopian
Trigger/Content Warnings: Graphic violence, including depictions of mass-casualty events; Suicide; Strong Language; Discussions of sexual assault
Official Synopsis:
(from Amazon.com)
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.
Review:
I became a fan of Stephen Markley after reading his first novel, Ohio (2019), about a group of former high school classmates who descend upon their hometown after the death of a classmate, who died in combat. The book was dark and gritty, yet captivating in its depiction of small-town life in a modern world. I did not know much about Markley’s second novel, The Deluge, upon its release, other than that it was a scientifically-accurate portrayal of a near-future climate catastrophe. At the time of its release, the novel received glowing praise, receiving a blurb from Stephen King, who called it “a modern classic.”
I need to say first off that teachers should reserve caution in making this book available to students. I would give a very strong MAYBE in writing that this book could be offered to mature readers, but I think that, ultimately, the content is too heavy for classroom use. I was especially taken aback by the very graphic descriptions of two separate mass-casualty events, both of which the reader is placed in the middle of. The violence was grotesque and uncomfortable. This is not me saying that we should be censoring what our students should be reading, as I would never say that, but this should not be a book made available to students through the curriculum. If anything, this could be a book that we can approach with individual readers, in a “if you liked this book, try this book” sort of interaction.
Markley’s characters shine in this book, and while it is difficult to recall the characters at first, you quickly become used to them. The dialogue is organic and fits the personality of every character, making you believe that you actually know them. When characters are described by others on the page, you can recognize them through the work that Markley has done to build them.
I enjoyed this book a great deal, although I thought it could have been 300 pages shorter (880 pages was a haul). In all, I am excited for Markley’s next book.
0 Comments.