World Made By Hand

The world's population has been decimated by several mass bombings, rampant disease and the widespread panic that naturally follows catastrophes of that sort, but the residents Union Grove, New York have found ways to survive. Our narrator is Robert Earle, a businessman turned carpenter and he tells the tale of one summer when a new group of people set up show in Union Grove. These people (a religious sect) were led by the charismatic and somewhat mysterious Brother Jobe and the townspeople didn't quite know what to make of their strange ways.

Now anyone who knows me, knows that this premise had (in my mind) all the makings of a great novel... post-apocalyptic setting, small cast of characters, religious weirdos, etc. But I found myself a little disappointed that my preconceived notions about some of the characters were not playing out the way I had expected. And then I started thinking...those very same characters were also a surprise (nay, a revelation) to the other characters in the book! So, I got to experience first-hand what the people in the book were feeling! Bravo, Mr Kunstler. That's a neat trick!

The ending of this book is a little too tidy (especially for the post-apocalyptic genre), but when you consider the rest of the work, that's a small quibble.

Highly recommended...especially if you are fan of the genre.

By the way, here is the trailer for the book. Why are there trailers for books? Hmmm...uh, the 'Brother Jobe' in the book was less goofy in my mind than he is in this trailer.