The Man Who Watched the World End: The Great De-evolution, Book 1

If there's one thing I appreciate about this novel, it's that it offers us a quieter take on the apocalypse -- not grand world-shaking cataclysms, but a slow and hopeless fading away. And in all honestly, apocalyptic tales are fully capable of being quiet and introspective as well as bombastic and action-packed. But "The Man Who Watched the World End" is a good example of a novel that has a great idea, but lackluster execution. I appreciate what the author is trying to do... I just don't think he made it happen.The end of the world comes in a way no one expected -- every child is born a Block, someone with so little brain activity that they can't move, talk, think, or sense the world around them. As society slowly ages and collapses, one old man remains in his abandoned community, writing a journal while taking care of his Block brother. As he tends to his brother, fends off wolves and other encroaching wildlife, and hopes for a rescue of some kind, he chronicles the end of the world and ponders his own mortality, as well as whether humanity's struggles were worth it in the end.This book does explore a lot of the implications of its setting -- an aging population, the vanishing of aspects of society that no longer mean anything, and whether any of humanity's accomplishments were worth anything if humanity is going to end anyhow. It also discusses the worth of a human soul, whether that person is able to contribute to society or not. (The author argues that even a Block, someone unable to interact with the world at all, is still a human being and still deserving of compassion and mercy.) And there's even an affirmation about the power of family bonds, especially sibling bonds.Sadly, the book gets rather repetitive, and the fact that it doesn't have a solid story arc but instead reads exactly like it is -- someone writing in a diary -- gets old pretty fast. I was hoping something would happen to break up the monotony of the story, and while there are events that do liven things up, for the most part the book is just one man's ramblings And this gets boring fast. I'm also rather iffy on some of the science behind this world -- the "food processors" that apparently can make food out of nothing, a pack of feral housecats being able to take down a full-grown deer, etc. -- but it's obvious that the science comes in second to the philosophical underpinnings of the story."The Man Who Watched the World End" isn't a terrible book by any means, but by the halfway point I was finding it repetitive and even somewhat dull, and was just reading to finish by the end. If you don't mind a writing exercise without a definite plot, character arc, or ending, you might like this, but if you're hoping for something with a story or character arc, I recommend Ben H. Winters' "The Last Policeman" instead.

I'm generally not one to label entertainment media "depressing" because my ideas on the subject often don't match up with the general consensus. Hell, I squint irritably at the sun and rejoice when the clouds pour rain all day. If I want to improve my mood with music, I often punch up some ambient black metal where artists from countries like Norway or Finland screech an incoherently nihilistic dirge over fuzzed out, muddled and distorted guitar lines. So when I make the definitive statement that this book is DEPRESSING, all-caps bolded, you can believe that is in fact the case.A conundrum, then -  The Man Who Watched The World End  depressed the shit out of me, yet I gave it a 4 star rating. What gives? Well, three things: First, to evoke an emotional response that strong, the author has to be getting a lot of things right along the way. And while Dietzel's authorial debut isn't perfect, it is highly effective in what it sets out to accomplish - a (more or less) solitary man's account of the inevitable last days of the human race, and the circumstances which led it there.Second, there simply was no other way to tell this story. No matter how misanthropic we sometimes pretend to be in our daily lives, the fact is none of us really wants the human race to disappear for good. The very idea is harrowing in its finality, and Dietzel excels in helping the reader understand why that is.Third, Dietzel had a bunch of fantastic ideas that turned the typical post-apocalyptic plotline inside out. Essentially he turned the story into a treatise on the behavior of a human race that knew with certainty that its days were numbered. And for the most part, I believe he succeeded in that regard. I also loved the notion that nature - and the animal kingdom - would quickly reassert the order of things given a diminished human race. I was often reminded of the superb Cable TV series  Life After People (History Channel) . Perhaps Dietzel took inspiration from this series or perhaps not; either way, an excellent job of forecasting the worst case scenario for humanity.The bottom line is, I was captivated by this book from beginning to end, and even cracked a smile a time or two while reading. But make no mistake, this is a bleak, utterly hopeless vision of the future. Due to the circumstances of the "apocalypse," there is literally no hope for the human race to survive. So unlike many novels in the crowded post apocalyptic arena, this book doesn't focus so much on the struggle for survival. Rather, it focuses on one man's struggle to maintain his sanity and make sense of circumstances completely beyond his control, all the while contending with the encroaching forces of nature in an effort to simply maintain the status quo.I'd strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in "dark" apocalyptic stories and books that make you really think about the hard questions encompassing human existence on this planet. In all, a fine debut effort. I'm eager to see further visions Dietzel has to offer.

If you like your apocalypse with lots of action, high tech weaponry, battles for survival and plenty of bloodshed, then this is almost certainly not the book for you. In 'The Man Who... " the world ends without a single bang, but with a long, slow painful exhale of breath, and the acceptance of the inevitable truth that entropy will always win in the end. As with 2 of my favourite books Neville Shute's "On the Beach" and Richard Matheson's "I am Legend", the same atmosphere of poignant hopelessness carries through the book from start to finish. The language has a simple clarity that is almost poetic, a perfect counterpoint to a new kind of Apocalypse - instead of war, pandemic, zombies, violence and savagery, we get to be there at the slow decline of man, the gradual unraveling of humanity's domination of the earth, and the ascent of nature.As our world ends, another is beginning, but there's no optimistic paradise ahead, just raw, rather ugly, nature taking over. Its significant that the empty community the titular hero inhabits is - or was - a golf course, that symbol of nature brought to heel. When the protagonist looks out of his window as nature strangles his community, all he sees growing are weeds, and the only living things he sees are feral, threatening creatures. Significant that his world is now full of predators, bears, wolves, dogs and feral cats abound, reminding us that mankind's former reciprocal relationship with animal life too is over.There's something Ballaradesque about " The Man Who..." It has a similar backdrop to "The Drowned World", that same sense of reversion to something oder, primitive and rather hopeless.

Well, this is pretty bleak stuff! A slight twist on the end of the world themes trodden by many other books in the genre, in that mankind is going out with a whimper, as the ability to reproduce ceases to be possible.The book emphasises the monotony and isolation of living out the end of mankind's days with no one to speak to or interact with very effectively, particularly due to the diary format, which also serves as a metaphor for old age in general. The author also captures the fear and ultimate resignation of the situation beautifully.Although bleak, and sometimes hard to read due to the subject matter, I certainly enjoyed it, it asked questions of the reader in terms of what they valued most in life and challenged the reader to consider how they would react in the same situation

The novella format is better suited to this author.The Last Astronaut read well. The references to the extinction of mankind were enough to set the scene.This novel, in my opinion, was filled with repetition for no good reason.254 pages could easily have been condensed in to less than 100 without losing anything from the story.

This is an inspired idea and to a point, quite evocative. But since finishing it I haven't given it another thought. To me, such a poignant story should leave me a little troubled but this book didn't. I felt that some of the author's ideas of the way humanity would deal with such a situation a bit simplistic. Our hero tends to describe the population reacting to their impending demise and the 'blocks' en masse and I felt the author missed an opportunity to really explore the way different individuals, groups, religions, even cities might respond to such a situation. But I guess that was the point - really this was a low key examination of a single man facing the end, to all intents and purposes alone.

I know this is meant to be about someone’s last thoughts, but I still feel it lacks actual content.Ending could be spotted chapters away, which was disappointing.Good concept, just lacking.I spotted at least two spelling/grammar errors in the last part of the book.