“The Big Book of Post-Collapse Fun” by Rachel Sharp

The latest installment of monthly e-books I’m getting from theGreat Ace Digital Book Box is here! This book centers around Mab, a recent college graduate who majored in philosophy living in Portland, trying to figure out her life. Everything falls apart when the tectonic plates of the Earth start shifting, causing earthquakes and disasters all around. Suddenly Mab is what seems to be the only person left in Portland, trying to survive while she has all the survival skills of a coddled 20-something who doesn’t work out that often. Eventually she decides to try and make it to Canada, one of the most stable places on the globe, with a dumb but loyal canine companion named Vet by her side.

One of the biggest struggles with this kind of book is the lack of other people. Mab is alone for the entire book, save the last chapter or so, and the danger is having her inner monologue the entire time become monotonous and boring. I never really felt that way reading this, the things Mab says are hilarious and so so so relatable given that I am also a 20-something with minimal survival skills. And that makes all of her growth and transformation over the course of her journey feel more relatable because we are at the same stage as her right at the beginning of the book. So the author did an amazing job with that!

The ending did feel kinda predictable, of course it ends with Mab finding a band of humans and joining forces with them. And the allusion to how things are only going to get worse from here. Which is pretty cookie cutter stuff for apocalyptic novels. I guess you have to end the book somehow? I will say that the lackluster ending didn’t prevent me from thoroughly enjoying Mab’s inner monologue, and that the majority of the book is still great regardless.

The main question that I had going through the book was, why is this part of an asexual book club? Mab definitely isn’t asexual, she sometimes discusses how hard it is to date reasonable guys in Portland. And no one else really features in the book as a character. But then I looked up the author online, turns out that Sharp is asexual! 😊 Promote asexual artists and authors!