The End Of The World Running Club (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
Well written and heartwarming story of a man who ran 500 miles to find his family in the post apocalyptic world. Edgar/Ed is caught off guard when a meteor shower hits the northern hemisphere and destroys it. He and his family manage to survive in their cellar for a two weeks before they are rescued by the military and taken to bunkers. There he joins a group to go scavenging for food, when he gets back his family is taken away by helicopters to be moved to a safer place. That is when the running club takes shape. Ed and a mangly crew of 4 others start a journey to find his family. They come across a number of people surviving the apocalypse in different ways. The story is mainly about Ed, he is a deeply flawed character whose only redeeming quality is his love for his family. All and all a good book to read. Apocalyptic is one of my favourite genres and I began running in my overweight middle age so there was plenty in Walker's novel to interest me. Edgar, the protagonist and first person narrator, has neglected his family and health as he approaches middle aged slobbery. Then disaster strikes and he has to man up. Walker doesn't jump on the zombie bandwagon, instead using a meteor storm to wreck the earth, which makes a refreshing change. As his family struggle to survive in a cellar beneath the rubble, most readers will find the selfish Edgar difficult to like. However, as the story unfolds, his honesty in facing up to what he has become redeems him somewhat as he struggles to put things right. Like many PA novels, this essentially becomes a road trip as Edgar and his (eventually) small band of companions try to find safety and salvation. Walker has an easy writing style and I read this quickly, finding it difficult to put down. The road trip part of the story could easily have become repetitive but never did, with Edgar and Company encountering a variety of perils and meeting a diverse bunch of characters. Things were often tense and thrilling and Walker keeps the reader on his toes. The theme running through the story, that of Edgar seeking redemption for his selfish, lazy life as he desperately tries to ensure the survival of his family, is as important as the PA theme, and Walker handles it very well. This angle, inter-weaved with the perilous trip through a landscape redefined by a meteor bombardment, sets Walker's novel apart and I can heartily recommend it.
What do You think about The End Of The World Running Club (2000)?
I really enjoyed the resiliency of the characters and the way the author described the apocalypse.
—summer_loves_shelly
Love it until the end. I guess it needs a sequel.
—dac
A great story of survival, and set in the UK :)
—Midnight4200
