The Genocides

At one point in this novel a character expresses the view, "I'm not sure if we've been invaded or if they're just spraying the garden." Aliens have seeded the Earth with giant Plants that tend to eliminate all other plants by out-competing them for basic resources such as water and sunlight. Machines are systematically wiping out not merely humans, but all mammals. A band of survivors in the former USA struggle against Plants, aliens and - themselves. Despite the likely imminent extinction of the species, people still can't stop themselves from getting involved in destructive power politics and personal rivalries. It feels depressingly realistic.

The story is interesting and the bleak but realistic idea that if aliens with interstellar show more travel technology turned up here and didn't like us we wouldn't stand an - Earthly? - chance is in stark contrast to the much more commonplace scenario that the aliens will be defeated by their own hubris e.g. [b:The War of the Worlds|8909|The War of the Worlds|H.G. Wells|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320391644s/8909.jpg|3194841] or humanity's intrinsic superior adaptability and inventiveness e.g. nigh-on every alien invader story from the 1950s on. But that isn't really what this book is about. It is in fact about spraying the garden - with dodgy chemicals. And turning over huge land areas to mono-culture crop growth. And global climate change - this has the earliest reference to the Greenhouse Effect of any piece of fiction I've read, as far as I can remember. Really, this is the fictional equivalent of the extra-ordinarily influential popular science work, [b:Silent Spring|27333|Silent Spring|Rachel Carson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167880280s/27333.jpg|880193]. Other SF writers were working on the general environmental theme and the problems of bio-accumulating insecticides specifically back then, [b:The Green Brain|53727|The Green Brain|Frank Herbert|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312041560s/53727.jpg|3634593] being a prime example. Other major problems facing humanity and indeed, much of life on Earth, were also being tackled back then, for instance population control, in [b:A Torrent of Faces|2324240|A Torrent of Faces|James Blish|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nocover/60x80.png|2330764], a lesser known but tremendously fun [a:James Blish|43625|James Blish|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1227585761p2/43625.jpg] novel in which a society trying to cope with a human population of one trillion is examined.

So, all those problems, understood back in the sixties - how many of them have we solved? And how many have got worse? show less

This 1965 novelette has held up remarkably well to the test of time.
Earth has been ‘seeded' with mysterious spores from space. Everywhere, giant alien plants are growing, resistant to every herbicide that research labs and governments have been able to produce. Destroying ecodiversity and crowding out every native species, the plants seem to have no nutritional value to humans or animals. Without farmland, massive famine results. The cities, dependent on farms for food, are first to collapse.
The last pockets of civilization may be farm villages...
In one such Minnesota village, a farmer rules his family and the survivors from his village as a dictatorial patriarch... harsh, but with survival at heart. But he is old, and in ill-health, show more and times are hard and getting harder. As the characters vie with each other over power and relationships, we see that even desperation is not enough to overcome human pettiness and just plain stupidity.
There's definitely some Biblical allusions going on... although the patriarch is also a religious leader, we see his ‘flock' violate pretty much every one of the Ten Commandments, and commit pretty much every one of the Seven Deadly Sins. They believe they may be being punished by God – but the reality is that humanity itself may be simply beneath the notice of who- or what-ever has caused this destruction.

Very bleak – very, very bleak. But also quite witty and entertaining show less

A unique and grim apocalyptic tale. While the premise of alien plants overtaking the world may seem a bit ridiculous, the author makes the idea palpable and sinister. I definitely plan to delve into some of his other works.

This was my first book by Thomas Disch. I had heard and read much about his classic SF works. Am I a fan? To early to say.

This book was well written and interesting. I didn't like the story or the depressing and dreadful ending. Yes, he is a good writer. But I have to like the story. This didn't work for me. I will read other works by this author.

ISFDB 252437. OCLC 6164225.

De Planten komen iedere dag dichterbij. Kleiner en kleiner wordt het groepje mensen dat stand weet te houden. Kleiner en kleiner wordt hun akker. De Planten groeien welig genoeg en hun sap is voedzaam en onuitputtelijk. Hoog rijzen hun vreemde stengels over de kleine nederzetting. Het lieflijke beeld uit het begin van dit verhaal krijgt allengs een dreigende tint. Geruchten over zinloze verbrandingen verspreiden zich. Mensen en dieren worden verzengd aangetroffen; de daders zijn onbekend. Een aartsvaderlijke boer vlucht met zijn gemeenschap weg van de verschroeingsdood, naar een beschermende grot. Vandaar dringen zij door in de onderwereld van de plantenwortels, en belanden in een duister doolhof waarin zij jammerlijk dreigen om te show more komen. Maar de hel verkeert in een luilekkerland. Het kleverig webwerk, die witte draden, het is een overvloed van zoete suikerspin. De mens lijkt opnieuw overwinnaar. Maar waar komen die planten vandaan? En die branden? show less

Un livre étrange, déroutant par son point de vue sur une apocalypse discrète et silencieuse, avec une humanité pathétique vivant ses derniers instants en s'accrochant à des espoirs bien ténus... Le roman pourrait constituer une forme de préambule lointain au Monde vert d'Aldiss, c'en est assez troublant.