Breakdown

A Love Story

By: Katherine Amt Hanna

Narrated by: Ralph Lister

Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

In a world ravaged by a deadly pandemic, former rock star Chris Price leaves New York and sets out on a long journey home to England. It’s been six years of devastation since the plague killed his wife and daughter, and Chris is determined to find out if any of his family has survived.

His passage leaves him scarred, in body and mind, by exposure to humankind at its most desperate and dangerous. But the greatest ordeal awaits him beyond the urban ruins, in an idyllic country refuge where Chris meets a woman, Pauline, who is largely untouched by the world’s horrors. Together, Chris and Pauline undertake the most difficult facet of Chris’s journey: confronting grief, violence, and the man Chris has become. Together, they will discover whether the human spirit is capable of surviving and loving again in a world of unparalleled desolation.

©2012 Katherine Amt Hanna (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

The resilience of the human soul

As many post apocalyptic novels this one deals with loss and grief.

Is the story of one man and his journey back home. In his way back he'll have to deal with a world gone to hell, With its violence due to extreme desperation for survival and also because the loss of cultural boundaries.

One of the things I liked is that the story does not centers in the dark aspects of the setting (end of the civilization as we know it) nor in the gory details such as starvation rape etc. Oh, you know they are there! It is subtly mentioned in the middle of a conversation or as part of a nightmare and so on. But what i found most captivating is the male character being a true resilient soul. I also love the other characters, they seemed possible in spite of everything or maybe because of everything. You know what they say "disaster brings up the worst and the best of humans"

The performance is good, enjoyable.

OVERALL: Is one of those books that I did not want it to end, I missed it for some time after I finished it and went back for some other one of the same author... did not find it though.

Great story!

What did you love best about Breakdown?

Its a great book. I love "end of humanity" stories in general, and it was refreshing to find a novel that did not seem like I had already read. It was not nearly as bleak as I expected, though its written in such as way that you are constantly second guessing when the next round of badness would pop up.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The reader was good, once you got used to him. He often read inflection into the characters that I would not have, but that is just a small gripe.

Any additional comments?

I would have loved to hear more about what happened in London, though that may have lead down roads well traveled in other stories.

What?

Do you ever get to a point where you have no idea what was read. Some of the voices were badly done. So onward.

Loved it! NO ZOMBIES, Just the plague - thanks!

I love a good end-of-the world tale, but do NOT like vampires or zombies, and this seems to be the trend these days. This is less about the plague and more about the survival afterwards, and it is a good one.

It is very British, which I liked fine, although I have no perspective of where the towns mentioned are because English topography is not something I am familiar with. I also (being American) do not translate kilometers, so I have no idea how far apart these towns were from each other, but it was not a major obstacle to enjoying the book, although it would have helped me visualize things a bit better.

I love picturing what our world would look like after a major, global disaster, and whether we would pick up the pieces or dissolve into anarchy. I pray for the former while fearing the latter, and this shows what likely would be the reality - some of both.

I enjoyed the characters, with human strengths and flaws, and a natural developments between them. This might make it seem predictable, but humans sometimes really are.

Overall, great story that entertained me - and that is the point.

A slow burn...

This book was very different from what I expected. I bought it thinking it was a post-apocalypse narrative, and would describe a changed world and the main characters travels/experiences in it. This book is actually a character drama. The whole focus of the narrative is human relationships with a love story thrown in. There's disappointingly little detail about the post-plague world.
It's still an interesting listen, although my mind started to wander at times. The narrative continues at pretty much the same pace, throughout. No big story upheavals or exciting conflict.

A wonderful story

This book is a great departure from titles I would usually read. I purchased it years ago and read it right through in a day or so, and found it to be absolutely amazing. I recently purchased the audiobook and really enjoyed revisiting this story. The setting, characters, and storytelling are top notch, and highly engaging. I highly recommend this novel.

Not what expected.

The book description lead me to think I would be part of the 6 year journey but really, it begins at the "end" of that 6 years. From there it settles into a fairly long winded relationship type of book which does go into parts of the journey but really... it is more of a apocalypse type book as if written by Nicohlas Sparks. Lots of talk....LOTS.. and some of it overwrought.

With that in mind, it is well written and well narrated. If you do chose this book, make sure you ignore the first part of the books description and only read that second paragraph.

Thoughtful

This book gives a good illustration of what life might be like after a plague has wiped out a good portion of the population. If you’re looking for a heart pounding action packed fight for survival you’ll probably want to pass on this. What the book does over though, is a deep look at how people may react after the crap has hit the preverbal fan. Great character development and an engaging story offer up a nice tale to get you thinking about love, loss and how we go on.

Rich and Memorable

I'm a fan of post-apocalyptic novels, and have read a lot of them. I'm not a fan of what seems to be the current state of the genre, in which most of the story is spent detailing the worst of humanity, which seems to triumph and lay waste to what remains. Worlds in which only the selfish, greedy and vicious seem to survive.

Breakdown tells the story of a man who has been scarred by his experience of loss and how he's endured what the world has thrown at him. Most of it things he'd rather forget. He's looking for his family, but takes a detour which offers him a chance to begin to heal.

I loved it. The characters were rich, the world was believable, and the ever present human spirit and general goodness of most people seems to triumph. Maybe I'm unrealistic, but I tend to think this is a more accurate reflection of the world "after" than the gun-toting survivalists that spend their time decimating the population and laying waste. At least I hope so.

Tired ?

If you’ve had a really rough day and really need to get some sleep and start reading this book pictures be the will be the cure for a sleepless night.