77 Days in September

As I write this with the book still fresh in my mind I want to make sure everyone knows I listened to the entire book and it kept my attention, if you are not deep in the prepper genre story world this book may be an entry level fun listen. If you are a prepper this book is going to drive you crazy - the premise is great, and held a lot of promise, the writer has some talent at turning a phrase and penning some decent dialog, but in detailing the struggles of the fellow trying to get home it seems that saying his legs were tired was about as far as the excitement got. This guy gets into some scrapes, and almost does not make it but each time it is because he is stupid. The struggles of the guy are never explored, where he gets food, how does he light a fire and why the hell is he always on the highway even though it is a magnet for trouble? Back home his wife has plenty of trouble in her camp but characters are never developed and the scene of the community is never explored or developed outside of a few glimpses which are the highlight of the story. With all of that said the ending is touching and may be worth the price of admission. I really do not know what to do with this story as far as a recommendation goes, If the story line interests you, take a chance on it, the subject matter is important, and the opening chapters are pretty good and were enough to suck me in. If you are a prepper and read a lot of information on the subject this book will probably seem to entry level to keep you awake.

I would think twice.

It was obvious from the beginning

The performance was good.

Yes but I wish the main character was not such a wussy.

No.

No.

The overall scenario was intriguing - an EMP blast took out U.S. power, communication, and transportation, and a man has to hike from Texas to Montana to get to his wife and kids. But the occasional preaching and political bias made me want to scream at times.

The narrative starts out very well, with dramatic and interesting perspectives on the EMP disaster, and the people and systems involved. I really enjoyed the first third or half. But when the journey begins, the plot thins out. Events become a little arbitrary and loosely connected. Something similar happens with the other journey narrative, The Road. The Journey is a difficult form to write, because it is inherently loosely structured. Things begin to happen for no connected reason, just because we have journeyed down the road a little further. However, these two narratives give an important view of the post-apocalypse world, in that the protagonists are not together at the moment when the disaster occurs, but in fact are far apart from each other. This is an aspect of the post-apocalypse that needs to be examined, because it is probably far more likely than the tidy plot in which the protagonists are all conveniently together from the beginning.

If you're looking for prepper tips with a story behind it, this is not the book you're looking for.
That being said, this book is a great story. Its main focus is the travel of one very dedicated average man trying to get home to his family across the U.S. The writer did a very good job with dialog. He wrote in such a way that listening to what was happening made it easy for your imagination to take hold and visualize the story.

This book is a great story.... The main Character would not have been so dumb about the whole when I need to kill this guy part.... but a great story...

Unlike some novels about apocalyptic disaster, this one seemed more balanced and non-judgmental. It did not make me feel like a lazy fool because I don't have a basement bunker filled with MREs and automatic weapons. It also did not make the argument that every person affected by the disaster suddenly becomes either a pathetic victim (worthy of death), an evil villain or a properly armed and prepared survivalist (worthy of life).

I would beg him to PLEASE take at least half a breath between paragraphs. His reading ran paragraphs and chapter endings into one sentence. So you have: Mary looked up at her daughter for the last time the next day was bright and sunny. Very annoying.

It was hard to put it down for the night. It will definitely hold your attention.

One of the best.

Even though I'm a fairly masculine guy, this book did make me cry more than once.

The premise for the story, devastation caused by an EMP, was great, and I listened to the first couple chapters with great anticipation for ensuing elements which never were delivered.

Rather than develop a story on the after-effects of the atmospheric nuclear explosion, the author chose to focus on a single person in pursuit of his family in an unrealistic walk across the country. Would have liked to have known what was happening on the government level, who our allies might be in that situation, how the rest of the world might respond to the incident, etc.

The narrator was slow and mundane. Monotone. Maybe he was cast for the job because of the dour nature of the book itself.

Oh no. Too depressing for the reality-show mentality of today's audiences.

As a huge fan of apocalyptic fiction, I was severely disappointed. The book is written and read as if it is for someone of a 1st grade intellect. The characters are not compelling, and do not build any suspense which would normally be basic in a fiction novel. The author, under the surface, puts into small attempts at proselytizing towards the reader that are annoying. This is certainly not consisten with the genre, and should be avoided if that is your expectation.