The Way the World Ends

Publisher's Summary

Sleet in Mississippi? In March? A crazy ice storm lays waste to the South in a #1 New York Times bestselling author’s invigorating, touching story of one slippery night, an open bar, and total abandon.

For three strangers whose paths will cross, the storm hasn’t even reached its peak. Two of them are the kind of climate scientists no one ever listens to in disaster movies. The third, against even icier opposition, has just moved to the Magnolia State to come out. Soon they’ll all be pushed closer to the edge, where the bracing winds of cataclysmic change can be so wildly liberating.

Jess Walter’s The Way the World Ends is part of Warmer, a collection of seven visions of a conceivable tomorrow by today’s most thought-provoking authors. Alarming, inventive, intimate, and frightening, each story can be read, or listened to, in a single breathtaking sitting.

©2018 Big Text, Inc., Jess Walter (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

GREAT STORY NICELY TOLD

If you've ever been to Starkville MS you will understand the setting that prompted Mr. Walter to create this excursion train ride to our destruction.

Cheesy but free, so why not give it a try?

I received this short story as one of Audible's new free Audible Originals, something they offer as a "free purchase" each month for subscribers in a weird attempt to make people feel better about the $15/month fee they charge. (I'd rather have Audible Channels back, but no one's asking me.) So far I've taken at least one of my two freebies every month, but none of them have held much interest and they're just stagnating in my library. This one seemed vaguely relevant to my tastes, so I thought "what the heck?" and hit play on my phone.

It was just okay. Just.

It was very climate-change preachy, which I figure will be super alienating to any deniers still holding on out there. (FWIW, I can remember when there were still plenty of people disputing the science behind cigarettes causing lung cancer, so I get what's going on here too. Companies lose money, livelihoods are risked, the reality of bad news sucks.) But if we're trying to change anyone's minds about the science of it all, going in with mild ridicule of people who don't yet understand or accept is NOT the way to go, and this short definitely hits all the triggers in a mocking way.

In addition to the preachiness -- which I'm not entirely sure is a word, but I'm going with it -- there were a lot of characters thrown together in a rather outlandish set of events. I did have one laugh out loud moment when the two job candidates were caught getting high, doing shots and dancing naked in a hotel room. If only for that hilarious slo-mo scene of utter humiliation, I think I'd say "Sure, give The Way the World Ends a try."

Easily the best of the Warmer Series

This was a great story masterfully told. I was literally LOL at some moments in this. The author does a great job weaving humor into factually correct science concerning the crisis we are in...I loved this story.

Amid a dark shadow of doom, hope glistens

This you must hear. All of it is real, true and accurate. From the depths of despair, hope can emerge like a phoenix rising from ashes. Brilliant performance, encouraging conclusion.

The Gay the World Ends

This is such a fun story, going from deeply serious, to messy, hilarious, awkward drunkenness.. Pretty diverse little cast. Cute and filling. Spoiler Alert: P. S. I'm so glad they corrected Rowan's use of "y'all."

Fun listen but leaves you empty

clever and fun most improbable story that delivers little or no real information or insight

Not what I expected

This book’s primary focus seems to be on furthering a gay liberal agenda. The book has nothing to do with the end of the world. The thesis of this book seems to be that Christian and conservatives are dinosaurs that have no right to exist and should be ignored.
The author of the book seems to be sorely uninformed regarding gun laws. There is a series of statements to the effect that if gun laws were enacted there would be less gun violence. Americans already have a plethora of gun laws on the books. Isn’t more a matter of enforcing what already exist in order to reduce gun violence?
Very disappointed in this book. It is clearly a manifesto.

End of the world sounds horrible but this book was not!

I love Don Miller has the narrator. Such a small book that delves into to sp much. Very thought provoking. I hope we come up with solutions soon.

Charming short novel

Interesting juxtaposition of climate apocalypse with one night in a Mississippi college town. Well written.

Best of the Warmer Series

Enjoyed the story, the writing and the narration was the best. Good description of global warming.