
The Deluge
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By:
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Stephen Markley
About this listen
A New York Times Notable Book
“This book is, simply put, a modern classic. If you read it, you'll never forget it. Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting.” —Stephen King
From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future approaching collapse and a nascent but strengthening solidarity.
In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired in gridlock while a patient but unrelenting ecological crisis looms. America is in upheaval, battered by violent weather and extreme politics. In California in 2013, Tony Pietrus, a scientist studying deposits of undersea methane, receives a death threat. His fate will become bound to a stunning cast of characters—a broken drug addict, a star advertising strategist, a neurodivergent mathematician, a cunning eco-terrorist, an actor turned religious zealot, and a brazen young activist named Kate Morris, who, in the mountains of Wyoming, begins a project that will alter the course of the decades to come.
From the Gulf Coast to Los Angeles, the Midwest to Washington, DC, their intertwined odysseys unfold against a stark backdrop of accelerating chaos as they summon courage, galvanize a nation, fall to their own fear, and find wild hope in the face of staggering odds. As their stories hurtle toward a spectacular climax, each faces a reckoning: what will they sacrifice to salvage humanity’s last chance at a future? A singular achievement, The Deluge is a once-in-a-generation novel that meets the moment as few works of art ever have.
Climate disruption novel: wake up call!
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THIS is Epic - Devastating and yet Hopeful
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Terrifying
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So... there's a lot going on and a dizzying aray of characters to keep up with but do stick with it.
Essentially this book is written over several decades as climate change tightens its grip and how civilisation is effected and struggles to cope.
I won't pretend to understand the science that is written but it feels very convincing and feels very fresh and up to date. There's a few nods to "The Stand' which was a nice touch.
At over 40 hours it's a long listen, but for me, the author has produced something that will stay with me for a long time, I suspect it'll be a film or box set in the future.
cloudy... with a chance of apocalypse
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Will it be a Netflix series?
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Ok wow…that felt like a documentary
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Excellent, scary, epic
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Engrossing and compelling
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I found it far more realistic than ‘Ministry for the future’. And thus ultimately more Thrutopian. (Some call this novel of Markley’s a dystopia. That is clearly a mistake.)
This needs to be widely widely read / listened to. And to become a tv or film series.
It points us towards what we need. Towards our full selves. Towards what is coming. Towards us.
Simply the most important novel of our time
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I think it works on so many different levels. It's an epic dystopian horror (with a richly imagined portrayal of the likely impact of the world heating up). It's also a thoroughly believable and depressing account of how we will react to the unfolding events. To say that the world faces catastrophic seismic changes but they all pull together and find a solution would have been more reassuring. But, no. That's not how it goes. The political reaction becomes more populist and heads are buried deeper into the sand. In one scene a scientist tells a politician, "But you don't understand the science" and the politician answers, "But you don't understand politics". Society fractures and militias begin to fill the gaps.
And finally, it can be read as a Great American Novel. It is a work of literature. The canvas is vast, with such richly drawn characters, interacting with humour, empathy and cruelty, that it frequently left me in a state of awe. As a non-American there were some broader political passages that were more a bit of a tedious slog. But it was important context, and soon the action would move on. And there are some set-pieces of confrontations that take the breath away. The ending has a kind of future optimism. But the journey through catastrophe and social carnage doesn't instill hope. More like a grave sense of impending gloom and anxiety.
So, this book brings to life a vision of what the future may hold. And it is persuasively real. Let's face it, most scientists are no longer warning of what might happen - they are shifting to say 'this is probably going to happen, and this will be tough'. So, the book carefully creates a scarily persuasive picture of a real-life future. Yes, it's a cliche, but I think everyone should read it. They won't! It's length will be too intimidating for normal busy people. Maybe we should hope for the TV series!
Magnificent Great American Dystopian Novel
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