Empty World

Neil Miller is a teenager much like any other. He has a reasonably loving family, and while they are not rich, they are also not poor. Then one day the Millers set out on a short trip down the motorway to visit Neil's grandparents in the small village of Winchelsea. Suddenly a lorry jack-knifes across the road and the Miller's car smashes full-pelt into it. Everyone, except Neil, is killed. Neil goes to live with his grandparents in Winchelsea. He starts school again in the nearby town of Rye. He and his grandfather return to the Miller's house to collect a few essentials and mementoes, then leave never to return again. Life seems to go on for Neil but really he lives in a numb, empty world. He cannot make new friends at school. He does his schoolwork as a distraction, to fill up the time, rather than out of interest. If anything Neil becomes more cynical about life and people, though perhaps more realistic. Then one day on the news Neil hears about the Calcutta Plague. It strikes the elderly, seeming to make them even older overnight. Quickly the disease spreads to other places and alarmingly begins to infect younger and younger people. Surely Neil and his grandparents will be safe in England, in little Winchelsea? But swiftly, mercilessly the plague rushes closer and closer. Who will survive and how many? Is the end of civilization near? The theme of apocalypse and survival is common in science fiction and this novel could have been just one more, a basically run-of-the-mill story. Christopher, however, turns the standard formula on its head. His tale is not one of heroism and endurance against all odds; rather, it is a catalog of not-coping, bad-luck and misadventure. In real disasters there are certainly those who shine as examples to us of the heights the human spirit can reach to, but how would most of us ordinary people react? Christopher thinks not well. Even Neil, the main character of the story, is able to go on because he has already been numbed by personal tragedy. The events of the cataclysm drift by him as a fog of meaningless happenings. Certainly Neil is upset by further deaths, but not really upset, as we might realistically expect. Interestingly the reader does not dislike Neil for his callousness. Instead we understand him and sympathize. Christopher's succeeds in creating memorable characters and Clive, for one example, stands out as an amiably eccentric, but strangely threatening individual. Clive is slightly mad and Christopher has captured this illness and irrationality well. Neil, however, is the only character who develops as he gradually thaws from his numbness. The story proceeds at an interesting pace and as soon as the details of one circumstance have been adequately explored we move on to a new occurrence or new character. This means that the story is to a certain extent episodic and that some of the characters remain cameos. Each episode receives at least two chapters though, so we

It's too bad that fiction written for young adults is also written off by literary critics - if not, I couldn't imagine a work deserving higher praise than Christopher's "Empty World," which accomplishes the near-impossible task of rejuvenating the stale genres of coming-of-age novel, apocalyptic novel, and survival novel, all wrapped up into a touching, insightful, and compelling story.The power of Christopher's fiction relies largely on a simple device: his heroes are never the biggest, strongest, or even smartest in their environments. They are usually quiet, unassuming, and have the great misfortune to be witnesses and unwilling participants in Events (often catastrophic). In the most heartbreaking scene in "Empty World," the hero finds another boy his age who has just committed suicide, only to realize that that boy was otherwise more intelligent and more capable of survival than he. With these kinds of realizations generating the plot, you can see that this is no ordinary teen fiction.In "Empty World", the hero is emotionally dead long before a devastating virus sweeps the planet clean - and he begins to come alive (metaphorically) only after the rest of the world dies off (literally). His quest to find survivors turns into a near-parody of Sartre's "Huis Clos," as they struggle with their ability - or inability - to live together at all. It's an amazing work from start to finish, full of beautifully painted atmosphere, well-drawn characters, leisurely pacing, and a helluva emotional wallop. Such a pity that the book is so difficult to find anymore. :-/

Read this first as a 14 year old and at that age it made a real impression on me, more so than the classics you get fed at that age. I was reminded of this great book a while ago when I moved to Dulwich (the setting of the family home for the lead character) Just having turned 30 and with a stressful job in the city I felt the need to be 14 again for an evening. I went in search of a copy yet was disappointed to find the book out of print and not in any library close-by. The copies available from booksellers came at a price but I parted with my hard earned cash and once again enjoyed Empty World. I would highlight the parallels between adolescence / turning 30 /standing looking out on the threshold of responsibility, feeling lonely and vulnerable but there are people who could do a much better job then me. To sum-up, well, its a great book. I will be lending my copy to mates if I see them getting wound too tight, but only if they can promise not to bend the page edges...

I had read many of Christophers books before and found Empty World after looking through the library under Christphers name. It is the best book that I have ever read. In amost ten years of further reading I have not found a book so deep, moving and realistic that has captured my imagination and sent my mind reeling. I have read Empty World about 15 times now and it is still as gripping as the first time.

Neil Miller was living a normal life until a car accident killed the rest of his family. He went to live in a quiet village with his grandparents. On the news one night was a story about a plague sweeping through India.Very soon the plague rapidly spread around the world, killing almost everyone. Neil was one of the few who survived. He goes in search of other people.I read this book ten years before I read Earth Abides. The plague in this book is described in more detail. It resembles an ageing disease, but starts off as a fever. An important difference in this book to Earth Abides is that there aren't any adult survivors. The few people who survived were young, possibly because the book was written for a juvenile reader.It's not known if civilization will ever recover. Even if people survived the plague, many skills would have been lost. The story is good but I wasn't happy with the ending.