Synopsis
It Happened one night, suddenly, without warning: 90% of the human race disappeared without a trace. Vanished, never to be seen again. There were no portents, no notes, no bodies, no clue as to where they went or whether they would ever come back again. People woke to find their lovers no longer beside them. Children woke to find their parents missing, parents woke to empty cribs. Neighbors found empty houses, empty apartment buildings.
Civilization collapsed.
After a few months of violence spawned by fear and rage, a measure of peace was restored in the Bay Area. Enclaves formed and established defense pacts against the wandering bands of fanatics. They set about surviving, renewing contact with the rest of the world, establishing trading ties with each other, and trying to discover what had caused the Vanishing.
Now, thirty years after the Disappearance, Dr. Easterman is coming across the continent from the Carnegie Institute to work with the Hackers Center in Silicon Valley, continuing a promising line of research on what caused the cataclysmic event. At the House, where a community of survivors has made a good life while continuing to build the Winchester Mansion, a young woman named Renzie is in the middle of the political struggles between various groups in the Valley.
And up in the Oakland Hills a huge band of Heaven Bounders is gathering. The 'Bounders believe that the Vanishing was Judgement Day, and the Vanished have ascended to heaven. They believe that the only thing holding back their own salvation is the disbelief of others - disbelief that is manifested in building houses and growing food. If those others were dead, the Heaven Bounders believe, then Judgement would be fulfilled, and they would join their loved ones in Heaven.
Reviews
The apocalypse of Roessner's ( Walkabout Woman ) well-crafted, sensitive post-apocalyptic novel has nothing to do with bombs or (overtly at least) with some eco-catastrophe, but rather with the mysterious and spontaneous disappearance of 90% of the population. Three decades after the Vanishing, as it is called, the traumatized survivors are still trying to cope with the loss and loneliness: some, like the destructive Heaven Bounders, gravitate toward religious fanaticism; some preserve the memory of lost lives by maintaining their empty homes. The widely varied inhabitants of the House (formerly the Winchester Mansion in San Jose, Calif.) are more optimistic, pulling together to rebuild a secure life in an altered world. Therein lies the book's chief weakness: the answers that House members find in mystical "new physics" seem too easy, and many of the characters are unrealistically nice and reasonable. In the end, this fine novel is marred by Roessner's unwillingness to confront some of the uglier sides of fate and human nature.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Roessner's hardcover debut--part scientific puzzler, part social projection, part mutable-reality shocker--explores an intriguing conjecture: What if 90 percent of the human race, selected utterly at random, suddenly vanished without a trace? Well, two decades after the Vanishing, what remains of California society has fragmented into a bewildering array of groups ranging from forlorn Housers (they hang around their own houses, hoping that those who vanished will somehow, someday, return) to crazy-cult Heaven Bounders (they believe that their mission is to exterminate everyone still alive). For the diverse inhabitants of a rambling, continually expanding communal structure--known simply as The House--survival is the first priority, and so children are taught survival skills as soon as they can walk. Young, thoroughly competent Renzie, however, suspects that The House may be something more than just a big, complicated dwelling--a view shared by Nesta, an aging physicist who walked all the way from Pennsylvania to join a local research group. In probing the causes of the Vanishing, Nest has accumulated evidence that it was merely a prelude to even stranger events. As the mad Bounders mass for an all-out assault on The House, Nesta and Renzie carefully observe the behavior of Minda and the younger generation of House children, who seem able to pop in and out of alternate realities at will. Thoughtfully conceived, convincingly and elegantly developed, with solid female leads and a splendid conclusion. Deeply satisfying. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
One day approximately 90 percent of the world's population vanish. The survivors must cope with marauders, cults, friends, enemies, and nature. In California a scientist, Nesta, joins a group attempting to explain the vanishing. Renzie and Tuck, brother and sister, are co-workers. As research progresses, too many anomalies occur, and Nesta studies them. When "Bounders," an arson-enamored group, attacks, the good people enlist the aid of the children to lead them through various dimensions to safety in their own "Here." Day-to-day routines and a touch of romance flesh out a fantasy world the author ( Walkabout Woman , Spectra: Bantam, 1988) has successfully created. An exciting climax rounds out a book sure to please readers of apocalyptic novels and even some general readers.
- Robert H. Donahugh, formerly with Youngstown & Mahoning Cty. P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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