| Title | : | The Harrows of Spring (World Made by Hand #4) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0802124925 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780802124920 |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 384 |
| Publication | : | First published July 5, 2016 |
In Union Grove, early spring is a challenging season, known as the “six weeks want,” a time when fresh food is scarce and the winter stores are dwindling. The town is struggling in particular this year as the Hudson River trade route to Albany has been halted by the local plantation tycoon Stephen Bullock, who has deemed it too resource-intensive and is now striving for self-sufficiency. Meanwhile, after returning from his travels around what is left of the United States, Daniel Earle is intent on resurrecting a newspaper for the community, and finds an interesting story to cover when representatives of a group of anti-establishment, hyper-liberals known as the Berkshire People’s Republic arrive in the town. The thrilling conclusion to Kunstler’s beloved series, The Harrows of Spring is a powerful, moving tale of insurrection, survival, and what it means to be human.
The Harrows of Spring (World Made by Hand #4) Reviews
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Kunstler has an interesting post-apocalyptic vision as far as what we will eat, how we will work, get from here to there, and take care of trade, energy, infrastructure, and so forth. As in the previous three installments, these are the aspects of the story that I most enjoyed.
As far as the author’s vision for the future of women, give me a break. (As another reviewer quipped, “raped by a bear?!”) Why would women suddenly give up all their independence and suddenly begin looking for men to “care for them?“ Actually, his big concession came on page 169, when the author mentioned the existence of a group of business women (at a bar, in another town)! Gee thanks, James!!! Also, in this future all women wear skirts and of course, automatically take charge of all cooking and cleaning. All men are leaders, comprise the whole town Council and professions, run the farms, and also do all the exploring and trading.
For that matter, why would we suddenly begin referring to the living room as “the parlor?” The anachronistic language and clothing adds to the atmosphere of a future that is both disturbingly alien and yet familiar, but it also damages the book’s believability.
Also why is it that there is, in fact, a “six weeks’ want?“ The author explains that there is no more polyfilm with which to create high tunnels. Thus no one engages in season extension growing. But it in a town that formerly housed more than 3500 people, that now houses 712, that means there are hundreds of dwellings that have windows in them that could be repurposed to make greenhouses for indoor vegetable growing. Flimsy premise — I’m pretty sure that our urban gardeners will still remember how to grow in greenhouses, even if limited to the use of glass windows.
Also disturbing is this future in which, not only are gender roles antiquated, but also LGBT people no longer have innate sexual desire. I found it really sad when Andrew reevaluates his gayness in the book as a kind of self indulgent fantasy he created for himself, rather than a true affectional orientation. Apparently, leading the music circle, holding dinner parties, and helping the down and out is enough for Andrew.
Lastly, I don’t even know what to say about the Berkshire People’s Republic storyline. Kunstler apparently thinks that ideas of gender equality, racial equality and other progressive ideas will naturally crumble in the face of the feudalism and patriarchy of the future, and that only hucksters and criminals will mouth such values in the pursuit of their nefarious activities. I guess. And what was the deal with the “Indians?” -
The Harrows of Spring by James Howard Kunstler is the highly recommended fourth and final volume of the World Made by Hand series. After the world has experienced numerous catastrophes and plagues (before this book) the future now resembles the nineteenth century.
Spring is coming to Union Grove, a small town in upstate New York, which could be a good thing, but there are problems. Food is scarce in the spring and this year is going to be even more challenging since plantation owner and feudal landlord Stephen Bullock is no longer going to have some of his men take his boat down to Albany for goods. The whole town has depended upon his men making this trip and them paying him for the things they need but can't provide for themselves. Stephen can be a little moody.
After his travels, Daniel Earle is back and is starting a paper in town, Brother Jobe and his industrious group are still around too. More disturbing is the group of anti-establishment, hyper-liberals known as the Berkshire People’s Republic who are camping outside of town and have sent a representative to the town. "As the concluding novel in the series powerful, moving tale of insurrection, survival, and what it means to be human."
This is an entertaining conclusion to the series. Those who have not read the previous books might want to before jumping into this fourth and final volume. I don't think they stand entirely on their own without the scaffolding provided by the previous volumes. Clearly it reads like a novel set in the past. The roles of women in this society also reflect past duties, which may bother some readers. The Harrows of Spring reflect social critic Kunstler's views in real life. Perhaps not the best written of the series, I'm rating on the series as a whole.
Disclosure: My advanced reading copy was courtesy of the publisher for review purposes. -
**I received this book for free as a part of a Goodreads giveaway and am providing my unbiased review**
A satisfying conclusion to the series. All stories aren't closed out - but that's part of the point, that this is just a snapshot of a future "made by hand". Kunstler does an excellent job painting reality - what life would truly be like if the events of the series come to pass, which unfortunately includes one very, very tragic scene in particular (without spoiling it).
I never quite got on board with the more mystical portion of the books - I waver back and forth between if it is just thrown in to be there, or if Kunstler truly believes that a side effect of the loss of all of the "noise" of modern society would be a return of senses / feelings / "powers".
There's enough lore interspersed across the four books that a side novel (taking place elsewhere in the states) or an origin novel (more on the cusp of when everything started to fall apart) would do well and I'd line up to read.
Overall - if you haven't read the series, and appreciate alternate futures w/ some social commentary interspersed, give the series a try! -
Just when I thought James Howard Kunstler was finished with his World Made By Hand series, along comes another installment. Makes me wonder if he is going to keep cranking these out until his predictions come true and the collapse of a technological society makes it impossible to publish any more.
Futurists generally agree the human race is on a collision course with disaster. There are two camps. One side believes that with the very same technology that got us into this mess we will find a way out. The other side feels that the collapse is inevitable and the only redemption will come slowly from the small remnant of the human race that climbs out of the rubble and begins to rebuild with the sorry wisdom of experience. Like the Hopis rising from the kiva into the next world. James Howard Kunstler is firmly in the second camp. He has thought long and hard about this. He has crunched the numbers. His novels are not escapist apocalyptic entertainment, like the Hunger Games or the Divergent series. The World Made By Hand is a nightmare world of violence and tragedy, at the same time punctuated with reflections of a kind of hope and beauty not clearly evident in the time before the fall (that being now).
The prose is elegant, old-fashioned, highly readable. The characters are well-drawn and the visuals are vivid and colorful. Although there are strong women, the society Kunstler has created is pretty male-centered- I had some trouble with that. Others have noted the same thing in the reviews left here on Goodreads. But I kept reading and I feel enriched from the experience. -
Book four in the World Made by Hand novels, a "history of the future in a world made by hand" tells the story of the events of a harrowing spring in the town of Union Grove, New York. More post-oil and post government than post-apocalyptic un-United States, The Harrows of Spring reads like realistic rather than science fiction. This series has supplied me with much food for thought about the future.
(Note: I received pre-publication access through Edelweiss.) -
I really enjoy this series. I tell all my friends about it and even strangers who come into the library. Post-apocalyptic USA but not dark and depressing. People surviving on the old ways. I absolutely adore it. Mr. Kunstler, please write more! I've now read them all!
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This is the fourth novel in the World Made by Hand series. The series takes place in and near the town of Union Grove, New York, in a near future when rule of law and the industrial economy have both collapsed.
In this book, Union Grove is slowly reorganizing and trying to come back from the collapse. Life if grim. No electricity, no gasoline, hit-or-miss running water. Without the miracles of modern medicine, many have already died of things as simple as tetanus and flu. The United States has broken into areas of regional government or no government at all, some of them at war with each other. The people of Union Grove are trying to re-establish civilization in their own community. They have leadership in the form of a mayor, two religious leaders and the local landed gentry. A tavern and restaurant has just opened as the story begins. Daniel Earle has started a newspaper - and a romance with a local woman.
But dangers abound. "Pickers" are criminals who sneak into unwary towns or farms and take food, horses or other provisions. Some pickers form criminal gangs.
When representatives of the Berkshire People's Republic come to town, offering Union Grove the opportunity to join a larger confederation, the town leaders are wary. And they eventually find themselves in a fight against an unexpected enemy.
What I liked best about this book was the world-building. The lives of the residents of Union Grove felt real to me, from the agonies of surgery without adequate anesthesia to encounters with bears and wolves. The post-industrial world was believable enough to be kind of scary.
What I liked least was that there wasn't a specific protagonist to root for. The protagonist is really the whole town and their attempt to re-establish rule of law and a functioning economy. So I was interested, but not really emotionally engaged. There was one great tragedy, one glorious surprise, and the start of a romance, but there was so much else going on that I didn't quite feel invested.
I have read three of the four books in this series, and will definitely read the one I missed. If you want to read this series, I recommend reading all of the books one right after the other. I let a lot of time pass between books 1 and 3 before reading this one, and I think I'd have gotten more out of this one if I'd read it right after the others.
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https://camcatbooks.com/Books/T/The-S... -
I give this one a 3.5 stars. The main characters continue to develop nicely and there are some new ones thrown into the mix. The town and landowners are under attack by a group purporting to bring political and judicial order to the region and all parties band together to neutralize the threat - which makes for exciting reading. Brother Jobe, Daniel. and Robert all seem to grow (positively) as characters in the novel, while others (Bullock) appear to be following a different, more violent path. I'm not sure how the transformation of the "Queen Bee" really contributes to the story line. In general, it was an interesting series if you disregard much of the "preaching" by the author and just go with the story.
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7.5/10
The best bits of Harrows of Spring and of the WMBH series were the explanations of "new" routines and fuctions. Kunstler captures the breadth of daily chores, civic engagement and trade romanticly yet also thoughtful and engrossing. In the same vain, the descriptions of food were wonderful.
Character reactions to accidents and sickness are compelling - grounded by practicality and depth.
The plot is speckled with magical realism and is propelled by villains and the "far, far away".
Arguably the worst part of the book and series is that the Foxfire and the Berkshire feel overtly cartoonized. I guffawed at the description of the Berkshire gang. I haven't read Kunstlers NF social and political commentary, nor do I intend to now.
Secondly, I read the entire WMBH series constantly wondering if the sexual disparity was intentional to the storytelling or subconscious on the author's part. Alarms went off a handful of times. The women were the supporting characters to the male protagonists and heroes, described as good or bad "stock", and were cast as sexually deviant characters, crazy, or "witches" (or any combo of the three).
With out reconciling the later two points, I am not sure I could recommend this to a friend despite some really beautiful writing. -
Fourth and last book of World Made by Hand series. Another quick read, I'm going to miss some of those characters and Union Grove town.
This last instalment have the same issues of the previous books, some situations are kind of unbelievable, touching the silly level, always too much detail and focus on what they're eating and drinking, the conflicts are sometimes too simple as their resolutions, but overall is a pleasant book to read. Another 4 stars. -
More like 4.5 stars. I hope there will be another book in this series I don’t feel ready to say goodbye to the people of Washington County.
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Fantastic
This series is written about the towns where I was born and still live. I love reading the descriptions of the various locations. It is so descriptive that I can feel myself living with these characters. The author places you there in such a way that you can almost hear, see and smell their lives. An outstanding series. I wish it could continue. -
This is the fourth and final novel in the "World Made by Hand" series. The town of Union Grove, in upstate New York, has weathered another winter after the collapse of the United States. Spring is coming, but supplies are short. This is the "six weeks of want," before the first crops have come in. Strange visitors, a band of leftist political pilgrims, claiming to represent the Berkshire People's Republic, make camp on the outskirts of town. They herald the arrival of other threats from the outside world. Here, I think Mr. Kunstler pokes a little fun at his left-wing critics, mocking the tortured language and arrogant attitudes of the stereotype.
As with the previous books, the main draw for me is the vast gulf between the world of now, with all its conveniences, and the world of the future Long Emergency, when diseases we thought conquered rear up again, when an easy drive of a few hours becomes a major days-long pilgrimage, when in a crisis, there is no one to call at 911, and no phone to call them with. The characters struggle to find hope in this shrunken world. They face hard realities, and hard choices. Some retreat into drugs (local farmers grow hemp and opium poppies) or alcohol. Some contemplate suicide. Some wall themselves off in their own little kingdoms. Some prey on their fellows, through trickery or violence. Yet others try to build something worth living for, networks of family and friends.
As I read, I kept remembering all of the scenes of decay in the world around us now. Kunstler describes abandoned buildings smothered in invading plants, or roads destroyed by frost heaves, never repaired, with paths in the grass beside the road where people found it easier than using the damaged pavement. I see these things every day, right now. It seems as if the collapse has begun. It's just not evenly distributed yet. -
'The Harrows of Spring" is the concluding volume in a four-title set ("World Made by Hand," "The Witch of Hebron," and "The History of the Future" were the first three). All are set in a small New York town (3,000 at the beginning and 700-some at the end) not far from the Hudson following the economic, social, political, and institutional collapse of the United States following an economic crisis complicated by a disastrous war in the Middle East. Communication nets, transportation systems, and power grids are no longer functioning. The world is thrown back to one in which people must live by their wits and their hands. In effect, the country is thrown back hundreds if years into the past.
There are a number of recurring characters and how they cope is interesting. Some prosperous farmers set themselves up as virtual squires, one in particular. A religious group led by a truly interesting person, Brother Jobe, arrives and sets up energetically in the former high school. The remnants of the town cobble together a simple governance structure. One of them, a carpenter, becomes especially valuable, as do those who can make stills, the former doctor, and people with specific skills. Those without skills either learn them or perish. Over the course of the four books the community hangs on by a thread, fights off challenges to its existence, and begins to send out the first shoots of social growth.
Taken individually, the books are solid four-star books. Taken together, they earn five stars. Though it would be good to have the series continue, Kunstler avoids the pitfalls of unnecessary repetition, and ends his series of books at what seems like a modest set of turning points for the good. The particular event at the end of the book seems like icing on a pretty good cake. -
This work is the last of a quartet of post-apocalyptic novels set in upstate New York. Society is reduce to rudimentary life after an energy crisis terminated the world's electricity and automobiles.
In this installment, the strong farm community and the town folks face a challenge from a group from Massachusetts who are out to extort silver from the New Yorker's. This cautionary tale delves deep into the workings of human nature when pushed to subsistence and struggling to form new communities. The principle explorations involve the human propensity to extortion, savagery and war; and the counter necessary impulses to respect, cooperation and harmony.
The role of religion is prominent as a unifying and hopeful locus for this struggling civilization, although only a minority join the cult that has formed in the town.
I enjoyed this book and the sarcastic reflections on our own times plus the cultural criticisms that are dropped randomly in this story.
I would suggest you start at the beginning of the series to learn the characters backgrounds, development and personalities, and I think you may well end up reading the entire series. -
World Made by Hand has been one of my favorite series. With the downfall of man brought on by not one huge calamity, but rather a series of unfortunate smaller ones, it always rung more realistic to me than other books in the genre. "The Harrows of Spring" is the conclusion of that series, and things aren't looking great for the embattled Union Grove. It's the time of year where they don't quite have enough to eat, and Bullock has decided he's not longer going to run his supply boat to and from Albany for the town. In addition to their hunger, the town is also being circled by bandits, trying to con them out of money in exchange for joining their new Union. And as always there is just the day to day struggles of living in the new times.
All in all this was a great conclusion to the series. The book got a bit loaded down about a third of the way through with the multiple subplots, and it got a bit boring, but it got a better and ended wonderfully. -
The World Made by Kunstler
This review covers the entire series of novels.
Welcome to the town of Union Grove, New York, where the men are brutal, the women are subservient, and non-white people don’t exist. Set in a post-collapse America, devastated by the near-exhaustion of oil, Kunstler’s novels presuppose that society would magically revert to 19th-century lifestyles, down to gender roles, clothing and hairstyles, and even music and dances, with nearly everything post-1950 erased from existence save for the occasional carbon-fiber fishing rod or plastic jug.
As the story progresses in this misanthropic masturbatory fantasy world, we get a disturbing picture of Kunstler’s world-view through the various factions that appear. Karptown is a conclave of low-brow “trailer trash” who scavenge the local dump for useful items to resell. Their entertainment consists of public torture (described in visceral, brutal detail by Kunstler), as well as re-enactments of old TV shows and XXX films. They’re apparently not interesting enough, as they’re only briefly mentioned after Book 1.
The New Faithers, run by Brother Jobe, are a Christian cult who turn the former Union Grove high school into a compound. While vehemently pious, they aren’t pushy in their proselytizing, and end up cooperating with the townies in many ways, setting up a tavern and later a hotel. They worship a psychic, precognitive woman named Mary Beth Ivanhoe, who is bedridden, epileptic, morbidly obese, for no apparent reason; her grotesque physical description has no bearing whatsoever on the plot.
Bullock, a farmer with a large amount of land near Union Grove, has created an actual plantation, with him as the lord. Although several characters remark that he is a dangerous man, it’s obvious that they are referring to his power, rather than the feudal society he has created; in fact, Kunstler explicitly muses on the possibility that a feudal society may be preferable to democracy in general. I’m sure he assumes that in such a situation he’d be one of the lords, and not one of the serfs — although he takes great pains to point out how Bullock’s “workers” are well-treated, and are happy with their stations in life. He rules with a brutal, iron fist, torturing and killing those who cross him; this is portrayed as disturbing, but acceptable as they were all “bad men”.
The remains of the previous US government have established a new capital in Michigan, after Washington, DC was nuked by radical Islamic terrorists. (As an aside, LA was also nuked; as none of these books take place anywhere near the West Coast, there seems to be no in-universe reason for this. Maybe Kunstler just hates LA.) The Federals, as they’re called, aren’t described in great detail, save for their single special-ops branch known as The Service, who recruit a young man in Book 3 to carry out an assassination.
The South has been split into the Foxfire Republic, a white-supremacist theocracy led by a former female country singer-turned-politician; and New Africa, led by a former payday-loan tycoon. The two are engaged in a bitter race war, with Foxfire having expelled or killed every non-white individual in their territory; explicit comparisons are made between them and Nazi Germany. Despite all this, Kunstler’s main beef with Foxfire doesn’t seem to be the genocide — oh, it’s awful, he agrees, but really New Africa is doing the same to white people, so “both sides” dontchaknow — but rather the fact that Foxfire levies very high taxes on its people. (At least Kunstler is smart enough not to write much at all about New Africa, as I can’t imagine how he would portray black people.)
But the faction that is so unbelievably cliched that it propels these stories out of the realm of “prepper wet-dream” and into full-blown farce, is the “Berkshire People’s Republic”. Every conservative stereotype of liberals is in full display here, cranked up to 11, the ultimate straw man. Led by Flame Greengrass, who is described in decidedly un-feminine terms, and her father, a *literal former NPR personality*, they preach socialism and sing “kumbaya” around a campfire. Some claim to be vegan, some are homosexual, and they talk about “enforced diversity” and social justice. And, of course, it’s all actually a front to scam people and/or steal from them.
Kunstler’s view of women, in particular, is as men’s property in all but name. The only “strong” female character in the series is the “Witch of Hebron”, a strikingly beautiful, middle-aged matronly persona. Her powers? Apparently, to cure erectile dysfunction. I’m not making this up, this is literally her job in the books. As for the other women, they are there as necessary to be props, window-dressing to propel the male characters’ stories forward.
The one gay character is a confirmed bachelor who muses whether homosexuality really is an orientation or just something done to fit in to a crowd.
To summarize: Kunstler is a very bitter, angry old white man, and it shows. -
On the one hand... more readable than Book 3, with characters who felt a little more lively, and more fully realized than the weird author-stand-ins they suddenly devolved into, there.
On the other hand... the identity politics that were hitting a little funny from the very beginning get ratcheted way up, here. We’ve already had all the Black people in the country conveniently relegated to New Africa—or to violent deaths at the hands of white Southern Nazi-analogues—by way of a why-race-will-not-be-meaningfully-addressed-in-this-story device. And I sure did notice that New Africa’s military leader—who you’d think, given that he’s *fighting Nazis*, would get reasonably sympathetic treatment—is, instead, repeatedly dismissed as the one-time owner of a payday loan chain. This trajectory makes zero sense, of course—and that stands out, given that we’re handed details about EVERY other character’s trajectory from old-world visionary or/and self-indulgent dead-weight, to new-world success or failure—but that’s all we ever hear about that.
We’re also treated to some white guys dressing up as Native Americans, along with a character or two who have some actual Native ancestry—not much, and we’re given specifics on blood quantum. They’re violent, and villainous, and also don’t make much sense. They work in coalition with some straw-man “socialist” caricatures, roaming the countryside, extorting money from neo-feudal farms and towns. Their advent is especially strange, given the extent to which *actually* socialist norms and approaches appear and are treated positively in several story contexts. Oh, also there’s a sharp-shooting teenager with autism, only the author seems to have gotten autism mixed up with sociopathy, and totally failed to apprehend the difference between cognitive and affective empathy? He’s one of the bad guys, too. It’s such a mess of flat, half-assed stereotypes, I’m not even sure what the author is getting at, much of the time. I’m not sure he is, either. It’s offensive, I guess, but it also lacks originality, commitment, and coherence.
But don’t worry! There’s a guy with Down Syndrome who’s a force for good. No one ever seems to miss a chance to use an ableist slur while talking about him—but, you know, it’s been like... 20 years since we ran out of gasoline; reverting to 19th-century terminology and sensibilities is an obvious near-term outcome. Right? Right.
This is before we talk about women. You know Stephen King, in The Stand? All the polemics about blah blah birth control is over blah blah now women are just chattel again? But then there are still some women characters with agency and complexity and it seems like m a y b e he’s trying to actually deal with how things would unfold, not just erase women from the story? Yeah, like that, but without the good part, at the end.
It’s really a shame, because there are some *immensely* interesting women throughout the series. But the ones with any power mostly show up when a man needs a deus ex machina of one kind or another—and the others seem present largely to be exposed to or threatened with violence, just to up the emotional ante, every so often. Otherwise, men only really have feelings about architecture and machinery that Stand The Test of Time, and occasionally livestock, so. Gotta have something, I guess.
Oh, right, and the gay librarian polymath, who for no discernible reason, decides that even the word “gay” has no place in the new world order; briefly reflects on how probably he was only ever into guys, because women made him nervous, and GOSH what a missed opportunity. He never returns to this line of thought, instead adopting a town drunk as his servant, but DEFINITELY NOT HIS BOYFRIEND HE IS DEFINITELY NOT INTO HIM, we are overtly assured, several times. Because apparently we can do problematic cult-leader sex, old-enough-to-be-your-father sex, spy-assassination sex, sex-with-your-impotent-husband’s-best-friend, witch-sex-to-restore-erectile-function, and “mannish”-socialist-on-cult-member sex, but a dude who might remain attracted to other dudes after peak oil? Totally unimaginable.
In many ways, the basic narrative of this series is interesting and original. But the extent to which the author’s own unquestioned assumptions and biases end up shaping the inner worlds of characters who are (or should be) very different from him... ends up being interruptive. It’s not just that I think he’s wrong—although I often do. It’s also that I feel like he doesn’t respect his readers *or* his own characters enough, to actually let his story make the case—whatever it is; not always clear—for him. -
The long winter is ending, and the earth is growing green again, but it is still a time of hardship and sorrow. Food stores are limited, and predators — human and animal — stalk the land. Fourth in in Jim Kunstler’s World Made by Hand series, Harrows of Spring completes the seasonal progression and brings us back around to our beginning, this time forcing the people of Union Grove to rally together against and outside aggressor, even as they struggle to put food on the table and tend the sick. The fourth book ends on a hopeful note, and is stronger than The Witch of Hebron or A History of the Future.
We open to find the people of Union Grove in the ‘six weeks want’, the lean period when winter’s stores are nearly exhausted, and the earth hasn’t begun to deliver fresh bounty yet. Making matters worse is that no outside supplies are coming in: Stephen Bullock has stopped running his boat down the Hudson. Brother Jobe and Robert Earle think Bullock’s peevishness is the height of their problems, but they soon spy a group of tents on the outskirts — a traveling community of very peculiar young people, who speak with the zeal of missionaries but despise religion. They are traveling the width and breadth of the land, preaching Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality — and also, give us your money, because we’re here to restore the government. No one in the Grove is interested in what they’re selling, and these DIE-hards soon resort to every statist’s favorite tool: violence and theft. At the same time, the Grove has the usual problems: machines failing, people dying of diseases that the doctors understand but are powerless to remedy, and the odd bear attack.
Harrows of Spring is much stronger than World Made by Hand, focusing as it does on the real problems of the Union Grove village, instead of trying to make us care about some narrative history about the goings on far away. Even so, the outside antagonists, the Berkshire People’s Republic, border on preposterous when they’re not practicing violence: I get what Kunstler was doing, though, in trying to show the appeal of political ideologies in a time of stress. Fortunately, we don’t have to spend a lot of time hearing them preach, and they expose their true nature as brigands with a penchant for speeches soon enough.
So ends The World Made by Hand series, which I’ve enjoyed despite its quirks and weak spots. Any one of the books can be read in any other, since Kunstler always fills in background, and all have the same basic appeal: illustrating to us what the problems of the future may be, and offering hope that people are resilient enough to find ways to rise to the challenge. The result is a story seemingly set in the 18th century, but with odds bits of our world integrated into it: characters make a distant trek to Albany over the broken state highway, through the remains of old strip malls and decaying suburban homes, both of which have been stripped for usable materials. The main problem in this being a believable depiction of ‘the future’ is the way past culture re-appears: as I commented in either the World Made by Hand or Witch of Hebron novels, it’s implausible that clothing stores would suddenly be called haberdasheries, or that old folk songs would be the only thing played on people’s fiddles. Is there no one trying to recreate “All About that Bass” on the piano? (…I hope not, but wouldn’t people try to play the music they knew, and not just ‘old-timey’ music?) Still, I like experiencing this world, and partially because of that strong historic flavor. It’s not for everyone, admittedly, but despite the apparent rout of peak oil theorizing, I still think a harder, leaner world may be in store for us, and this series helps to imagine what may be demanded of us. -
I’ve read all of Kunstler’s World Made by Hand series. I’m glad I read it to finish out the story, particularly to learn what happens to Daniel Earle. But I don’t think I’ll read any more of Kunstler’s writing due to his flagrant disrespect for women, people of color and people of faith.
There are happenings in both this book and the series that I think are fairly realistic for a time occurring within a generation of the collapse of modern technology and government. For example, the rise of bandits and thieves and local feudal lords seems likely, as does smaller enclaves of humanity rebuilding society on a local level. Those parts - the world rebuilding parts - and the struggles of the central people are what I’ve liked best and what Kunstler did well.
But I’ve rated this only two stars because Kunstler presents some people and scenarios that are highly unbelievable and downright racist, sexist and anti-religious. The way Indigenous people and women are presented are stereotypical and unrealistic, which loses me as a reader. I can’t even speak of the offensive depiction of Indians in this novel.
Women are mostly assistants to men in domestic or sexual matters and serve in roles seen in past centuries not the current one. There are few exceptions. There are a couple women in positions of power who are out of their minds. The introduction of a novice reporter, Karen Grolsch, is the only female character who stands mostly on her own two feet. Although she too is subjected to a lot of man-splaining.
The men (only the men) of the New Faith Brotherhood Church of Christ are presented with more respect, their faith is not. Kunstler’s representation of their faith is painted as something only for simpletons and people who will be lead by clairvoyants.
Read at your own risk. I won’t be recommending this book or the series to friends. -
Kunstler wrote this during the politics of 2016, so many of the factions he presents in the new world are caricatures of those that exist today. I can tell he had a lot of fun coming up with the antagonists, but at I think this was the biggest limitation of his writing - he should have focused on the characters and plot-lines in what he knew best (upstate, rural NY).
The series was interesting to see what kind of livelihoods may be useful in the future. The return of crafts like cord-making, letter-press, sailing barges, etc. I think more in-depth treatment would have been helpful, as he tried to do for the doctor. He takes a good look also at what types of social arrangements may be possible, such as the New Faith group, the wage-farms, feudal systems…
Overall, the book was still well crafted, and leaves us with a hopeful ending. Definitely worth reading if you’ve followed the series this far. -
The Harrows of Spring neatly wraps up the "World Made by Hand" trilogy, in which a crumbling American economy and infrastructure lead to a new way of life, not unlike that of life in the 1800's. Through the trilogy, the characters deal with scarcity, warring government factions, feudalism, poor healthcare, and many other hardships. I appreciate the amount of time and thought Kunstler has put into building the world of this series. Obviously, he had to do a lot of research on how people might get by in such a situation, what the local and global political conditions might look like, etc. The land and the conditions are harsh, but as the characters struggle forward, they remain hopeful. And this message of hope is woven through the story as people deal with horrible things that most of us haven't had to deal with in our lifetimes.
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I stopped after the child stepped on the rusty nail; I just am not in the mood for tragedy today. The other thing I noticed is he was a little repetitive in letting us know who people were, even when the information was only a couple chapters apart. Like somebody didn't edit it thoroughly, and the chapters were written separately and later combined. Needed to view it as a whole to make it more seamless..for some reason this annoyed me, enough to bail out instead of keep reading and possibly learn something I hope I'll never need to know but probably will. Might give his nonfiction a try, but I want a more well-crafted novel, like somebody took the time. Guess I'm a picky bitch with ridiculously high standards, but at least I finally realize that at 52. Ah, well.
