The End of the World Running Club: The ultimate race against time post-apocalyptic thriller

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No!” said Jabbar, stepping out and squashing me against the wall with his shoulder. “Get out of my house! Get out!” I pulled out the bottom drawer and emptied the lot into the second box. Bits of string, crumpled photographs, bulldog clips, screwdrivers, dead batteries, candles, takeout menus, spare keys, cigarettes, lighters. All the detritus of kitchen life fell into the box. Alice was now twirling with her hands in the air and singing. But nothing’s ever that simple. Returning from a salvage run in the city, Edgar finds his family gone, taken to the south coast for evacuation by an international task force. Suddenly he finds himself facing a gruelling journey on foot across a devastated United Kingdom. Accompanied by a group of misfits that include a large, hairy tattoo artist and an old man who claims to have run around Australia, Edgar must race against time and overcome his own short-comings, not to mention 100 mile canyons and a very strange council estate, to find the people he loves before he loses them forever. That's the juicy setup for Adrian J. Walker's novel The End of the World Running Club, a story of Ed's fight for survival traversing the British Isle after civilization has been basically destroyed by a massive meteor shower. Edgar Hill is overweight, self-absorbed, lazy, selfish, indifferent. In a sort of grand comeuppance, the universe rains down the apocalypse from the sky on Edgar's cozy little life (after he completely ignores warnings of the possibility for weeks) and destroys everything. Now Edgar has to learn to survive in a world where nothing comes easily...where death lurks around corners....where some survivors go insane or turn almost feral...where he has to truly work to save his wife and children. Edgar finds himself running a race across the UK to find his family after they are separated by an international task force rescuing survivors. Edgar has to find strength and endurance that seems impossible while battling evil, physical pain and the elements.

But what we did have—and what they didn’t—was a cellar. Our kitchen had a small walk-in pantry. For some strange reason—it probably appealed to her heightened nesting instinct—Beth thought that this was just about the best thing ever. It didn’t have the same effect on me, of course, but in its floor was a hatch that led down some rough pine steps into a space that was about the same size as the kitchen above it. Männerhöhlen, Schuppen, Garagen, Arbeitszimmer, Dachböden, Hobbykeller. Orte, wo "Männer" - oder ihre Entsprechungen im 21. Jahrhundert - noch unter sich sein können." (S. 31)

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The end is a perfect combination of victory and sadness. A way to resolve a story such as this without coming out too optimistic is difficult and I do appreciate that Adrian J. Walker resisted the urge to tie it all in a bow. There was another sudden great gust of wind. The tall trees down the hill creaked painfully as their branches crumpled. Then the short, deep rumble again. Everyone stopped. Then screams and renewed hammering on the shutters of the shop. Three cars sped past and down the hill. Where the hell are they going? On the upside, towards the end I did start to care a little about a couple of the survivors. But really only a smidgen. In summary, I found this to be over-long and poorly conceived. If you're a fan of this type of tale then take it from me, there’s much better stuff out there. About two and a half stars but rounded down due to the hollering. There were many things I loved about this book. I loved the protagonist, Ed, and all his admitted flaws. He read like a solid, real person. I felt like I could reach out and touch him, he was so real. But seriously read the first four chapters and then imagine your own end; because they are brilliantly put together. And because the actually journey to the end is just a bunch of running, crazies and a whole mediocre mess of nothing.

What recurring symbols or themes did you see throughout the book, and how do you feel they support Edgar’s journey or development?I heard my name called. Once, twice, then a third time louder. I jerked awake. I was sitting down; my arms were folded, stiff with inaction. The air was full of noise and movement. Screams, colors flashing by, something tugging at my trouser leg. I tried to focus. A red, urgent face was looking down on me, shouting. We laughed. Nobody really bought it. It was summer; it was hot. This had to be a joke, some kind of reality TV prank. That’s what people said: “It’s a joke.” I think the supermarkets had a brief surge of cheery panic buyers, but hardly anyone really grasped what was happening. We’re idiots. Creatures of denial who have learned not to be afraid of our closets. We need to see the monster in the room before we scream. Then an undercurrent appeared in the headlines around Wednesday: something odd, distant, unrelated to the heat. The news bulletins were so disjointed and confused that the mistakes were talked about more than the actual content of what they were trying to convey: that something very bad might be about to happen. It was Ambition Drive I was walking along when I first truly started to feel that something was definitely wrong. I heard a motorized garage door open. It was still before six, usually too early for most people to be up. Then I heard a woman cry. It was a cry of fear. A child yelping, a man shouting. Then the door banging shut, then silence again.

Events from this point seem to lurch from one set-piece to another, with dull interludes breaking up the action. At times I thought it read like a cheap television series, full of scenes that didn't quite fit together and full of characters I struggled to feel any empathy for. There were very few nice or helpful people here, instead the world now seemed to be populated by buffoon caricatures, weird cult groups and vicious gangs. Where did all the normal people go? As I said it hits all the points of a good dystopian. There's a cataclysmic event, despair, survival, hope and hopelessness, the exploration of human nature, an incredible journey, etc. Everything the book should have. There are helpful friends and harmful scum along the way, complete with all the obstacles you'd expect in a cross country run through a landscape devastated by asteroids. It also takes place in the UK which is not something that I see so frequently in these types of novels. Edgar Hill is a very flawed human being, but he achieves something remarkable. Would you call him a hero and why/why not? I loved that the lead character is an average 30-something man, Edgar. A father to two small children, with a wife, a moderate house, and a job he goes to because he must. He's the archetype of the regular middle class Joe existing in a first world society. Mark and I stared at the words for a few seconds before they made sense and I had processed my own dull memory of the night before.Znot basstime, Daddeee!” shouted Alice, twirling in the sunlight that was still streaming through the kitchen window. I believe what I believe to make life less terrifying. That’s all beliefs are: stories we tell ourselves to stop being afraid. Beliefs have very little to do with the truth. This book is as much about the world ending and the things people will do to survive as it is about Edgar's battle with his own personal demons. He is constantly assaulted with his own shame and failure as a person. If only he had been better. If only he had helped out more. If only he didn't spend every evening scoffing a bottle of wine. If only he'd been prepared. Man caves. Sheds, garages, studies, attics, cellars. Places for “men”—or at least their twenty-first- century equivalents—to hide. To tinker, potter, be creative, build things, hammer bits of wood, listen to the music that their families hate. Drink, smoke, look at pornography, masturbate. The subtext of the man cave, of course, is that men don’t want to spend any time with their families. For some reason this is perfectly acceptable; every man deserves his cave. I loved the supporting characters. Harvey in particular was like some fantastic and mystical Australian god and probably my favorite. I was as in awe of him as Ed was by the end. I loved the UK setting. I loved the descriptions and depictions of running, and I hate actual running! But this book made me almost want to give it another try. Perhaps if there weren't two feet of snow outside, I might have!

Zugegeben: Ich bin sowas von nicht die Zielgruppe für diese Erzählung. Als glühender Verehrer des New Yorker TOR-Verlags war ich jedoch begeistert, dass es nun eine Kooperation mit dem S. Fischer Verlag gibt und daher musste ich mir einfach die erste FISCHER-Tor-Veröffentlichung holen. So kam ich also zu den Asteroiden.For a short period in the book (say 30% in?) I started to lose interest, thinking it was going to be a run of the mill post-apocalyptic book. Will someone remind me why these two got married in the first place? I don't feel the love between them at all. I leaped up the steps and through the kitchen, up the stairs and into Alice’s room. My heart thumped in my throat. Everything was eerily quiet after the noise. The dog had stopped. Alice had stopped. Faces at the window trying to get in, trying to get to us. One of the square panes of glass in the door broke and a fist came through it. There is some running here but the detail wasn't quite right. Some long distances were covered but there was little to no reference to the struggles and strains of such an endeavour, over and above some general complaints regarding tiredness. What about the blisters and muscle strains? What about looking for some helpful footwear to make life a bit easier? I know this is delving into the micro detail, but any book purporting to cover long distance running should at least attempt to nod it's head to some basic associated issues.