sum1tookmyshoes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
grimamethyst's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
2.0
I should've liked this but it felt too real and painful in the COVID era
thebookshelfmonster's review
3.0
Sakyo Komatsu's [b:Virus: The Day of Resurrection|15800498|Virus The Day of Resurrection|Sakyo Komatsu|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1354847588l/15800498._SY75_.jpg|21523821] is a science fiction novel that asks the big questions that have ever-present significance in our own time about the relationship between politics and science. As Komatsu's Cold War era novel about the dangers of militarism and nationalist competition shows, science has never been apolitical, and has always been intimately linked with power and the ability to wield power. The Cold War's obsessive pursuit of Mutually Assured Destruction leads the American side of the conflict to unleash a deadly virus intended to be a bioweapon on Earth and brings the human species to the brink of literal extinction. Even as the meagre surviving population of scientists stranded in the Antarctic landmass is forced to reckon with their new reality and find means of continuing their survival, the fallout of those old conflicts threaten their fragile existence as the remaining human population forego old nationalist loyalties and solve problems in a more cooperative manner.
The different scientist figures of different nationalities and beliefs about the world in the novel point to the different relations that scientists have had with politics and power, and the novel seems to have no qualms about dressing down the naiveté of scientists who are unable or unwilling to discern the political significance of their research and allow, for various reasons, those in positions of power with malicious intent to misuse their work.
There was a part of the novel that left me with some dilemma. It was a small bit, but I am not sure how I feel about the strategy for repopulation of the earth with humans that the survivors in this novel agree on. It is all depicted as consensual and perhaps in 1964, when the novel was published, the political climate on questions of reproductive rights was different, but from the perspective of 2020 and the current discourse on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy it hit differently and left me with some discomfort.
The different scientist figures of different nationalities and beliefs about the world in the novel point to the different relations that scientists have had with politics and power, and the novel seems to have no qualms about dressing down the naiveté of scientists who are unable or unwilling to discern the political significance of their research and allow, for various reasons, those in positions of power with malicious intent to misuse their work.
There was a part of the novel that left me with some dilemma. It was a small bit, but I am not sure how I feel about the strategy for repopulation of the earth with humans that the survivors in this novel agree on. It is all depicted as consensual and perhaps in 1964, when the novel was published, the political climate on questions of reproductive rights was different, but from the perspective of 2020 and the current discourse on reproductive rights and bodily autonomy it hit differently and left me with some discomfort.
s1rencalls's review
1.0
Had to read it for a class and HATED every minute (and tbh, skimmed through most of it). Kept getting frustrated because it reads more like a jam-packed textbook than a novel.
You wanna know every single detail of every single character's time in the plot? This is the book for you.
Can't remember it too well (so I can't add cw's accordingly) but I think there was corruption and plenty of deaths/murders.
You wanna know every single detail of every single character's time in the plot? This is the book for you.
Can't remember it too well (so I can't add cw's accordingly) but I think there was corruption and plenty of deaths/murders.
magiclantern's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
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