Day 142, Quasi-Quarantine: "The End of October" Paints The Future, And I Wish It Hadn't

"But what does it mean, the plague? It's life, that's all."
~Albert Camus, The Plague"

"The End of October" is carried by the sheer power of the eerie prescience that populates Lawrence Wright's work. It's clear the author has painstakingly researched microbes, viruses, and pandemic response, and even without the coronavirus backdrop, this book would have resonated with authenticity.

Wright especially nailed the predictive details, right down to a hypocritical, ostrich-like vice president taking over as point person on the pandemic response after "The president's eyes were bleeding."

"Fear was the growth hormone that had transformed American into a security state following 9/11. Now it was sustained by inertia and greed, and Washington was the capital of all that."

The tale follows the devastation rendered by acute hemorrhagic fever as it starts in Indonesia, uproots life in the Middle East, destroys society in America, and finally is traced to its origins in Alaska via Russia.

Wright certainly pulls no punches in his references to Putin and Soviet escalation.

"In the chaos of depravity that followed the fall of the empire, this singular individual had the advantage of knowing what he wanted. He wanted revenge. He had taken aim at the very heart of America -- democracy -- and his shot was true. As Tildy sat in the Situation Room with some of the most powerful leaders of government, not one of them would say that Putin had pulled the trigger and damn if he hadn't gotten away with it."

I did feel that there wasn't enough insight into the inner psyche of the protagonist, Henry, a brilliant epidemiologist. As the pandemic raged, he was unable to ascertain the fate of his family, and the jumping timeline made it difficult to convey the urgency of his search and the monotony imposed by quarantine. There were also a couple of cringe-worthy moments (you'll know them when they see them) that came out of nowhere with a record-scratching soundtrack.

Personally, the dynamic of his children, Helen and Teddy, having to navigate the horrors of being orphaned during this end-of-days scenario was absorbing and could have used a bit more exploration.

The author does strike the right chord in celebration of the genius of the scientists and doctors on the front lines.

"Disease was more powerful than armies. Disease was more arbitrary than terrorism. Disease was crueler than human imagination. And yet young people like these doctors were willing to stand in the way of the most fatal force that nature has to offer."

Wright does a masterful job of building intensity and drama toward the end, but the resolution felt a bit rushed and evocative of other sci-fi classics. 

Overall, "The End of October" is a compelling read that will draw earned raves for its startling foresight and ability to predict so much of our current response to a global pandemic. Whatever Wright writes next, I'll be taking copious notes -- and perhaps prepping my escape hatch.

"They had a simple goal. To destroy trust. Such a modern concept, almost like eliminating friendship, she thought. Could it be possible? In fact, it was surprisingly easy. All the virtues -- loyalty, patriotism, courage, honesty, faith, compassion, you name it -- are just social constructs, patches to cover the naked barbarism that is at our core."