Apocalyptic America

The talented and thoughful Siddhartha Deb reviews Jim Crace's The Pesthouse, contrasting it with McCarthy's The Road: "Unlike McCarthy, whose dystopia is built on what he sees as a characteristically American flaw in which community ties dissolve easily to reveal ruthless individualism, Crace's characters are ultimately not American so much as alone. Without history, without progress, having run out of continent, they can begin all over again. On the pages of this moving, lyrical novel, at least, they are innocents at home."