Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life-the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Imagines the coming-of-age story of young Julia, whose world is thrown into upheaval when it is discovered that the Earth's rotation has suddenly begun to slow, posing a catastrophic threat to all life. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker We've compiled a list of books that provide their own view into the future of possible worlds. Living in a turbulent time also causes people to turn to these nightmare scenarios as is evident by the resurging popularity of classics such as George Orwell's 1984 and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale in recent years.īird Box isn't the only novel in recent years to take this genre into new territory. These types of books have always been popular, especially because they present the idea of what could be. This and other similar stories are usually labeled under the term 'dystopian fiction.' A dystopia is defined as an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic. In both instances the world is changed by some catastrophic event in which survival is dependent on the instincts of the characters.įor those who don't know, Bird Box is based on the novel with the same name by author Josh Malerman. It bears some resemblance to last year's hit film A Quiet Place, which required the characters to survive without using sound, so sign language replaced spoken words. The characters are forced to wear blindfolds when venturing outside so as not to be driven insane. The popularity of the film no doubt has to do with its premise.

According to Netflix, it is on track to become the most watched movie the streaming service has ever produced in its history. Since its December 21st debut, the film has been a highlight in social media and water cooler chat alike. Bird Box takes us into the early days of this tragedy as well as Malorie's quest to find safety with her children, and it is quite the rollercoaster. In a world where no one can go outside for fear of something terrifying that when seen drives people to deadly violence, single mother Malorie and her two children must attempt a harrowing twenty-mile trip downriver while blindfolded.

Books like the road by cormac mccarthy