"Alas, Babylon" book review

     This is a book Review for Pat Frank's novel "Alas, Babylon" for Mrs. McCoy.  It was published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics, and has 316 pages. it was published in 1959 and the foreword was written by David  Brin. The book was part of a summer reading list.
     The Main Character of the book, "Alas, Babylon" is Randy Bragg. Randy is a war veteran, lawyer and politician in his 30's he is resilient and trustworthy in the crisis of nuclear warfare. Many people come to live with him in Fort Repose, FL throughout the book, including his niece, nephew, sister-in-law, and girlfriend/future wife. Randy becomes the leader of fort repose after "the Day".
     There are many other characters in the story. Helen Bragg is Randy's sister-in-law. her and her children move in with randy after her husband, Mark Bragg, sends them there. Mark is an officer at strategic air command in Omaha, Nebraska. He warns his brother, Randy, of the impending nuclear attacks with the secret phrase "Alas, Babylon".  He dies in the first round of nuclear attacks. Another character crucial to the plot is Dan Gunn, who is the town's doctor and Randy's best friend. Before the attack, he is devastated by a brutal divorce. After nuclear warfare breaks out, he regains his cool and aids the town by treating those with typhoid fever and radiation poisoning. Randy's Girlfriend, Elizabeth "Lib" McGovern, is a pretty, bright young woman that falls in love with and later marries Randy.
     "Alas, Babylon" is a dystopian/post-apocalyptic book about nuclear Armageddon. The story is based around Randy Bragg's house in Fort Repose, FL. The book is set in the 1950's. Randy's Family Estate on river street soon becomes a shelter for half a dozen people as Randy attempts to save as many people as he can and form a community of survivors. In the end, Randy is told that the USA won, though suffering critical injury (obviously). he is also told that it would take a thousand years to restore a clear zone to normal, not including the Totally Destroyed cities.. At the very end, he "turns away to face the thousand year night", meaning that Randy is preparing, and looking forward to the future.
     I found "Alas, Babylon" to be a very interesting concept and I stayed up all night reading it. My only issue with it is that it is a smaller book and I wish it was longer. I enjoyed the idea of a nuclear apocalypse scenario, but I felt that there should be more to the story then there was. the plot was very original and the characters were very unique and unconventional in a good way. However, there were many opportunities to extend the plot and insert more material. I learned that survival isn't about money or popularity, but rather adaptability. I would highly recommend this book because it is suspenseful, interesting, and overall a good read.

"Alas, Babylon" Quotes

“Survival of the fittest... The strong survive. The frail die. The exotic fish die because the aquarium isn’t heated. The common guppy lives. ... That’s the way it is and that’s the way it’s going to be." this quote is used by Randy to explain how survival works and how their new reality IS survival. (Frank 175)   “ ‘How much?’ Randy asked. Beck shook his head. ‘Nothing. That safe is full up to the top with money. That’s all I’ve got left - money. Ain’t that funny - nothing but money.’ " this quote, used by the hardware store owner, Mr. Beck, shows how totally useless money is, and that money has no real value, and the only valuable things in life now were skills and knowledge and other things required to form a strong community. (Frank, 156)
  “...The struggle was not against a human enemy, or for victory. The struggle, for those who survived "The Day", was to survive the next.” this quote shows the reality of survival: that there was nothing to do but survive. day after day, month after month. (Frank, 123)
“You see, all their lives, ever since they’ve known anything, they’ve lived under the shadow of war - atomic war. For them the abnormal has become normal. All their lives they have heard nothing else, and they expect it.” this chilling quote describes the reality and the fear of those who lived during the cold war. (Frank 84)
“Some nations and some people melt in the heat of crisis and come apart like fat in the pan. Others meet the challenges and harden. I think you’re going to harden.” This Quote is Dan explaining how different people change differently to hard times, and how Randy will change for the better. (Frank 132)
  

Figurative Language in "Alas, Babylon"

“He looked like a Klondike sourdough or Paul Bunyan transplanted to the semi-tropics. On those rare days when his beard was freshly trimmed and he dressed formally in white shirt and tie, he looked like a physician, outsize 1890 model.” This quote is a simile comparing Dan 's untrimmed beard to a large pancake covered with sand. it shows how many things that were once easily accessible such as electric razors are now gone, taken by the nuclear bombings. (Frank 179)

   "Peewee may be a mouse aboard ship, but he's a tiger in a Tiger. If I sent him up with orders to shoot down the moon, he'd try." this quote is a metaphor used to describe peewee, the air force pilot that accidentally caused the war. It states that despite peewee's small stature, he has the heart of a tiger, and he is very determined, to the point of trying the impossible. (Frank 127)

  "The air is like soup and the people are like noodles." this simile compares the climate to hot soup and the people to noodles. it shows how frail humanity has become.(Frank 47)

  "He watched them walk to the plane, a small procession, and out of his life." this quote is a metaphor describing mark as he watches his family takes off from a plane. although the metaphor soon turns into a reality, it is still a metaphor as mark doesn't actually know he will never see his family again. (Frank 67)

  "The day died in calm and in beauty" this is an example of personification, as the day cannot actually die. It is used to describe "Randy's time of the day". it is a very peaceful moment in the book, before the bombings. (Frank 54)

Symbolism in "Alas, Babylon"

               Pat Frank inserts many symbols into his novel. One symbol is the jewelry. before "the Day", there are many poor people without things like jewelry and other fancy things. after the bombings, they trade things they really need such as food for things that they want, the jewelry. the jewelry is symbolic of one of humankind's greatest weaknesses: greed. the jewelry is harmful not only because of its radioactive nature, but because people are losing sight of the new reality that they live in and that caused them to give up things that they need for the jewelry.
               Another symbol is the Carolina Parakeet. The bird used to be common in the south, and before the war, randy would spend time searching for the species in an attempt to recover it. in a similar manner, after the war, randy spends time searching for whatever is left of civilization. in this way, the parakeet symbolizes the loss off civilization as it was previously known, and both were driven to extinction by mankind.

Elizabeth McGovern

Elizabeth McGovern is Randy's Girlfriend. she is an intelligent, resourceful, and attractive woman. she and her family moved to fort repose from the north. her and her father move in with randy after her mother dies. she and randy are later married.

Helen Bragg

Helen Bragg is Mark's wife. Helen and her children, Ben and Peyton, move to florida after her husband sends her there to protect her from the bombardment. She is an important parental figure to Ben and Peyton, who lost their father, though they don't learn of this fact for months.

Mark Bragg

Mark Bragg is Randy's brother. He is an officer at strategic air command in Omaha, Nebraska. He warns his brother randy of the impending attacks via telegraph and the secret phrase "Alas, Babylon".
He also sends his wife and Children to live with Randy in Florida.he dies in the first round of bombs, though his family does not learn of this for many months.