Pat Murphy is so brilliant. Seriously, everything she's ever written is a joy to read.
This one takes place in and around San Francisco after a global plague has wiped out the majority of the population. The cast of characters who remain in the city consist of "Books" who keeps up the library; "The Machine" who makes crazy robot sculptures; Danny-boy, who wants to paint the whole Golden Gate blue; and others who are mostly focused on using the remnants of what's been left behind to create art or advance knowledge. Unfortunately, there are also survivors who want to amass power and 'save society'. An unbelievably repugnant man who calls himself General Fourstar has built himself a little army, mostly leads by fear, and has decided he's going to bring the City under his dominion. The citizens get really creative in an effort to fight back. ( )

Read for an IRL book group. A post-apocalyptic community of artists use their art to defend San Francisco (population 50) against an invading army (population 150) led by a self-styled General. Written in the late 80's but with a definite 70's sensibility,plus elements of magical realism, which worked for me 90% of the time. Most of the novel is about the post-apocalyptic life of the characters, rural and urban, and I liked it better than the final war, which strayed into YA territory. Interestingly for a book with an anti-war message, the apocalyptic plague was introduced by American peace activists who imported monkeys from a Buddhist monastery in Nepal into the US as a symbol of peace. ( )

This book has been sitting on my bookshelves for years. I can't imagine why I didn't get to it before. It's about peace and war, non-violent and violent disobedience, art, artists, political oppression, and thinking outside the box wrapped in a great story about post-apocalyptic San Francisco. Evidently, Pat Murphy really loves her city. Now I'm going to give it to my daughter. ( )

Reading this for our book group. Wow, my heart is broken by this book - and the reality of the city of San Francisco being no longer a mecca for artists but a hugely overpriced center for tech bros bro'ing out. I have read a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction; this has similarities to (and is definitely in some sort of conversation across the years with) Earth Abides. Because the plague in the book was clearly started by monkeys, and because 1989 was nearing the peak of the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. (and because HIV very, very roughly "comes from monkeys"), I think it's clear this is a response to the idea that most people would have died out, and reactions would have been varied. The book is also a response to theories of peace and war, how artists would fight, what books can do for people, etc. It's lovely and hard and intense. I loved Jax's character, and I enjoyed Ms. Migdol very much, but I felt that only Jax was truly given much depth despite several other close third-person POV chapters.

That said, I also felt that the book sets up weird differences, oppositions, between artists and farmers, between Buddhists and Christians, between San Francisco and Los Angeles (that's only hinted at, but it's there). I wonder how post-apocalyptic SF writers in SF and LA would write about those cities now. I also think @karlthefog on Twitter might have a few thoughts about his vital role in the resistance. ( )

The story is about a post-apocalypse San Francisco, and although there are human characters, the city is the main character. A young woman comes to San Francisco after her mother's death, bringing a warning about a general who wants to take over the city. The crisis takes place in the last 60 pages of the book, and the "war" is largely symbolic, and I found its resolution not entirely satisfying. But the book makes its own rules and mostly follows them. If it really was the end of the world you could do much worse than living in San Francisco. ( )