Ben Turnbull is 66, retired and living north of Boston in 2020. A recent war between the US and China has brought social chaos. Ben's life is traced by his journal entries over the course of the year - he finds his personal history caught up in the dysjunctions and vagaries of the "many universes".
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Ben Turnbull is 66, retired and living north of Boston in 2020. A recent war between the US and China has brought social chaos. Ben's life is traced by his journal entries over the course of the year - he finds his personal history caught up in the dysjunctions and vagaries of the "many universes".
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Add this copy of Toward the End of Time to cart. $12.95, very good condition, Sold by Reuseabook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1999 by Penguin Books Ltd.
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Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.
Add this copy of Toward the End of Time to cart. $12.95, good condition, Sold by Reuseabook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1999 by Penguin Books Ltd.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover. Aged book. Tanned pages and age spots, however, this will not interfere with reading. Damaged cover. The cover of is slightly damaged for instance a torn or bent corner. Grubby book may have mild dirt or some staining, mostly on the edges of pages.
Add this copy of Toward the End of Time to cart. $13.84, like new condition, Sold by Zardoz Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Westbury, WILTS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1999 by Penguin Books.
Add this copy of Toward the End of Time to cart. $15.60, like new condition, Sold by Marlowes Books rated 2.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Ferny Hills, Brisbane, QLD, AUSTRALIA, published 1997 by Penquin Books.
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Seller's Description:
As New in None Issued jacket. 334 pages. Book appears to have hardly been read and is in As new condition throughout, the only exception are some light marks on the bottom of first few pages. Ben Turnbull, The Hero Of This Novel Is A Sixty Six Year Old Retired Investment Consultant Living North Of Boston In The Year 2020.
Updike's take on a sci-fi dystopian future is pretty much exactly what I expected of this novel. As we've come to expect from Updike, the prose is no less than superb and the narrator is a classic, self-absorbed Updikian misogynist, but there are some ridiculous holes in his sci-fi future that are hard to overlook. For example: The book was published in 1997 and takes place in the not-so-distant future of 2020. Would it have been that difficult to imagine a future where computers are wireless and entertainment technology has moved beyond VHS tapes? Regardless of its predictive shortcomings, this is a novel that deserves much more respect than it has received. The dystopian wreck of a future was the result of a Sino-American nuclear war, and anyone who is keeping tabs on foreign affairs and the rise of China should recognize just how frighteningly realistic Updike's prophecy looks ten years later. Also, while dystopian sci-fi is hardly a new genre, Updike managed to give the old species a literary bent nearly ten years before Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" ignited the current trend of apocalyptic literary fiction. Bottom line: If you dig Updike, Sci-fi or just spending an afternoon thinking about how terribly wrong the future might end up, this book is probably worth your time.
