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The White Plague
The White Plague, a marvelous and terrifyingly plausible blend of fiction and visionary theme, tells of one man who is pushed over the edge of sanity by the senseless murder of his family and who, reappearing several months later as the so-called Madman, unleashes a terrible plague upon the human race—one that zeros in, unerringly and fatally, on women.
502 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 21, 1982
About the author
Frank Herbert
490 books14.8k followersFranklin Patrick Herbert Jr. was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel Dune and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked as a newspaper journalist, photographer, book reviewer, ecological consultant, and lecturer.
The Dune saga, set in the distant future, and taking place over millennia, explores complex themes, such as the long-term survival of the human species, human evolution, planetary science and ecology, and the intersection of religion, politics, economics and power in a future where humanity has long since developed interstellar travel and settled many thousands of worlds. Dune is the best-selling science fiction novel of all time, and the entire series is considered to be among the classics of the genre.
The Dune saga, set in the distant future, and taking place over millennia, explores complex themes, such as the long-term survival of the human species, human evolution, planetary science and ecology, and the intersection of religion, politics, economics and power in a future where humanity has long since developed interstellar travel and settled many thousands of worlds. Dune is the best-selling science fiction novel of all time, and the entire series is considered to be among the classics of the genre.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 401 reviews
June 9, 2017
Man, this was a harrowing read! Made all the more so because of its plausibility. I don't know if the science was up to it at the time the book was written but the titular plague, which is carried by males unsymptomatically but kills all females, is more than possible today. Terrifying.
The book is very well written and engaging but I did have a couple of grumbles, the first being that Herbert utilises national stereotypes quite a bit, which was a bit irritating. He also clearly HATES the British with a passion, which I tried very hard not to take personally but it occasionally irked. The thought 'I paid good money for your book, mate, stop being such a douche' crossed my mind more than once.
Overall, though, this was a cracking read and I recommend it to fans of speculative fiction ('hard' SF), thrillers and even horror. It defies genre classification, really. It'll definitely give me nightmares, though.
The book is very well written and engaging but I did have a couple of grumbles, the first being that Herbert utilises national stereotypes quite a bit, which was a bit irritating. He also clearly HATES the British with a passion, which I tried very hard not to take personally but it occasionally irked. The thought 'I paid good money for your book, mate, stop being such a douche' crossed my mind more than once.
Overall, though, this was a cracking read and I recommend it to fans of speculative fiction ('hard' SF), thrillers and even horror. It defies genre classification, really. It'll definitely give me nightmares, though.
September 16, 2014
Frustrating. Herbert is great at big ideas and thoroughly thinking them through, showing how each and every aspect of life and society might be impacted (see Dune).
This novel has another great idea, that of a man-made pandemic. It delves even deeper than a typical end-of-the-world story, though, by setting the villian and a few other characters on a long, quiet walk through what's left of Ireland, showing how the plague has warped life. He also manages to show how Ireland is so immersed in its own distant past, and how these plague times will similarly be mythologized, and how that might be both good and bad.
It is frustrating because the execution and characterization leave much to be desired. Some characters and conversations are so stilted as to literally make you laugh out loud (or cringe, depending on your temper). And some huge, obvious questions are left basically untouched. In a world where there are tens of thousands of men for every woman, what place does homosexuality take in this new order? Do women become more revered and have more power? Or do they become slaves?
Then, as one of his final ways to wrap up the story, Herbert resorts to the "putting the villian on trial - literally" cliche. It was pretty laughable.
If you like big ideas and can deal with a seriously flawed book, read it. If you frustrate easily, skip this one.
This novel has another great idea, that of a man-made pandemic. It delves even deeper than a typical end-of-the-world story, though, by setting the villian and a few other characters on a long, quiet walk through what's left of Ireland, showing how the plague has warped life. He also manages to show how Ireland is so immersed in its own distant past, and how these plague times will similarly be mythologized, and how that might be both good and bad.
It is frustrating because the execution and characterization leave much to be desired. Some characters and conversations are so stilted as to literally make you laugh out loud (or cringe, depending on your temper). And some huge, obvious questions are left basically untouched. In a world where there are tens of thousands of men for every woman, what place does homosexuality take in this new order? Do women become more revered and have more power? Or do they become slaves?
Then, as one of his final ways to wrap up the story, Herbert resorts to the "putting the villian on trial - literally" cliche. It was pretty laughable.
If you like big ideas and can deal with a seriously flawed book, read it. If you frustrate easily, skip this one.
August 5, 2007
I actually prefer this book to Herbert's legendary "Dune". Why? Because it speaks in and of a world I live in.
Not cience fiction in the bastardized form we see today, but a true "speculative fiction" page-turner. A well-written story of bio-terrorism that gets out of hand that not only deals with the detective story of how to stop the plague, but what effects will society and politics see out of it as the targeted disease breaks out of the Middle East and ravages all corners of the world?
I am gratified that there has not been a badly-made Hollywood filming of this, I am not sure four hours and a box of popcorn could do it justice.
Not cience fiction in the bastardized form we see today, but a true "speculative fiction" page-turner. A well-written story of bio-terrorism that gets out of hand that not only deals with the detective story of how to stop the plague, but what effects will society and politics see out of it as the targeted disease breaks out of the Middle East and ravages all corners of the world?
I am gratified that there has not been a badly-made Hollywood filming of this, I am not sure four hours and a box of popcorn could do it justice.
April 16, 2011
This book was torture. The only character that was somewhat likeable and had a more developed personality died soon after her introduction; the other characters were wholly unlikeable. The story was long and tedious, like what I would expect a sci-fi fan in a writing class to try and pass off as epic merely because they scribbled over a thousand pages. I stuck with it because I try to complete most books and I wanted to see if it got better.
Here's where the spoilers are.
Now the worst part is yet to come. This story about the near extinction of women has a few women, yet only two women in the story manage to get in with their perspectives on how the plague affects them.
Yes, we hear about the rapes of the surviving pockets of women, the sexual abuse of about 30 teens by one rich pedophiliac goat, and how certain countries at the end lend, say, one thousand of their "breeding women" to one another (America was not so generous with itscattle female stock).
Most of the book follows a bunch of angry men who, despite all they claim to the contrary, don't even care about women, never mind their women. When we do hear about deceased wives, it's always about how much they miss their knitting or some such old-fashioned domestic crap. The religious Father Michael will piss you off with his lack of feeling for the raped teenagers; he cares mostly for their sinful souls and their entry into heaven, while I was grossed out that the army protected the old jerk raping them.
The one woman who does figure most prominently is a silly nursing student who becomes some sort of Madonna-Venus of Willendorf fertility fetish at the end. Despite her nursing education, she takes zero interest in the plague. (What did they teach her at school?) All she does is bemoan her fate until the end when she begins to revel in her feminine power. I recall that 1982 (when The White Plague was written) was still a sexist time, but I don't remember it being quite this 1950s.
Apparently Finch and The Left Hand of Darkness handle gender issues a great deal more thoughtfully.
Here's where the spoilers are.
Now the worst part is yet to come. This story about the near extinction of women has a few women, yet only two women in the story manage to get in with their perspectives on how the plague affects them.
Yes, we hear about the rapes of the surviving pockets of women, the sexual abuse of about 30 teens by one rich pedophiliac goat, and how certain countries at the end lend, say, one thousand of their "breeding women" to one another (America was not so generous with its
Most of the book follows a bunch of angry men who, despite all they claim to the contrary, don't even care about women, never mind their women. When we do hear about deceased wives, it's always about how much they miss their knitting or some such old-fashioned domestic crap. The religious Father Michael will piss you off with his lack of feeling for the raped teenagers; he cares mostly for their sinful souls and their entry into heaven, while I was grossed out that the army protected the old jerk raping them.
The one woman who does figure most prominently is a silly nursing student who becomes some sort of Madonna-Venus of Willendorf fertility fetish at the end. Despite her nursing education, she takes zero interest in the plague. (What did they teach her at school?) All she does is bemoan her fate until the end when she begins to revel in her feminine power. I recall that 1982 (when The White Plague was written) was still a sexist time, but I don't remember it being quite this 1950s.
Apparently Finch and The Left Hand of Darkness handle gender issues a great deal more thoughtfully.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 25, 2012
I absolutely loved this book. I already knew Herbert was a master of the genre, a man that has achieved in writing few have achieved, and I knew he wrote the "Dune" series, but when I took The White Plague off the shelve, I really didn't make the connection between Frank Herbert the author of this book, and THE Frank Herbert.
Good thing I realised it at the middle of the book, when I took another look to see who wrote this amazing story, and I was like : "oh. now it makes sense. now you tell me."
Of course, the plot is really good.
This guy's wife and children, O'Neill's, are blown up by an IRA bomb, on May 20, 1996. He immediatelly goes insane, and his mind shatters into different personalities, from which one is a mad man that is decided to make the world pay for what has been done to him. Because he was a molecular biologist, he is an apt scientist and he creates a plague that only affects women, the men being the carriers. He releases this plague into three countries - Ireland, England and Libya. He asks the governements to bring every emigrant back in the country and to let the virus take its course, so they feel the way he felt when his family was killed.
Because they are on a search to find him, he goes to Ireland to hide. He decides to get hired as a scientist in the project that is developed for counterattacking the virus he created, so he can sabbotage the results. Unfortunatelly for him, he is already suspected to being the terrorist, and he is sent to Ireland in the company of a priest, a boy and an IRA bomber, the same one that detonated the bomb that killed his wife and children.
In the end, it's not just about how a man's mind goes mad because his family was taken away from him, it's also about how countries react to such a threat - a plague that was created by man and released in the world without remorse. What do they go then? Do they exterminate every human being that is infected? Do they wipe those countries off of the face of the world? Or do they stay and do nothing? Is this a casus belli? Or is it not?
Of course, the book was written with Herbert's usual flawless techinique, making the reader enter a world of his own, but not his own entirely. What if this could be true?
xoxo
Good thing I realised it at the middle of the book, when I took another look to see who wrote this amazing story, and I was like : "oh. now it makes sense. now you tell me."
Of course, the plot is really good.
This guy's wife and children, O'Neill's, are blown up by an IRA bomb, on May 20, 1996. He immediatelly goes insane, and his mind shatters into different personalities, from which one is a mad man that is decided to make the world pay for what has been done to him. Because he was a molecular biologist, he is an apt scientist and he creates a plague that only affects women, the men being the carriers. He releases this plague into three countries - Ireland, England and Libya. He asks the governements to bring every emigrant back in the country and to let the virus take its course, so they feel the way he felt when his family was killed.
Because they are on a search to find him, he goes to Ireland to hide. He decides to get hired as a scientist in the project that is developed for counterattacking the virus he created, so he can sabbotage the results. Unfortunatelly for him, he is already suspected to being the terrorist, and he is sent to Ireland in the company of a priest, a boy and an IRA bomber, the same one that detonated the bomb that killed his wife and children.
In the end, it's not just about how a man's mind goes mad because his family was taken away from him, it's also about how countries react to such a threat - a plague that was created by man and released in the world without remorse. What do they go then? Do they exterminate every human being that is infected? Do they wipe those countries off of the face of the world? Or do they stay and do nothing? Is this a casus belli? Or is it not?
Of course, the book was written with Herbert's usual flawless techinique, making the reader enter a world of his own, but not his own entirely. What if this could be true?
xoxo
November 16, 2020
It has just occurred to me how relevant for our times 'The White Plague' has become with the pandemic and everything. It is indeed a burning topic for our time as we are so vulnerable to biological attacks on a global level. The White Plague is a work of fiction, but it feels so real.
I picked up and read this book back in 2011, mostly because it was written by Frank Herbert and I really am a long time fan of the Dune Universe, so that was enough of a recommendation for me. I ended up really enjoying the novel despite it being quite dark and raising many red flags regarding our times and politics in my head- at the time. Revising The White Plague in my head today, it seems even more sinister and pessimistic. Honestly, I never got this book out of my head completely, it always stayed with me. It feels I read it yesterday, not nine years ago. So, when I stumbled onto an old review for this book, I decided to post a part of it here.
The plot in a nutshell- A brilliant American Irish scientists is driven mad when his wife dies as a result of IRA bomb attack. So, he creates a virus targeting women and sets in loose in Ireland. Not surprisingly, the virus spreads outside Ireland and suddenly the very survival of humanity is at stake.
There are a lot of fascinating themes in this novel and it functions great as a thriller as well. The way that the history of the Irish is presented is pretty interesting. It is not a stereotypical view of the Irish. Frank Herbert really goes into the depth, exploring frustrations that are born in a nation that has been tortured and colonized and that has known treason from its own royals and church. Not an excuse for the colonizers and their crimes, but the fact remains that many nations that have had problems with achieving and maintaining independence are no strangers to treason from its own men, unity being a very important factor in preserving a nation and all that. Anyway, violence has a way of feeding on violence and I think that Herbert really captured this in this novel. It is a very dark and tragic book, so tapping into a darker side of Irish history makes sense. I'm not sure how would an Irish person feel about it, but I thought that additional perspective was interesting and gave additional depth to the novel.
The way the author makes bio terrorism look plausible is extremely upsetting. Especially as I think it is true- I mean it is entirely possible for one man to develop a virus that could end mankind. It doesn't even have to be politically motivated, a deadly virus could be developed by one single man, taken that he is knowledgeable and mad enough to do it. The characterization of the man that does it in The White Plague is great, his descend into madness being so well described that his desperate actions make sense. It is scary though, the fact that it is possible to create a virus that could be potentially devastating to human race. Nature creates such viruses but mankind learned to take it up a notch- will it be our doom?
On another note, novel presents an interesting questions in terms of what would the reduction of female population mean to mankind. It seems to me that some SF writers entertain this idea that fewer women would mean that women would be better treated. Heinlein and his novel Luna is a Harsh Mistress come to my mind as an example of this philosophy. I'm not sure it would really play out that way. Would women achieve more power if there were few and far between? I'm not sure they will. I mean it could play out that way, but if you look at only countries where man outnumber women, you’ll see that those are the countries where women have no access to medical care and where basically women have no rights. In fact, in these countries women are considered to be the property of the man to the point that it is hard to even get a remote picture about their position. Since it is a biological law that women should outnumber man, when they do not, you know there is something seriously wrong.
In this novel, this question about the relationship between female population and their position in society is not really answered though I have a feeling that the author thinks it could improve the power of women. In this case, I think that perhaps Herbert attributes his own personal feelings and attitudes about women to entire mankind- and that’s not a very good way to make prognosis. Seriously, if all man would be so eager to protect women, we’d live in a different world. It could even be said, if all women would be so eager to protect other women, we’d live in a different world, but that's a whole another subject. Never assume others share your virtues.
All in all, this is a great thriller that really made me think. The action and the plot does not stop the writer from searching human soul and identity. The novel is quite long yet (for me personally) it never got boring or tiring. Honestly, I loved The White Plague just as much as other Frank Herbert's books I have read so far. I would definitely recommend this one as well!
I picked up and read this book back in 2011, mostly because it was written by Frank Herbert and I really am a long time fan of the Dune Universe, so that was enough of a recommendation for me. I ended up really enjoying the novel despite it being quite dark and raising many red flags regarding our times and politics in my head- at the time. Revising The White Plague in my head today, it seems even more sinister and pessimistic. Honestly, I never got this book out of my head completely, it always stayed with me. It feels I read it yesterday, not nine years ago. So, when I stumbled onto an old review for this book, I decided to post a part of it here.
The plot in a nutshell- A brilliant American Irish scientists is driven mad when his wife dies as a result of IRA bomb attack. So, he creates a virus targeting women and sets in loose in Ireland. Not surprisingly, the virus spreads outside Ireland and suddenly the very survival of humanity is at stake.
There are a lot of fascinating themes in this novel and it functions great as a thriller as well. The way that the history of the Irish is presented is pretty interesting. It is not a stereotypical view of the Irish. Frank Herbert really goes into the depth, exploring frustrations that are born in a nation that has been tortured and colonized and that has known treason from its own royals and church. Not an excuse for the colonizers and their crimes, but the fact remains that many nations that have had problems with achieving and maintaining independence are no strangers to treason from its own men, unity being a very important factor in preserving a nation and all that. Anyway, violence has a way of feeding on violence and I think that Herbert really captured this in this novel. It is a very dark and tragic book, so tapping into a darker side of Irish history makes sense. I'm not sure how would an Irish person feel about it, but I thought that additional perspective was interesting and gave additional depth to the novel.
The way the author makes bio terrorism look plausible is extremely upsetting. Especially as I think it is true- I mean it is entirely possible for one man to develop a virus that could end mankind. It doesn't even have to be politically motivated, a deadly virus could be developed by one single man, taken that he is knowledgeable and mad enough to do it. The characterization of the man that does it in The White Plague is great, his descend into madness being so well described that his desperate actions make sense. It is scary though, the fact that it is possible to create a virus that could be potentially devastating to human race. Nature creates such viruses but mankind learned to take it up a notch- will it be our doom?
On another note, novel presents an interesting questions in terms of what would the reduction of female population mean to mankind. It seems to me that some SF writers entertain this idea that fewer women would mean that women would be better treated. Heinlein and his novel Luna is a Harsh Mistress come to my mind as an example of this philosophy. I'm not sure it would really play out that way. Would women achieve more power if there were few and far between? I'm not sure they will. I mean it could play out that way, but if you look at only countries where man outnumber women, you’ll see that those are the countries where women have no access to medical care and where basically women have no rights. In fact, in these countries women are considered to be the property of the man to the point that it is hard to even get a remote picture about their position. Since it is a biological law that women should outnumber man, when they do not, you know there is something seriously wrong.
In this novel, this question about the relationship between female population and their position in society is not really answered though I have a feeling that the author thinks it could improve the power of women. In this case, I think that perhaps Herbert attributes his own personal feelings and attitudes about women to entire mankind- and that’s not a very good way to make prognosis. Seriously, if all man would be so eager to protect women, we’d live in a different world. It could even be said, if all women would be so eager to protect other women, we’d live in a different world, but that's a whole another subject. Never assume others share your virtues.
All in all, this is a great thriller that really made me think. The action and the plot does not stop the writer from searching human soul and identity. The novel is quite long yet (for me personally) it never got boring or tiring. Honestly, I loved The White Plague just as much as other Frank Herbert's books I have read so far. I would definitely recommend this one as well!
August 29, 2015
I give up. I can´t understand, who the author hated the most when writing this: the Irish, the men, or the women. Neither am I sure he has ever talked to a real live woman.
October 12, 2009
I expected better from Herbert.
What I liked: The disease. I liked that the invention and distribution of the disease was described as the investigators figured it out rather than as the Madman was doing it. I liked the idea of the targeted disease. The politics. The way the different countries failed to come together in the face of a world-wide catastrophe was plausible. The turn against science... while only briefly touched on, the way the angry masses turned on scientists was believable.
What I disliked: Oh the draggery... while all kinds of things were happening all over the world due to the plague, they really weren't described much. I don't know how he managed to have a book be so long without going into detail on ANYTHING. The end was just lame. "WooHoo! There are now 5000 men for each woman so I've completely lost all of the morality I was raised with and feel fine having several husbands and want my 12 year old daughter to start picking who she should breed with." Whatever. Maybe the social mores would change in a generation or two, but not immediately.
This is my favorite genre, and Herbert I liked Herbert's other work, so I was disappointed in this one.
What I liked: The disease. I liked that the invention and distribution of the disease was described as the investigators figured it out rather than as the Madman was doing it. I liked the idea of the targeted disease. The politics. The way the different countries failed to come together in the face of a world-wide catastrophe was plausible. The turn against science... while only briefly touched on, the way the angry masses turned on scientists was believable.
What I disliked: Oh the draggery... while all kinds of things were happening all over the world due to the plague, they really weren't described much. I don't know how he managed to have a book be so long without going into detail on ANYTHING. The end was just lame. "WooHoo! There are now 5000 men for each woman so I've completely lost all of the morality I was raised with and feel fine having several husbands and want my 12 year old daughter to start picking who she should breed with." Whatever. Maybe the social mores would change in a generation or two, but not immediately.
This is my favorite genre, and Herbert I liked Herbert's other work, so I was disappointed in this one.
March 29, 2014
Molecular biologist John Roe O'Neill is on vacation in Ireland when a bomb explodes and kills his wife and two children. The trauma splits his personality and he splices genes into viruses and contaminates bacteria with them, creating a disease that targets women and speeds up their aging. When he releases the bacteria in Ireland, England and Libya, the plague begins to spread around the world and governments have to close their border and expel these countries' nationals. And Barrier Command under Canadian Admiral Francois Delacourt seeks to isolate the plague by patrolling borders and controlling travel among countries. As women begin to die off, the U.N. gathers a group of scientists from the U.S., France and U.S.S.R. to find a cure. In the meantime, O'Neill sneaks into Ireland as John O'Donnell only to be captured by the IRA-controlled government and tried for genocide. The politicians of the U.S., England and Ireland manipulate one another to come up with the cure while trying to gain an upper hand.
Gene Splicing (drawing by Agathman)
When the scientists, with the help of O'Neill's insights, find a cure, they are able to spread the knowledge without allowing any government to gain an upper hand. But with only one woman for every tens of thousands of men, women begin taking on more than one husband. And with greater knowledge about genetic engineering, scientists are able to assure female newborns. But that knowledge also allows potential terrorists to engineer a plethora of deadly diseases. Welcome to the brave new world as Frank Herbert imagined it.
South Kildare, Ireland
The novel is a thoughtful exploration of the abuse of genetic engineering and it consequences. We do not read it for its science but the details of gene splicing, science and pseudo-science, make the reading interesting and I prefer this to science fiction without the science. The plague and the resulting apocalypse reveal more the darkness of the human soul than the failings of science and Herbert's discourse on political machination among the U.N., the U.S., England and Ireland--combined with the IRA's bombing and O'Neill's vindictiveness--reaffirms this theme. And Kevin O'Donnell and Herity are the epitomes of that darkness.
Frank Herbert
Herbert's constant shift from one character's point of view to another's distracts from the story. (At times, there are multiple shifts in POV within a page.) We have trouble sympathizing with any single character though we dwell mostly in O'Neill's mind and may be ambivalent about him, an innocent bystander turned into a mad scientist turned into a schizophrenic. Perhaps the shifting points of view reflect the disintegrating world of the white plague and we aren't meant to focus on any single character or sympathize with him or her.
Gene Splicing (drawing by Agathman)
When the scientists, with the help of O'Neill's insights, find a cure, they are able to spread the knowledge without allowing any government to gain an upper hand. But with only one woman for every tens of thousands of men, women begin taking on more than one husband. And with greater knowledge about genetic engineering, scientists are able to assure female newborns. But that knowledge also allows potential terrorists to engineer a plethora of deadly diseases. Welcome to the brave new world as Frank Herbert imagined it.
South Kildare, Ireland
The novel is a thoughtful exploration of the abuse of genetic engineering and it consequences. We do not read it for its science but the details of gene splicing, science and pseudo-science, make the reading interesting and I prefer this to science fiction without the science. The plague and the resulting apocalypse reveal more the darkness of the human soul than the failings of science and Herbert's discourse on political machination among the U.N., the U.S., England and Ireland--combined with the IRA's bombing and O'Neill's vindictiveness--reaffirms this theme. And Kevin O'Donnell and Herity are the epitomes of that darkness.
Frank Herbert
Herbert's constant shift from one character's point of view to another's distracts from the story. (At times, there are multiple shifts in POV within a page.) We have trouble sympathizing with any single character though we dwell mostly in O'Neill's mind and may be ambivalent about him, an innocent bystander turned into a mad scientist turned into a schizophrenic. Perhaps the shifting points of view reflect the disintegrating world of the white plague and we aren't meant to focus on any single character or sympathize with him or her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2015
Disclaimer: I gave up halfway through, so this really only talks about the first half of the book.*
The main reason I didn't like this book, and the reason I eventually stopped reading, was that in this book, both the bad guy AND the author treat women as props whose deaths only matter in the affect they have on men. In-universe, the bad guy's motivation for creating the plague was: "I'm going to kill all the women so the whole world can experience the pain I had!!!" Like what? Do you somehow not realize that women are human beings in their own right, and don't just exist to make men happy? I'd say that was just the character being sexist, except that the narrative presents this idea as though it makes perfect sense.
But I already didn't like the book because the plot took ages to get anywhere. I feel like the entire first half of the book could've been summed up in a prologue. ("Guy's family dies, guy creates a plague to kill all the women, government creates a group to investigate it." Everything else is gravy.)
Finally, the characters seemed very flat and uninteresting, and to be honest I don't remember most of them.
If you need to make a book safe or prop up a wobbly table, this might be good for you, but otherwise, I wouldn't bother.
*Since writing this review, I read some other reviews, and no, apparently the sexist crap gets WORSE toward the end of the book. A LOT worse. I'm grateful I stopped reading when I did, and frankly I want this book out of my house, I wouldn't even use this book to prop up a table leg at this point.
The main reason I didn't like this book, and the reason I eventually stopped reading, was that in this book, both the bad guy AND the author treat women as props whose deaths only matter in the affect they have on men. In-universe, the bad guy's motivation for creating the plague was: "I'm going to kill all the women so the whole world can experience the pain I had!!!" Like what? Do you somehow not realize that women are human beings in their own right, and don't just exist to make men happy? I'd say that was just the character being sexist, except that the narrative presents this idea as though it makes perfect sense.
But I already didn't like the book because the plot took ages to get anywhere. I feel like the entire first half of the book could've been summed up in a prologue. ("Guy's family dies, guy creates a plague to kill all the women, government creates a group to investigate it." Everything else is gravy.)
Finally, the characters seemed very flat and uninteresting, and to be honest I don't remember most of them.
If you need to make a book safe or prop up a wobbly table, this might be good for you, but otherwise, I wouldn't bother.
*Since writing this review, I read some other reviews, and no, apparently the sexist crap gets WORSE toward the end of the book. A LOT worse. I'm grateful I stopped reading when I did, and frankly I want this book out of my house, I wouldn't even use this book to prop up a table leg at this point.
October 14, 2012
It took me a long time to finish this book, and I had a like-hate relationship with it the entire time. However, I think a huge part of the problem was a mismatch between what I wanted (and expected) the book to be and what Herbert actually wrote. I don't mean that he failed to make good on his promises to the reader. I mean that I had preconceived notions about how I thought the plot would be handled, based on reading a summary of the book elsewhere.
The story is about a man who is in Ireland for research purposes (he's a biologist/scientist of some sort). One day, his wife and children die in a terrorist attack that somehow involves the Irish, Great Britain and Libya. The scientist, driven mad by this loss, designs a plague that kills only women and then distributes it to punish the people that took his woman from him.
Now, here's what I expected, largely because I attended a women's college. I wanted to see how women would be treated. Would they be hidden away by resourceful men? ("Don't worry, honey, I'll save you.") Would they be kept isolated, or sent away? Would they have any agency at all? In addition to that, I was just expecting an entirely different protagonist. Perhaps the main characters would be a family that struggles through this time, when women are dropping like flies.
Imagine my surprise to find that the main character of the novel is the scientist, the Madman. Huh! It's clear that Herbert is interested in psychology, because he spends a lot of time talking about the Madman's mind and portraying the Madman's own journey through Ireland after the plague has begun. (Ireland is hit the hardest.) See, I don't think that's a terrible idea. It just isn't the story that I wanted to read... So I spent the first half of the novel wishing for less of the scientist and more of... anything else.
(If you were curious, there are very few women in the novel at all. Two researchers and "The One that Survived" are the only ones I can remember. The one who survived was preserved because her then-boyfriend put her in a tank right when the plague broke out, in which they lived together for months. We don't see much of this. The little that Herbert writes about them portrays the woman as very petty, whiny, needy and testy. Maybe I would feel that way if I were living in a tank, but the semi-feminist side of me was banging its head reading this.)
Another problem (in my opinion) was that the story was too distant from its circumstances. (It was certainly close to the Madman--and that was good writing. You really get into his head, and it's fascinating.) Now, the story starts with the terrorist attack that kills the wife and children. Then it follows the Madman making the plague. And then, once he's FINALLY perfected his virus, he distributes it.
Cut to politicians in Washington DC. The next 100 pages are about politicians and committees talking about the plague. Talking about it. Mentioning how women are dying left and right, mobs are breaking out everywhere, countries are racing to find cures first to gain more power, etc. Herbert goes to great lengths to impress upon the reader how BIG this thing is... but the reader never SEES any of it. It's all hear-say through politicians, until Herbert turns his focus back to the Madman walking through Ireland. Still, he's on the outskirts of most of the action.
So, there are good and bad things about this book. I was irked by the bad things so much that I almost didn't finish it. However, I would still recommend the book to others, as long as they didn't have the same expectations I had.
In summary, I thought it was too distant as it wrote around the action. The unexpected focus on the Madman didn't match my expectations of some kind of feminist treatment. (I should've known this wouldn't be feminist-ish, after reading Under Pressure by Frank Herbert.) However, Herbert does a great job following the Madman and getting the reader to KNOW him. There are two other characters who associate with the madmen who are interesting characters, too. I wish one of them had gotten more treatment, but I guess you can't write everything.
Last note: all pros and cons aside, I definitely think the book is about twice as long as it needs to be.
The story is about a man who is in Ireland for research purposes (he's a biologist/scientist of some sort). One day, his wife and children die in a terrorist attack that somehow involves the Irish, Great Britain and Libya. The scientist, driven mad by this loss, designs a plague that kills only women and then distributes it to punish the people that took his woman from him.
Now, here's what I expected, largely because I attended a women's college. I wanted to see how women would be treated. Would they be hidden away by resourceful men? ("Don't worry, honey, I'll save you.") Would they be kept isolated, or sent away? Would they have any agency at all? In addition to that, I was just expecting an entirely different protagonist. Perhaps the main characters would be a family that struggles through this time, when women are dropping like flies.
Imagine my surprise to find that the main character of the novel is the scientist, the Madman. Huh! It's clear that Herbert is interested in psychology, because he spends a lot of time talking about the Madman's mind and portraying the Madman's own journey through Ireland after the plague has begun. (Ireland is hit the hardest.) See, I don't think that's a terrible idea. It just isn't the story that I wanted to read... So I spent the first half of the novel wishing for less of the scientist and more of... anything else.
(If you were curious, there are very few women in the novel at all. Two researchers and "The One that Survived" are the only ones I can remember. The one who survived was preserved because her then-boyfriend put her in a tank right when the plague broke out, in which they lived together for months. We don't see much of this. The little that Herbert writes about them portrays the woman as very petty, whiny, needy and testy. Maybe I would feel that way if I were living in a tank, but the semi-feminist side of me was banging its head reading this.)
Another problem (in my opinion) was that the story was too distant from its circumstances. (It was certainly close to the Madman--and that was good writing. You really get into his head, and it's fascinating.) Now, the story starts with the terrorist attack that kills the wife and children. Then it follows the Madman making the plague. And then, once he's FINALLY perfected his virus, he distributes it.
Cut to politicians in Washington DC. The next 100 pages are about politicians and committees talking about the plague. Talking about it. Mentioning how women are dying left and right, mobs are breaking out everywhere, countries are racing to find cures first to gain more power, etc. Herbert goes to great lengths to impress upon the reader how BIG this thing is... but the reader never SEES any of it. It's all hear-say through politicians, until Herbert turns his focus back to the Madman walking through Ireland. Still, he's on the outskirts of most of the action.
So, there are good and bad things about this book. I was irked by the bad things so much that I almost didn't finish it. However, I would still recommend the book to others, as long as they didn't have the same expectations I had.
In summary, I thought it was too distant as it wrote around the action. The unexpected focus on the Madman didn't match my expectations of some kind of feminist treatment. (I should've known this wouldn't be feminist-ish, after reading Under Pressure by Frank Herbert.) However, Herbert does a great job following the Madman and getting the reader to KNOW him. There are two other characters who associate with the madmen who are interesting characters, too. I wish one of them had gotten more treatment, but I guess you can't write everything.
Last note: all pros and cons aside, I definitely think the book is about twice as long as it needs to be.
September 6, 2018
*exhales long, exasperated breath* Let me complain about this book at you. Spoilers abound!
1) Yes, a completely reasonable reaction to your wife and children's death in a terrorist attack is to UNLEASH BIOLOGICAL WARFARE.
1a) Okay, so you're mad at Ireland because that's where the attack happened. And you're mad at Great Britain because if the English hadn't been being dicks to the Irish for hundreds of years, the terrorists would never have developed. But why Libya? Just in a general "fuck all terrorists" mindset?
1b) You're clever enough to design a virus that attacks people on a genetic level, but it never once occurred to you that it might go global (as airborne viruses tend to do), or that it might mutate and have unforeseen effects? You're a crap scientist.
2) For a book about a plague that specifically attacks women, there are perilously few women in this book. The one female perspective character, Kate, spends the book in a secure/sterile location, alternately worrying about the state of the world and demanding a priest because her boyfriend knocked her up right before the plague kicked in and she wants their union to be blessed. Other female characters include O'Neill's sainted wife, who is there in the first few pages to die horribly and thus cause the plot, a couple of politician's wives who are mentioned to be either dead or "hidden away", and the two female members of the brain trust studying the plague, who both die of it early on. Special mention to the Amazonian blonde scientist, whose dialogue alternates between technobabble and reminding the male scientists not to stare at her breasts.
3) The main plot involves O'Neill (who has already had at least one psychotic break) going to Ireland to see what he hath wrought, and traveling across the depopulated landscape with a terrorist (the very terrorist who pushed the button that killed his family, although I don't think that's ever revealed to him), a priest, and a mysterious mute boy. A lot of walking, a lot of talking, a lot of discovering abandoned huts and near-empty farms and bitter old men waiting to die because their beloved Katie/Shaneen/Dervla passed and there's no hope left. It's boring as hell.
4) It seems to be assumed that the world will just...go on as it does while women are dying by the truckload. Politics seems to be business as usual. Cities are still bustling. As long as the men can maintain stiff upper lips, everything at least remains functional. I know this book was written in 1982, but come on. Things would fall into chaos in--I'd say--less than a week if women started dropping like flies. Schools would shut down, men would have to forego work to take care of their children...
5) The book ends with it explicitly stated that, worldwide, the ratio of men to women is about ten thousand to one. Kate (who did finally get the priest she was demanding, and whose baby girl is miraculously healthy) realizes that her job, for the rest of her life, is going to be having babies, and her one consolation is that as a proven-fertile woman, she has a long, long line of men with hats (among other things) in hand hoping she will consent to have their child. Another character, a politician, gets a cheerful call from his wife who informs him that while he will always be her primary husband, she's already pregnant by a high-ranking military man she picked out, and she is also working to negotiate the marriages of their two surviving daughters--but don't worry, nothing will be set in stone until they're at least fifteen. Herbert tries to imply a developing society where women have all the power, but with ten thousand horny men for every remaining female, I don't think that's how things are going to go. *shudders*
This book annoyed me the entire time I was reading it. Stick with deserts and sandworms, Mr. Herbert.
1) Yes, a completely reasonable reaction to your wife and children's death in a terrorist attack is to UNLEASH BIOLOGICAL WARFARE.
1a) Okay, so you're mad at Ireland because that's where the attack happened. And you're mad at Great Britain because if the English hadn't been being dicks to the Irish for hundreds of years, the terrorists would never have developed. But why Libya? Just in a general "fuck all terrorists" mindset?
1b) You're clever enough to design a virus that attacks people on a genetic level, but it never once occurred to you that it might go global (as airborne viruses tend to do), or that it might mutate and have unforeseen effects? You're a crap scientist.
2) For a book about a plague that specifically attacks women, there are perilously few women in this book. The one female perspective character, Kate, spends the book in a secure/sterile location, alternately worrying about the state of the world and demanding a priest because her boyfriend knocked her up right before the plague kicked in and she wants their union to be blessed. Other female characters include O'Neill's sainted wife, who is there in the first few pages to die horribly and thus cause the plot, a couple of politician's wives who are mentioned to be either dead or "hidden away", and the two female members of the brain trust studying the plague, who both die of it early on. Special mention to the Amazonian blonde scientist, whose dialogue alternates between technobabble and reminding the male scientists not to stare at her breasts.
3) The main plot involves O'Neill (who has already had at least one psychotic break) going to Ireland to see what he hath wrought, and traveling across the depopulated landscape with a terrorist (the very terrorist who pushed the button that killed his family, although I don't think that's ever revealed to him), a priest, and a mysterious mute boy. A lot of walking, a lot of talking, a lot of discovering abandoned huts and near-empty farms and bitter old men waiting to die because their beloved Katie/Shaneen/Dervla passed and there's no hope left. It's boring as hell.
4) It seems to be assumed that the world will just...go on as it does while women are dying by the truckload. Politics seems to be business as usual. Cities are still bustling. As long as the men can maintain stiff upper lips, everything at least remains functional. I know this book was written in 1982, but come on. Things would fall into chaos in--I'd say--less than a week if women started dropping like flies. Schools would shut down, men would have to forego work to take care of their children...
5) The book ends with it explicitly stated that, worldwide, the ratio of men to women is about ten thousand to one. Kate (who did finally get the priest she was demanding, and whose baby girl is miraculously healthy) realizes that her job, for the rest of her life, is going to be having babies, and her one consolation is that as a proven-fertile woman, she has a long, long line of men with hats (among other things) in hand hoping she will consent to have their child. Another character, a politician, gets a cheerful call from his wife who informs him that while he will always be her primary husband, she's already pregnant by a high-ranking military man she picked out, and she is also working to negotiate the marriages of their two surviving daughters--but don't worry, nothing will be set in stone until they're at least fifteen. Herbert tries to imply a developing society where women have all the power, but with ten thousand horny men for every remaining female, I don't think that's how things are going to go. *shudders*
This book annoyed me the entire time I was reading it. Stick with deserts and sandworms, Mr. Herbert.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 2, 2012
Introduction to the novel would be something like this: A brilliant American Irish scientists is driven mad when his wife dies as a result of IRA bomb attack. So, he creates a virus that will kill all women on Ireland...Will the virus spread?
There are a lot of fascinating themes in this novel and it functions great as a thriller as well. The way that the history of the Irish is presented is just brilliant. It is not a stereotypical view of the Irish. He really goes into the dept, exploring frustrations that are born in a nation that has been tortured or colonized, that has known treason...(not an excuse for the colonized but most of the nations that have had problems with achieving independence are no strangers to treason from its own man, unity being a very important factor in preserving a nation) Anyway, violence has a way of feeding on violence and I think that Herbert really captured this.
This quote from the man himself seems to go well with this theme of repeated violence:
"The oppressed always learned from and copied the oppressor. When the tables were turned, the stage was set for another round of revenge and violence -- roles reversed. And reversed and reversed ad nauseam."
FRANK HERBERT, Chapterhouse: Dune
The way the author makes bio terrorism look plausible is extremely upsetting. Especially as I think it is true- I mean that it is possible for one man to develop a virus that could end mankind. The characterization of the man that does it in The White Plague is great, his descend into madness being so well described. It is scary though, the fact that it is not impossible to create a virus that could be potentially devastating to human race. Nature creates such viruses and man has recently come a long way in regards to imitating natural catastrophes…actually, man has out staged natural catastrophes.
On another note, novel presents an interesting questions in terms of what would the reduction of female population mean to mankind. It seems to me that some SF writers entertain this idea that fewer women would mean that women would be better treated. Heinlein and his novel Luna is a Harsh Mistress come to my mind as an example of this philosophy.
I actually disagree with this concept. If you look at only countries where man outnumber women, you’ll see that those are the countries where women have no access to medical care and where basically women have no rights. In fact, in these countries women are considered to be the property of the man to the point that it is hard to even get a remote picture about their position. Since it is a biological law that women should outnumber man, when they do not, you know there is something seriously wrong.
In this novel, this question about the relationship between female population and their position in society is not really answered though I have a feeling that the author thinks it could improve the power of women. In this case I think Herbert attributes his feeling about women to entire mankind- and that’s not a very good way to make prognosis. Seriously, if all man would be so eager to protect women, we’d live in a different world. It could even be said, if all women would be so eager to protect women, we’d live in a different world, but I’m getting distracted from the book. I don't really know what else to say except that the novel is more deeper then you could expect. The action and the plot does not stop the writer from searching human soul and identity.
The novel is quite long yet it never gets boring or tiring. That's Frank Herbert for you...
There are a lot of fascinating themes in this novel and it functions great as a thriller as well. The way that the history of the Irish is presented is just brilliant. It is not a stereotypical view of the Irish. He really goes into the dept, exploring frustrations that are born in a nation that has been tortured or colonized, that has known treason...(not an excuse for the colonized but most of the nations that have had problems with achieving independence are no strangers to treason from its own man, unity being a very important factor in preserving a nation) Anyway, violence has a way of feeding on violence and I think that Herbert really captured this.
This quote from the man himself seems to go well with this theme of repeated violence:
"The oppressed always learned from and copied the oppressor. When the tables were turned, the stage was set for another round of revenge and violence -- roles reversed. And reversed and reversed ad nauseam."
FRANK HERBERT, Chapterhouse: Dune
The way the author makes bio terrorism look plausible is extremely upsetting. Especially as I think it is true- I mean that it is possible for one man to develop a virus that could end mankind. The characterization of the man that does it in The White Plague is great, his descend into madness being so well described. It is scary though, the fact that it is not impossible to create a virus that could be potentially devastating to human race. Nature creates such viruses and man has recently come a long way in regards to imitating natural catastrophes…actually, man has out staged natural catastrophes.
On another note, novel presents an interesting questions in terms of what would the reduction of female population mean to mankind. It seems to me that some SF writers entertain this idea that fewer women would mean that women would be better treated. Heinlein and his novel Luna is a Harsh Mistress come to my mind as an example of this philosophy.
I actually disagree with this concept. If you look at only countries where man outnumber women, you’ll see that those are the countries where women have no access to medical care and where basically women have no rights. In fact, in these countries women are considered to be the property of the man to the point that it is hard to even get a remote picture about their position. Since it is a biological law that women should outnumber man, when they do not, you know there is something seriously wrong.
In this novel, this question about the relationship between female population and their position in society is not really answered though I have a feeling that the author thinks it could improve the power of women. In this case I think Herbert attributes his feeling about women to entire mankind- and that’s not a very good way to make prognosis. Seriously, if all man would be so eager to protect women, we’d live in a different world. It could even be said, if all women would be so eager to protect women, we’d live in a different world, but I’m getting distracted from the book. I don't really know what else to say except that the novel is more deeper then you could expect. The action and the plot does not stop the writer from searching human soul and identity.
The novel is quite long yet it never gets boring or tiring. That's Frank Herbert for you...
November 20, 2017
I've been looking forward to getting hold of a copy of this for a while. A brilliant premise: a plague that targets women only. Imagine. So how such a great story could be made so boring is a wonder. It's almost as if Herbert decided to write about anything and everything that wasn't actually to do with the plague or its effects. At one point, just as the virus was being first encountered and taking a deadly toll across the world, chapters and chapters were devoted to the small team of scientists gathered to combat it. Okay, even that could have been made interesting if we'd been privy to their conversation about the virus, but no, we got pages and pages about how they looked, their accents, their physical quirks. And this "misdirection" was repeated again and again. Wherever the action was, we were guaranteed to be focusing on somewhere else, some tiny, irrelevant and boring detail.
I'm hugely disappointed.
I'm hugely disappointed.
February 25, 2019
This might be the worst book I have ever read. A good example of how if a book isn't any good 3/4 of the way through, it will never be good. Extremely slow and uninteresting, and filled with bland characters that can be easily confused for one another because they lack any distinct personality. The characters that the protagonist meets in Ireland are certainly the most interesting. But moments of interest are few and far between. Many of problems that arise because of the protagonist's plague seem significant, but are only briefly brought up, such as how the plague starts spreading into animal populations as opposed to just humans. This seems to go somewhere interesting, but is never brought up again in the rest of the story. Lastly the ending is extremely anticlimactic making me question what was the goal of the protagonist in the first place.
July 23, 2014
The basic tenor/plot can be summarized by this line in the book:
"What did I expect? He wondered. Not this."
Several issues examined:
+If the world faces major calamity, will the governments fail and basic brutal survival prevail and the veneer of civilization disintegrate?
+Nature and critique of terrorism and the purpose and distortions of revenge.
+Do people consider the ramifications and ethics of science?
+Church's role in society.
+Tedious replication of retribution and the endless double-thinking of motives in politics.
This book had more than a plot, it had context. There were cultural and philosophical ruminations with poetry and song. There was a focus on Irish culture/history but, as shown by the above points, much else was included.
"What did I expect? He wondered. Not this."
Several issues examined:
+If the world faces major calamity, will the governments fail and basic brutal survival prevail and the veneer of civilization disintegrate?
+Nature and critique of terrorism and the purpose and distortions of revenge.
+Do people consider the ramifications and ethics of science?
+Church's role in society.
+Tedious replication of retribution and the endless double-thinking of motives in politics.
This book had more than a plot, it had context. There were cultural and philosophical ruminations with poetry and song. There was a focus on Irish culture/history but, as shown by the above points, much else was included.
September 18, 2021
what a fantastic book ! , a little similar to whats going on today , if only for the out break parts of the book , the rest of the book having nothing to do with whats recently happening in the world , a very good and entertaining story , love all the technical side , it adds realism to the plot of the book the only thing i dont get - 99% of one star reviews all say the same thing - one sentence saying how bad it is , what it comes down to is that i dont think that they understood what was going on in the book, yet its mostly quite simple. good job i stuck to the majority of goodreads ratings. , now to finish a book that i started a long time ago - petals on the wind by virginia andrews
May 19, 2018
I had read several of Herbert's novels before this one, but this is the one that made me put them all down forever. I live with misogyny every day. I do not read SF to find more virulent forms. No need to reread Handmaid's Tale or the rest of the genre. Atwood was at least on my side.
July 1, 2021
I am very confused. I absolutely love the Dune series and liked a few other works of Herbert's as well. . But this one? It makes me feel he lost a bet or intentionally wanted to write something... not good. This book was tedious, annoying and overall pointless. It has a good premise (though far from original) and chooses to present anything but the interesting parts of it. Here are the main issues:
- the story. It's complete nonsense if you thing about it. The most brilliant of the brilliant researchers, the creator of a pathogen capable of wiping out only women, is surprised the pathogen is good at wiping out women. It's very unclear how the virus thingie works, though we get a whole lot of sciency BS. Most likely it works as it's convenient to the plot. Sometimes it's airborne and kills even protected women and other times women run around outside and they're fine. Instead of maybe getting a battle between the best minds of the world - the Madman vs. the good scientists, we get bickering, staring at boobs, more bickering and looking for a uterus to populate.
- the characters. Absolutely everyone in this book is terrible. Most of them are completely irrelevant to the plot. Who cares what the Pope does? Who cares what random dude no.234 related to random dude no. 387 does? Definitely not me.
- the concept itself. Maybe this book was actually deep and tried to show that women are not actually seen as people? Because as I've read this story, killing off pretty much all of them is just kind of an annoyance. The men seem annoyed at having to do housework, at not getting sex, and at not having someone to carry their babies. Except for one episodic old man wearing the jacket his wife had knitted, no one seems to miss companionship, friendship, affection, a mother for their kid, and so on. For some of them LITERALLY all of the women they've ever cared about are dead and they are like "eh, but remember that one conflict 4 centuries ago?". The few women we do get to meet have more information revealed about their boobs than about their capabilities. The one survivor we meet is vapid and silly, which would be a pretty neat concept. Now you have this person no sane person would have chosen and she has plenty of power. How do you navigate this situation? But we can't explore that, too interesting.
In fact a book about what happens AFTER would have been great. Would women get more power or become slaves? How would they navigate the new world? How would their previously monogamous relationship adapt? What if a woman refused to cooperate? How far down the drain would morality go? So many interesting questions, so much nothing in this book.
- the story. It's complete nonsense if you thing about it. The most brilliant of the brilliant researchers, the creator of a pathogen capable of wiping out only women, is surprised the pathogen is good at wiping out women. It's very unclear how the virus thingie works, though we get a whole lot of sciency BS. Most likely it works as it's convenient to the plot. Sometimes it's airborne and kills even protected women and other times women run around outside and they're fine. Instead of maybe getting a battle between the best minds of the world - the Madman vs. the good scientists, we get bickering, staring at boobs, more bickering and looking for a uterus to populate.
- the characters. Absolutely everyone in this book is terrible. Most of them are completely irrelevant to the plot. Who cares what the Pope does? Who cares what random dude no.234 related to random dude no. 387 does? Definitely not me.
- the concept itself. Maybe this book was actually deep and tried to show that women are not actually seen as people? Because as I've read this story, killing off pretty much all of them is just kind of an annoyance. The men seem annoyed at having to do housework, at not getting sex, and at not having someone to carry their babies. Except for one episodic old man wearing the jacket his wife had knitted, no one seems to miss companionship, friendship, affection, a mother for their kid, and so on. For some of them LITERALLY all of the women they've ever cared about are dead and they are like "eh, but remember that one conflict 4 centuries ago?". The few women we do get to meet have more information revealed about their boobs than about their capabilities. The one survivor we meet is vapid and silly, which would be a pretty neat concept. Now you have this person no sane person would have chosen and she has plenty of power. How do you navigate this situation? But we can't explore that, too interesting.
In fact a book about what happens AFTER would have been great. Would women get more power or become slaves? How would they navigate the new world? How would their previously monogamous relationship adapt? What if a woman refused to cooperate? How far down the drain would morality go? So many interesting questions, so much nothing in this book.
July 11, 2015
Marvelous if somewhat (unavoidably) dated... a morality piece in sci-fi/speculative fiction clothing. The science is meticulous, given the time period in which it was written. Herbert brings his epic sense, as rendered so masterfully in the Dune books, down to Earth on a slightly smaller scale. Recommended.
October 3, 2014
Gets pretty thick, towards the end - but still raises quite a few questions which aren't contemplated nearly enough in this world.
A great read for anyone interested in science, philosophy, and/or medical ethics.
A great read for anyone interested in science, philosophy, and/or medical ethics.
November 3, 2015
It wasn't as good as I remember it being 30 years ago.
April 15, 2022
A book about a pandemic that specifically targets women. Hmmm. I have very mixed feelings about this novel. As you would imagine, Herbert is no slouch of a writer, and it is well written. The plot is simple to start with, an American scientist of Irish descent loses his wife and children to an IRA outrage and decides to take revenge by creating a plague that targets only women. The plague itself is a backdrop to forays into the social issues that abound in a world without women, but most especially an Ireland without women.
It's an interesting premise, but there were large swathes of the book which were complicated. I am not Irish in the least, though I have visited and have Irish friends, so much of the book's themes were beyond me. It envisaged an Ireland where there was a great deal of ugly introspection around what it is to be Irish and a kind of reversion to primitive motifs and traditions. In some ways, it felt as though Herbert, an American also I assume, of Irish descent, why else go to all the effort to understand Irishness so well was trying to prove something. His authenticity perhaps? There was a great deal of agonising about the church and the divisions of Ireland in much the same way as you get with James Joyce. It would be more appealing to the Irish to introspect so deeply than it would be for me, an Englishman. The English are not revered here either.
And the novel does not really do much for women's rights. The outcomes are horrific. Maybe that is part of the bleakness of the outcomes, where one country lends women as though they are breeding stock to other nations that have been more depleted.
I did not really like this novel, nor did I particularly enjoy ti, but it was well done.
It's an interesting premise, but there were large swathes of the book which were complicated. I am not Irish in the least, though I have visited and have Irish friends, so much of the book's themes were beyond me. It envisaged an Ireland where there was a great deal of ugly introspection around what it is to be Irish and a kind of reversion to primitive motifs and traditions. In some ways, it felt as though Herbert, an American also I assume, of Irish descent, why else go to all the effort to understand Irishness so well was trying to prove something. His authenticity perhaps? There was a great deal of agonising about the church and the divisions of Ireland in much the same way as you get with James Joyce. It would be more appealing to the Irish to introspect so deeply than it would be for me, an Englishman. The English are not revered here either.
And the novel does not really do much for women's rights. The outcomes are horrific. Maybe that is part of the bleakness of the outcomes, where one country lends women as though they are breeding stock to other nations that have been more depleted.
I did not really like this novel, nor did I particularly enjoy ti, but it was well done.
October 17, 2012
THE WHITE PLAGUE is a novel of meticulously calculated revenge. While in Ireland with his family, a man loses his wife and two children to a terrorist's bomb. He is a molecular biologist, and in his grief and ensuing madness, develops and unleashes a deadly pandemic which only targets women.
This is a very long novel, but the best section features John O'Neil, the biologist, and the terrorist who planted the bomb, playing an endless game of psychological 'cat and mouse' while on a trek across Ireland. This is a semi-successful attempt to offer more than the normal 'Scifi/End Of The World' scenario, and examines a fundamental aspect of terrorism. Although enemies, both men share a perceptional weakness in that they only reason in terms of 'black and white', and discern no subtleties whatsoever. 'Either you see it my way, or you will be killed'. And, when this theme is developed within the framework of a global pandemic, it makes clear that modern global conflicts allow for absolutely no neutral positions.
THE WHITE PLAGUE is primarily concerned with the two masterminds of the pandemic- the man who unleashes the plague, and the man who planted the bomb that began the deadly chain of events. I would have liked to learn more of how the 'regular people' dealt with the pandemic, but, of course, this would have changed the thrust of Herbert's novel, but might have made the novel a bit more enjoyable.
This is a very long novel, but the best section features John O'Neil, the biologist, and the terrorist who planted the bomb, playing an endless game of psychological 'cat and mouse' while on a trek across Ireland. This is a semi-successful attempt to offer more than the normal 'Scifi/End Of The World' scenario, and examines a fundamental aspect of terrorism. Although enemies, both men share a perceptional weakness in that they only reason in terms of 'black and white', and discern no subtleties whatsoever. 'Either you see it my way, or you will be killed'. And, when this theme is developed within the framework of a global pandemic, it makes clear that modern global conflicts allow for absolutely no neutral positions.
THE WHITE PLAGUE is primarily concerned with the two masterminds of the pandemic- the man who unleashes the plague, and the man who planted the bomb that began the deadly chain of events. I would have liked to learn more of how the 'regular people' dealt with the pandemic, but, of course, this would have changed the thrust of Herbert's novel, but might have made the novel a bit more enjoyable.
December 5, 2008
I dug this one out for a change of pace. I'd looked it over before, but hadn't read it. But I'm usually desperate for new reading material, so I decided to give it a try.
The basic plot is that a crazed scientist develops a plague designed to infect and kill women. It gets worldwide distribution, and so all of womankind faces the possibility of extinction - soon to be followed by all men, of course.
It's set in the modern day, or possibly in the near future - but so near that there's nothing to distinguish it from the present. Well, the present as of 1982, since a key plot point is the Irish Republican Army.
The book was surprisingly riveting - it was almost impossible to put down until I was about three-fours of the way through. And it's a LONG book. But towards the end the whole thing began to pall. With most women dead, and the major character in an incredibly bleak situation, the book became awfully hard to read towards the end. And I found the ending itself quite unpleasant. Herbert was an incredibly gifted and intelligent writer, and I cannot make any criticism of his technique in this book; I just don't like what he had to say. Not everyone would feel the same way, obviously.
The basic plot is that a crazed scientist develops a plague designed to infect and kill women. It gets worldwide distribution, and so all of womankind faces the possibility of extinction - soon to be followed by all men, of course.
It's set in the modern day, or possibly in the near future - but so near that there's nothing to distinguish it from the present. Well, the present as of 1982, since a key plot point is the Irish Republican Army.
The book was surprisingly riveting - it was almost impossible to put down until I was about three-fours of the way through. And it's a LONG book. But towards the end the whole thing began to pall. With most women dead, and the major character in an incredibly bleak situation, the book became awfully hard to read towards the end. And I found the ending itself quite unpleasant. Herbert was an incredibly gifted and intelligent writer, and I cannot make any criticism of his technique in this book; I just don't like what he had to say. Not everyone would feel the same way, obviously.
February 25, 2014
Surprisingly, disappointingly dreadful.
The characters were flat, unlifelike and none incited any sympathy in me. The story would have looked vaguely interesting on a chalk-board, but was not fleshed out interestingly.
The book read like it had never been read. By the author. Full of idiotic verbosity.
A bore.
I loved the entire Dune series: perhaps my expectations were too high. Or perhaps his style of political generalities and semi-religious drama was transformed into, or revealed as, vapid vagueness when it was brought down to Earth. Or perhaps he simply wrote it too quickly, cashed it in, and did not bother to make it worthwhile reading.
The characters were flat, unlifelike and none incited any sympathy in me. The story would have looked vaguely interesting on a chalk-board, but was not fleshed out interestingly.
The book read like it had never been read. By the author. Full of idiotic verbosity.
A bore.
I loved the entire Dune series: perhaps my expectations were too high. Or perhaps his style of political generalities and semi-religious drama was transformed into, or revealed as, vapid vagueness when it was brought down to Earth. Or perhaps he simply wrote it too quickly, cashed it in, and did not bother to make it worthwhile reading.
November 6, 2018
The concept was intriguing, but the story itself was rather slow. And the ending was just very abrupt and not very concluding.
But the concept itself is interesting and somewhat scary how possible it is.
But the concept itself is interesting and somewhat scary how possible it is.
February 4, 2019
3.5 stars.
The conclusion makes me nervous, but only because it seemed too real. Similar to how "The Handmaid's Tale" is fiction but plausible.
The conclusion makes me nervous, but only because it seemed too real. Similar to how "The Handmaid's Tale" is fiction but plausible.
October 9, 2022
I'm almost glad I didn't read this book during the pandemic (are we still in a pandemic?). It would have enhanced my anxiety. "The White Plague" is one of those books that I like and I hate at the same time, which makes it incredibly hard to rate.
One one hand, I will not deny that Herbert was a talented author (and I am altogether glad that I read something else from him besides the "Dune" series). He made me feel things, strong things, from beginning to end. The novel was a tornado of emotions for me and one of the reasons why it took me such a long time to finish (the other was the edition I read, which I will get into later). There was no moment where I didn't mentally yell at someone (be it one of the characters, humanity in general or the author himself). It takes great skill to take a reader through such a rollercoaster. One minute I'm crying for John's family, the next I hate him for what he became, only to end up feeling compassion and actually rooting for him to succeed in destroying this world we live in, which is utter s*it (the world, that is).
On a side note, if there's something I learned from this pandemic, is that humanity as a whole, despite our many cultural and scientific developments, is a s*ithole of idiocy, malice, and violence, something Herbert accurately described in his book.
So, given what we've lived through in the past years and the speed at which scientific discoveries in the DNA area are made, Herbert's story is completely plausible, not only as a medical issue, but also in terms of the social and political issues such an event would set off. The idea itself I found brilliant - not necessarily the trigger - John Roe O'Neill's disease (I'm pretty sure others thought along the same lines), but the story itself, happening on multiple planes, touching multiple issues such a disease brings to the table. Not only does the book focus on O'Neill himself and his journey, literal and spiritual/ mental, but Herbert also addresses, through his multiple characters, concerns on internal and external politics, diplomacy, geopolitical strategies, social unrest, the role of women in a new society, morality, religion, war. I was intrigued and content to see that he drew a lot from the real life political context of the 1980s, with the IRA issues in Ireland and the Soviet Union and its Iron Curtain, expanding on these subjects in the context of this disease.
However, I have notes/ quibbles about the execution. I found the pacing uneven and hard to grasp; one moment we go along with John and admire every leaf from the picturesque Ireland countryside (just like LOTR, they go and go and go a little bit more, but in a less charming way), the next moment there are entire time jumps and we find ourselves with a new US president without being told how the previous one died. I think he wanted to cram as much information on as many planes as possible in this book, to talk about all the implications, that he ended up cooking a soup with one too many vegetables. I'm not a fan of these time skips which leave a lot of things unexplained and make the story unbalanced.
There's also too many characters, which leads to poor and sometimes inexistent characterization. I was so happy in the beginning as the story concentrated on three main ones - John, Kate, and the "TEAM", thinking that we will have a balanced account of the progression, from three different perspectives, but then more and more characters started to pop in, some with a complicated backstory, others with no backstory at all, that I eventually not only got lost in this ocean of people I cared nothing about, but I lost track of the initial ones as well. Which is a shame, especially considering that I was getting invested in the stories of the TEAM members, such as Hupp and Lepikov, only to have them be diluted and eventually forgotten. Additionally, in a book so focused on women, Herbert only introduces two female characters: a likeable, strong one, whom he quickly kills of, and Kate, who is weak, whiny and a hypocrite.
So, as I said in the beginning, there was a like/ dislike, middle-of-the-road relationship between me and this book. I really wish I'd read it in English, because, dear me, the translation and editing were atrocious! If someone from Nemira is reading this, please re-release this book with a new translation. It was almost unbearable to get through.
One one hand, I will not deny that Herbert was a talented author (and I am altogether glad that I read something else from him besides the "Dune" series). He made me feel things, strong things, from beginning to end. The novel was a tornado of emotions for me and one of the reasons why it took me such a long time to finish (the other was the edition I read, which I will get into later). There was no moment where I didn't mentally yell at someone (be it one of the characters, humanity in general or the author himself). It takes great skill to take a reader through such a rollercoaster. One minute I'm crying for John's family, the next I hate him for what he became, only to end up feeling compassion and actually rooting for him to succeed in destroying this world we live in, which is utter s*it (the world, that is).
On a side note, if there's something I learned from this pandemic, is that humanity as a whole, despite our many cultural and scientific developments, is a s*ithole of idiocy, malice, and violence, something Herbert accurately described in his book.
So, given what we've lived through in the past years and the speed at which scientific discoveries in the DNA area are made, Herbert's story is completely plausible, not only as a medical issue, but also in terms of the social and political issues such an event would set off. The idea itself I found brilliant - not necessarily the trigger - John Roe O'Neill's disease (I'm pretty sure others thought along the same lines), but the story itself, happening on multiple planes, touching multiple issues such a disease brings to the table. Not only does the book focus on O'Neill himself and his journey, literal and spiritual/ mental, but Herbert also addresses, through his multiple characters, concerns on internal and external politics, diplomacy, geopolitical strategies, social unrest, the role of women in a new society, morality, religion, war. I was intrigued and content to see that he drew a lot from the real life political context of the 1980s, with the IRA issues in Ireland and the Soviet Union and its Iron Curtain, expanding on these subjects in the context of this disease.
However, I have notes/ quibbles about the execution. I found the pacing uneven and hard to grasp; one moment we go along with John and admire every leaf from the picturesque Ireland countryside (just like LOTR, they go and go and go a little bit more, but in a less charming way), the next moment there are entire time jumps and we find ourselves with a new US president without being told how the previous one died. I think he wanted to cram as much information on as many planes as possible in this book, to talk about all the implications, that he ended up cooking a soup with one too many vegetables. I'm not a fan of these time skips which leave a lot of things unexplained and make the story unbalanced.
There's also too many characters, which leads to poor and sometimes inexistent characterization. I was so happy in the beginning as the story concentrated on three main ones - John, Kate, and the "TEAM", thinking that we will have a balanced account of the progression, from three different perspectives, but then more and more characters started to pop in, some with a complicated backstory, others with no backstory at all, that I eventually not only got lost in this ocean of people I cared nothing about, but I lost track of the initial ones as well. Which is a shame, especially considering that I was getting invested in the stories of the TEAM members, such as Hupp and Lepikov, only to have them be diluted and eventually forgotten. Additionally, in a book so focused on women, Herbert only introduces two female characters: a likeable, strong one, whom he quickly kills of, and Kate, who is weak, whiny and a hypocrite.
So, as I said in the beginning, there was a like/ dislike, middle-of-the-road relationship between me and this book. I really wish I'd read it in English, because, dear me, the translation and editing were atrocious! If someone from Nemira is reading this, please re-release this book with a new translation. It was almost unbearable to get through.
February 27, 2023
Buen libro, aunque algunas partes te aburren un poco porque pone demasiados detalles que no vienen al caso. Pero en general bueno.
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