Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As a college graduate with a literary degree, I can understand why some people would critique the literary aspect of the book, IE; the dialog, or certain aspects of the plot line etc. But it seems pretty silly to do so. This genre of writing is not Haute couture, folks, it's a folksy genre about survival, for God's sake, can you imagine how lousy a survivalist book would be if written by Emily Bronte! Get over it. It's just the survivalist version of pulp fiction. The value is not in the use of metaphors, similes, imagery and symbolism, or any other clever literary ploys. The value comes from causing us to think about surviving after an "Event" and what we need to do to prepare--and having fun in the meantime. So from that perspective, realizing that Joe Nobody is NOT Ernest Hemingway, I greatly enjoyed the book. The plot line is not excessively unrealistic. For example, when I read Rawles' "Patriots", I asked myself how many individuals would be able to buy a piece of land, complete with a house, IN CASH, in Idaho, and then stock it with hundreds of thousands of dollars of survival gear? By comparison, this story is far more realistic; a prepared and skilled man and his tough wife struggle to make it to a very humble retreat. The most elaborate piece of equipment they have is the rifle (fairly commonplace) and the night vision scope/monocle (not nearly as commonly owned, as they are expensive). But a man making a living from security just might actually own those. I'd have to give this an overall thumb-up. Definitely caught my attention and held it. yes, sometimes the dialog is corny, but I have to admit, as a married man--the conversation between my wife and me also gets a bit corny and sometimes ribald. That's just life. There wasn't anything in the dialog that was 'unrealistic'. The only thing is that there is quite a bit of vulgarity, which is also more realistic considering the subject. When the world is falling apart, a few F- bombs here and there won't seem nearly as shocking as they do now. So if you like the survivalist genre, buy it without fear.