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The Death of Grass

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The Death of Grass

By: John Christopher
Narrated by: William Gaminara
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About this listen

A viral strain has attacked rice crops in East Asia, causing massive famine; soon a mutation appears that infects the staple crops of West Asia and Europe, such as wheat and barley, threatening a famine engulfing the whole of the Old World, while Australasia and the Americas attempt to impose rigorous quarantine to exclude the virus.

Christopher's classic post-apocalyptic novel follows the struggles of architect John Custance and his family as they make their way across an England that is rapidly descending into anarchy, hoping to reach the safety of John's brother's farm in an isolated Westmorland valley. Along the way, they find they must sacrifice many of their morals in order to stay alive.

Here is an unusual and absorbing piece of science-fiction about the relentless transformation of civilisation when the balance of nature is upset.

©1956 Samuel Youd (P)2011 Audible Ltd Fantasy Fiction Scary Funny

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Critic reviews

"I admire The Death of Grass. It was published at roughly the same time as The Day Of The Triffids. In my judgement, it is by far the better book. It is a thrilling and sensible work." (Brian Aldiss)
"Gripping! Of all science fiction's apocalypses, this is one of the most haunting." ( Financial Times)
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I’ve listened to numerous apocalyptic stories but none move me like this one. I first read this in my teens and it drew me into the genre. You won’t find many better stories out there and you certainly won’t find a better story teller than John Christopher. This is genuinely haunting in its accurate observations and I fear it could one day be truly vatic in its prophecy.

Stunningly prescient

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Where does The Death of Grass rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book was recommended by a friend and so was not the sort of book I listen to. The book is increasingly depressing and highlights the worst parts of human nature. I did however, make it to the end...just.

I can't say I enjoyed this book but that may just be due to personal preference. If you like books that have little light in them, I am sure that you will like this.

Not my thing, but made it to the end!

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The writing style is showing its age, this book lacks any science and its very old fashioned, however I quite liked the book overall.

Overall a good read

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If you could sum up The Death of Grass in three words, what would they be?

An interesting yarn

What three words best describe William Gaminara’s performance?

Really very good

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The ending - a bit shocking

Any additional comments?

A great tale. Not quite as good as The Tripods. But nonetheless worth a listen

William Gaminara is great reader.

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I remember getting this book at a second hand bookshop decades ago. 1950s post war British sci-fi is not necessarily what people are looking for when they go to the sci-fi part of the store - but perhaps they should. With its tight focus on just a handful of characters as they make their way across England to hoped for safety and then occasional allusions and asides to give a hint of the scale of the global disaster, this book keeps pulling you in while simultaneously horrifying you with the brutal reality of a world falling apart. William Gaminara does a wonderful job as narrator, showing great sympathy to the text. Highly recommended.

Great audio version of a great story

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Day of the triffids meets Lord of the Flys as we watch our hero’s becoming severe distortions of their former civilised selves.
Excellent performance.

A grim tale well told.

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It is a bit dated, it's a bit too stiff-upper-lip to be believable in a lot of ways, but the foundations of the story are very well done,

It's essentially trying to reveal what human morality is in a society that cannot sustain itself, and the reversion to tribalism that will exist if a group wishes to survive in such an environment. (There's implied rape and accepted commodification of a teenage girl, it's not "nice" story)

Where it kind of falls short is the main character doesn't really seem thoughtful, he just kind of feels a bit carried along, with everyone but his sniper-"buddy" seeming utterly undemanding, I think a modern take might have expanded on these characters as they went along their journey to introduce a bit more dimension and humanity.

Definitely worth reading though, kind of a take on Day of the Triffids from the perspective of the "Bad-Guys"

Nice quick listen

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You have to you suspend disbelief to accept the plot on this one. If you can do that then it is actually an okay story. Nothing more though.

Odd plot but OK

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Any additional comments?

I love 1950s sci-fi. I always feel like it's very much written of its time; dark, brooding, claustrophobic, paranoid.
This book encompasses all of those and more (the devaluing of women is not a new concept by any means, but here it is written about with such brute force it's rather scary).
Good narration and although it hasn't dated very well by modern standards, it's still an excellent read.

Old-School Sci-fi

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... might as well have been another title for this book. Or perhaps more to the point "The Death of Morals and Decent Civilized Behaviour". And that death comes fast. Even among the protagonists the breakdown of morals is too swift to be really believable.

That said this is still a tense and gripping dystopian / apocalypse tale.

Narration is very good.

The Death of Civilization...

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