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Z for Zachariah

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Z for Zachariah

By: Robert C. O'Brien
Narrated by: Christina Moore
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About this listen

Something terrible has finally happened. A nuclear holocaust has destroyed civilization. For one whole year, 16-year-old Ann Burden has lived alone on her family’s farm, somehow sheltered from the radiation in the valley. As she hears the final radio station going off the air, she believes she is the only person left alive. But when Ann sees smoke from a faraway campfire, she knows there is at least one other survivor. Soon an incredible figure wearing a green suit and carrying an oxygen tank appears on the road. With the intruder in her valley, she makes a chilling discovery: There are worse things than being alone.

Newbery Award-winning author Robert C. O’Brien won an Edgar Award for this suspense-filled science fiction tale of a young woman determined to survive on her own terms. Narrator Christina Moore places you on the scene with Ann in a strange world with an unknown future.

©1974 Sally Conly (P)1999 Recorded Books, LLC Action & Adventure Literature & Fiction Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Science Fiction & Fantasy Survival Stories Thrillers & Suspense

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Who’s read this?

It seems remarkably problematic for a book people read in school 😵

Ann Burden is fifteen and the sole survivor of global nuclear war.

She lives with her dog, Faro, in a remote valley and, despite her desperate circumstances, is resourceful, calm and determined.

She plants crops, drives the tractor, ploughs the fields, tends the animals and fully accepts that she is the caretaker of the only untainted land left in the world and that she will live and die alone.

But one day, a man in a radiation suit turns up. Ann hides at first, wanting to know more about him before revealing herself.

But when he washes in the river and contracts radiation poisoning she makes the choice to care for him.

What follows is a complex exploration of power and gender. What does it mean to be a young woman in a world with only one man?

John Loomis, as the man in the suit is revealed to be, is a scientist, older than Ann and with a capacity for intimidation and subterfuge.

Once recovered from sickness, he starts to give orders, has all sorts of plans to “improve” the farm and is critical of how Ann has been managing up to now.

He suggests they “start a colony” together and becomes increasingly controlling as each day passes.

Eventually, he attempts to rape her.

Ann elbows him in the throat and flees.

Eventually, Anne offers a compromise to share the valley.

Loomis suggests she should act “more like an adult and less like a school girl”, implying she should submit to sleeping with him and stop being ridiculous.

He steals the keys to the tractor, withholds supplies and finally shoots her, forcing her to run for her life.

I was disturbed and outraged by Ann’s story. I was desperate for her to defeat Loomis.

This was her land and she was there first and what right did he have to come along and take over?

How dare he threaten to take charge of her body!

By the end of the book, Ann has made impossibly difficult decisions, shown courage and integrity, overpowered her aggressor and survived.

The ending is full of hope as she walks into a potentially new world with her independence intact.

Harrowing yet enchanting.

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A great story that took me
Back to my secondary school days of reading this. Still a favourite!

Blast from the past!

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I loved hearing this book. I read it in school 35 years ago although I had forgotten the ending. I love the angst that's conveyed in the telling and slipped back into my 13 year old self thinking about what it must have felt like to be that young and afraid in that kind of setting. I can immediately remember the English lessons where we read and discussed the book and the following essays I wrote.
it has such a dark side that for the majority is left to the reader to conjure.
Highly recommended and I would recommend you listen with your kids if you can tear them away from technology and video games for a few hours.

fantastic

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I enjoyed this. Read it at school when nuclear war was seen as a very real threat and as an adult 40 ys later I remember the impact it had on me then. It really took me back. Worth a listen

A story of its time

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Very much enjoyed the story, it kept me wanting to know how the girls future is going to turn out.

Heart felt story

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I liked the story a lot, it was interesting and unexpected. I wished for a different ending but it was still good. And I missed that it was written so long ago, one noticed it a bit but it wasn't distracting. Great read.

Female protagonist

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I remember reading this in secondary school for English literature. A interesting story then a fabulous story now.

School Days

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Like other reviewers, I remembered this story from childhood and wanted to revisit it. The narration is really excellent and brings it very vividly to life. I’m looking forward to having another listen before long.

Gripping story, excellent narration

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I remember the 1980s BBC version (back in the day when they made watchable programs). Having heard the original it's amazing how faithful the BBC stuck to the original, except the setting was Wales. The 2015 Hollywppd version was awful, total train wreck, but then no supprised there. I'd highly recommend this audio book, well written and well read.

Great tale

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I first read this book in my teens and have read it several times since in the many years since my teenage time.
The narrator was wonderful, the story well told and despite my knowing the twists and turns, I was engaged throughout.
I will not say much about the story - I don’t want to give anything away to anyone finding this novel for the first time, but just to say you will be thinking of this story for a long time afterwards.

Excellent

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