REVIEW: The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy
Alan Wexelblat
The City, Not Long After
by Pat Murphy
Review Copyright (c) 1991 Alan Wexelblat
I must confess up front that I'm not totally comfortable reviewing this
book. I do not think I understood it completely, but I liked it and I think
Murphy is one of the brightest of the new talents around. So I'll say my
piece and then you can go out and buy the book and judge for yourself.
"City," like "Falling Woman," is mostly the story of a young woman trying to
come to terms with the world around her, especially in her relations with
men and her mother. "City" is the story of Mary Laurenson's daughter, born
"Not Long After" a plague has decimated the world's population. The plague
appeared virtually simultaneously around the world and wreaked its
devastating effects indiscriminately. Something like 80% of the people
died. Survival seemed random, as the plague would take the father, mother,
and all but one child of the same family.
The City is Murphy's beloved home, San Francisco. The city is now inhabited
by a colony of artists and artisans who have used their art to transform the
city itself, making mazes and sculptures in the streets and paintings on the
building walls.
Eventually the City and the woman (whose name and means of naming are
important to the story and I won't give that away here) come together in the
face of a danger posed by General Fourstar, a military man from before the
Plague who is leading an army to "reunite" the scattered colonies of people,
whether they want to be reunited or not.
The novel is relatively short (at 244 pages) but extremely complex. Murphy
sets up conflicts between Man/Woman, Violence/Nonviolence, Art/War, and
Love/Fear, among others. In less-skilled hands, this assemblage of Great
Themes might be ponderous or preachy, but Murphy mostly lets the story roll
along, handling things with a light touch.
The ending baffles me, though, in that it seems to say something different
than the rest of the book. I say you should read it for yourself and see.
%A Pat Murphy
%T The City, Not Long After
%I Foundation/Doubleday
%G ISBN 0-385-24925-X
%O $17.95
%D 1989