Why we chose Adrian J. Walker’s The End of the World Running Club
Dad had this book on his TBR, though we’re not quite sure why. Mom had actually read it a few months before us. That’s probably why he added it. Perhaps he was intrigued because he hasn’t read any dystopic/post-apocalyptic novels before. I felt a little hesitant because the title made me think it was going to be an attempt at a humorous, satirical book a la The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I thought it was going to be about a running club that someone managed after the end of the world – I was wrong!
This powerful post-apocalyptic thriller pits reluctant father Edgar Hill in a race against time to get back to his wife and children. When the sky begins to fall and he finds himself alone, his best hope is to run – or risk losing what he loves forever.
When the world ends and you find yourself forsaken, every second counts. No one knows this more than Edgar Hill. Stranded on the other side of the country from his wife and children, Ed must push himself across a devastated wasteland to get back to them. With the clock ticking and hundreds of miles between them, his best hope is to run — or risk losing what he loves forever.
Our Discussion
You’ll get more out of this discussion if you’ve already read the book (minor spoilers ahead).
Dad gives this book ★★★★ and I give it ★★★½. When asked that awful question, “Did you enjoy this book?”, Dad said he wouldn’t quite say he enjoyed reading The End of the World Running Club – it’s pretty dark and disturbing – but the compelling manner in which Walker writes challenged him to focus and read through it. Dad couldn’t recall having read a similar book before. My mind jumped straight to The Road (read way back in my first year of undergrad), which I would say is darker than End of the World.
We found the opening 100 pages or so to be the most compelling. The tension builds from a quiet early morning to the panic in the family cellar. The first few chapters have high intensity and we found ourselves absorbed in what was happening, rather than just wondering “Okay, what next?” Plus, air raid sirens freak me out! Mentioning them is one easy way to get my heartbeat up.
One of the first questions Dad asked was why did Walker include the scene where Edgar throws Alice down the stairs. Obviously the family was facing imminent death, but we discussed what this said about Edgar’s character. Dad suggested that Edgar panicked because of the people trying to break in. I thought maybe Edgar had his priorities a bit confused – he rough-houses his daughter (not unreasonably so, given the circumstance) but then this scene of carelessness with his daughter contrasts with the next moment, in which he sprints upstairs to get her stuffed animals. We liked that we actually got to spend time with Edgar and his family together, because that gives a lot of his context for his later character and actions.
Similarly, we also liked that the apocalyptic event was actually included in the narrative. Again, I thought of The Road where the event pretty much takes place before the story. In End of the World, there’s a pretty clear reason for what happened and it’s nothing complicated or mysterious – that felt like a nice change from other similar stories we’ve encountered.
Dad found the chapter titles acted like little teasers for what was ahead. He enjoyed flipping back to the title after reading a chapter and pinpointing the connection. Sometimes the title was obvious and referenced in the first few sentences of the chapter, but most of the time you have to read the entire chapter to make the connection. The chapter titles made him think a little bit more about what was happening.
We both liked the ending and found a lot to discuss there. Dad liked that it wasn’t a simple happy ending and I liked that it went a bit further than just a reunion. Although ambiguous, the conclusion holds some hope. We had both forgotten about the first chapter, in which Edgar speaks from the end of his journey and sets himself up as an unreliable narrator. The final chapter ties back to this. We both read the story literally, but there’s definitely room for some alternate interpretations.
At the end of our discussions, I brought up the Goodreads reviews that criticized Edgar for being a whiny, worthless manchild. ‘Whiny’ is not an adjective that we would use to characterize him (though manchild does seem applicable at times, lol). Edgar is obviously flawed and self-centered, but he does come to recognize those qualities about himself and acknowledge that he was a crappy father and husband.
Final Thoughts
While this book isn’t a perfect example of post-apocalyptic fiction, it gripped our interest and spun out a few unexpected twists. What’s your favourite post-apocalyptic story – book, film or other medium?
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