Cheap The End of the World News: An Entertainment (Book) (Anthony Burgess) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of The End of the World News: An Entertainment

Why is this out of print?
Anthony Burgess seems to be dangerously close to being passed over by history. The only book that he is now remembered for is now more likely to be cited as "a Stanley Kubrick film" than "an Anthony Burgess novel," and his many other works have been left to rot in used bookstores. While he's not certainly not the most visionary speculative fiction author of the 20th century, he deserves far more respect than he's received--I fully expect him to be "rediscovered" sometime soon.

I first read "The End of the World News" back in middle school (about ten years ago) and still remember it clearly. His parallel narratives--a future Earth waiting for The End, the waning years of cranky old Freud, and the libretto for a musical about Trotsky's visit to New York--work together beautifully, like a more coherent "Slaughterhouse-Five." Still one of my all-time favorites.

---

an overlooked classic by a master
Anthony Burgess has written so many great novels. He is of course most famous for A Clockwork Orange, and that one sotry has overshadowed much of his other terrific work.

This book has three different storylines, including Trotsky and space travel, and its never clear as you read through the chapters how they are related, but the plotlines are captivating. And at the end, he does a masterful job of tying it all together. Simply fascinating.

It will be hard to find this book, but if you do, definitely buy it.

---

Brilliant and Alive
If you enjoyed "A Clockwork Orange" as a literary achievement and for its apocalyptic/dystopic vision, then this is a book for you. Look for it in used-book stores. I'm sure there were a few re-prints of it, so don't give up.