![]() ![]() ![]() Mandel is effectively spare in her depiction of both the tough hand-to-mouth existence of a devastated world and the almost unchallenged life of the celebrity-think of Cormac McCarthy seesawing with Joan Didion. There’s also the man-a paparazzo-turned-paramedic-who runs to the stage from the audience to try to revive him, a Samaritan role he will play again in later years. ![]() On the other is a professional actor, who dies in the opening pages while performing King Lear, his ex-wives and his oldest friend, glimpsed in flashbacks. On one side of the timeline are the survivors, mainly a traveling troupe of musicians and actors and a stationary group stuck for years in an airport. The story concerns the before and after of a catastrophic virus called the Georgia Flu that wipes out most of the world’s population. In her fourth novel, Mandel ( The Lola Quartet, 2012, etc.) moves away from the literary thriller form of her previous books but keeps much of the intrigue. Survivors and victims of a pandemic populate this quietly ambitious take on a post-apocalyptic world where some strive to preserve art, culture and kindness. ![]()
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