A Town is Drowning

Frederik Pohl

Read by Maurice Donegan

(4.5 stars; 6 reviews)

TORN FROM TODAY'S HEADLINES
This novel takes you right into the heart of the new flood country, the Northeast United States which had generally been free of hurricanes and attendant floods. Now disaster has struck, more than once--terrible and grim.

Although this novel will give you an accurate and brilliantly vivid picture of what it's like to live through a flood, even more importantly it will show you what the people are like who fought the catastrophe and how those who survived are still fighting. In the persons of Starkman the burgess, Groff the dynamic young executive, Sharon the shrewd opportunist, Mrs. Goudeket, the resort owner, and others, you will meet and understand the varying human elements that the flood unleashed and intensified. Through it all you will sense a growing feeling of pride--that despite the selfishness of some, the people of the town met the terrible onslaught with courage and a sense of mutual help.

Already well known for their superb science fiction, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth demonstrate here their equal power in the realistic contemporary novel. - Summary by book jacket

Notes from the narrator
To me, A Town is Drowning was an interesting reading and recording assignment as it provided a look back at the dialogue and narrative structure for the dramatic works of the 1950’s, my earliest memories.
Echoes of World War II, the Atomic Bomb, and the Cold War were ever present in this 1955 world; as was the idea of American Idealism and Opportunity. The story narrative tended to be strait-forward, black and white, with minimal cultural gray issues.

Yet I also observed aspects found in the 2022 world, the struggle for equality across ethinic backgrounds, stereotypes, and class divisions, the lure of money and power, and increasingly - the occurrence of natural disasters, today attributed to global climate change. Authors Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth created a realistic contemporary novel for 1955, but for me, much of their story resonates with the world of today.

I hope you enjoy listening to A Town is Drowning.

Maurice Donegan
Atlanta, Georgia
August 17, 2022
(4 hr 35 min)