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My final book of #10BeforetheEnd

A SciFi novel, published in 1939, about the moon colliding with the Earth. For a 400+ page book, it read fast. Hopkins, the narrator, is a bit of an a** and his obsession with chickens reminded me of Gonzo from The Muppets. For all that, it was still quite affecting. Hopkins does evolve emotionally and like all good SciFi the book illustrates the best and the worst aspects of humanity.

Love me a deckled edge

Edgar Hopkins, a gentleman prize poultry farmer and member of the British Lunar Society, learns of an impending cataclysm that threatens to destroy not only his village but possibly all of humanity. Edgar often strikes an absurd, petty figure and the novel's tone is mostly satirical (think Don't Look Up but in the 1930s), yet it is also genuinely moving in its depiction of the true joys of life--companionship, community, nature and home.

This was really really enjoyable… the narrator is pompous and inherently unlikeable but this actually just made it more darkly comic. Really depressing that it was written so long ago and yet the pessimistic views on human nature will hold true!

There's a lot in this one to process and ponder! In some ways it's very different from the other R.C. Sheriff books I've read, what with the cataclysmic sci fi disaster and destruction of Western civilization. But at the same time, the character of Hopkins, the village life, and the cozy, non-disaster scenes are so very familiar.