Etiquette –”Ah … finally a ‘girlie’ apocalypse book”, I thought when I read the title of the book by Anne Mendel – ‘Etiquette for an Apocalypse’.  It definitely piqued my curiosity as to how etiquette could have anything remotely to do with an apocalyptic world where images of chaos, civil unrest, fighting, looting and hardship are usually the first things that are conjured-up in our minds.

The book is a fictional journey into a world turned upside down and yet somehow seems to function in a dysfunctional-functional sort of way for the main character, Sophie; who remains a mother, sister, wife and daughter post-apocalypse.

Sophie’s apocalypse began way before the actual event, in a life where she could never quite seem to conform to that ‘perfect daughter’ image her mother, Lulu, “a well-to-doer” had hoped for.  As fate would have it, together they are thrust into a post-apocalyptic world to live and survive – with one another and the world outside their penthouse window, along with Sophie’s husband, Bertrand a doctor; but not one Lulu would have picked, her daughter Sasha; a typical defiant 13 year old (much like her mother Sophie) and, brother Mitchell, a hands-offish nerdy former theory professor at MIT.   

The year is 2020.  With no electrical power, a lack of food and violence on the streets, neighbors of the building where Sophie and her family live, are brought together out of necessity, and for some; a social need, creating a network of communal talents that work in tandem to sustain them all.  It’s a colorful group (remember, we can pick our neighborhood but not our neighbors), and one I’m sure was added by the author to remind us it’s not always about us.

Maybe out of fear, stubbornness or protection of her family, Sophie finds herself tapping into her entrepreneurial skills to sell OTC-type drugs at an open air makeshift “market”, contrived by her laboratory-rat brother Mitchell in his lab using equipment salvaged from the local high school; investigating a serial killer along-side her doctor-husband Bertrand; and, finding herself in a turf war defending all she believes in - family. 

Lulu, Sophie’s mother, always the proper lady and proprietor of the lavish penthouse that has now become the family’s gilded refuge, clings to her designer clothes oblivious, in her delusional world, that severe weight loss has caused them to hang like a cheap suit, made me wonder - if only for a moment - if we all wouldn’t do the same – refusing to believe or give into the notion that ‘our things’ no longer matter. There is no rich or poor – just people.  Being self-reliant, the book also made me question myself.  “Would I do that” or “Why didn’t they do this?” For instance, reading that everyone cut their hair close to their head, sent chills down my spine and conjured up visions of me and the dreadful “pixie” haircut my mother gave me as a child. This, thought also opened my eyes to the real possibility of “oh yeah lice” putting me on the road to researching to find a remedy before “the poo ever hit the fan.

For some this book will be pure fiction – saying, this could never happen and read it purely for entertainment. For others, like me, we know it can and quite possibly will happen at some point in the future. For this reason, I recommend the book, if for nothing more than to understand our vulnerabilities and begin to question ourselves as to how prepared we really are. Most everything that could happen in a post-apocalyptic world happens in this book. It’s not all doom and gloom though there is laughter, romance, and friendship – peppered with the obligatory conflict, struggle and yes death.

At the very end of the book, the author asks a few questions that I hope will make you think.

“If the world was coming to an end in minutes - who would you call? 

Why Wait?

And, noooo the answer is not ‘Ghost Busters’!

Get your copy of "Etiquette for an Apocalypse" here: Etiquette for an Apocalypse

Anne Mendel Contact Information:

Twitter @anne_mendel
Website: www.annemendel.com
Email: anne@annemendel.com

Just Sayin’

- Survivor Jane

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If you liked this ... then you will love my book, "Emergency/Survival Hygiene: A Prepper "Cookbook" for Survival Personal Hygiene Products", "What Could Possibly Go Wrong??? How to Go From Completely Clueless to Totally Prepared" and my NEW Book "Puzzling Over Preparedness - Survivor Jane's Prepper Word Search Puzzles"