Michael Landweber

Imagine a world without violence. Imagine reading the news and finding no mention of violence - no shootings or stabbings, a world where fists can no longer hit and bombs no longer explode. With everything going on the world right now, this is an exciting thought to ponder but is there a downside to the loss of violence in the world?

The author gives us seven very different characters and shows us how the attempts on violence no longer work. Dab, a school boy who is amazed when the punches from his bully do not harm him..in fact, he doesn't even feel them. Ann, a social worker, can no longer be physically hurt by her husband's abuse. Julien, a white supremacist has plans to shoot children in a Jewish school but his bullets just hang in the air and don't do any damage. These are three of the seven disparate characters who illuminate the changes in our world. As we read more about them we realize that despite the impossibility of violence that harms or kills people, this doesn't affect the racism, the hatred and terrorism that still exist and it doesn't stop people who still think about harming other people. Cruelty is still alive and people who want to be violent are still considering ways that they can accomplish their destruction. This is a thought provoking book about love and loss, violence and reconciliation and the possibility of a new world.

I thought that this book had an interesting premise but a lot got lost with too many characters who are unable to hurt other people. I would have preferred less characters and more depth into their stories. That said, this is definitely a story that will keep you imagining a world without violence.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book to read and review.… (mehr)

THE DAMAGE DONE, by Michael Landweber, is a thought provoking look at what our world would be like without violence. Violence is part of the fabric of our world and without it, the dynamic of our entire societal structure changes. While removing violence initially and morally seems good, Landweber contemplates if there is anything bad about removing violence. Using several different people's lives to contemplate this removal, it quickly becomes clear in the book that society, with a good amount of revaluation, can thrive in world where violence is a relic of the past.
Landweber follows several different characters whose lives are forever changed after violence has been removed from the world. The removal is abrupt and part of the joy of the book is watching the characters realize and process what has happened. Some have trouble accepting it, while others instantly embrace it like a warm blanket and immediately alter their approach to their entire lives. After we meet all of the major characters and experience their moments of realization, Landweber reveals how all of the individual are intertwined and the reader is rewarded with a touching conclusion of what our world might be without violence.
Unique in design and heavy in the study of what if, THE DAMAGE DONE creates a hypothesis of something that cold happen and then plays out different scenarios of the result of that possibility. That playing out of different scenarios is what makes this novel such a compelling read.
Thanks to Crooked Lane Books, Michael Landweber, and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!… (mehr)

Duck is a 17 year old walking around Washington DC a few hours after his mother died. Then time stops. However, it only stops for everyone and everything but Duck. No one is moving. Machines don't work. He's not going to starve because with time stopped all the food will remain fresh.

It's an interesting premise and I enjoyed this book. Duck has to figure out how to manage and survive. He's a kid so he does some immature and stupid things but he also spends a lot of time analyzing his situation.

Duck narrate the story and he inserts periodic chapters written as a guidebook for what to do if you're ever in his situation. He has a quirky sense of humor and there's a bit of fun here and there in between Duck's thinking about his past and his relationships with his family and friends.

It's a quick read but one that will leave you thinking.… (mehr)

At first, fans of time travel novels and short stories might not know what to make of Michael Landweber’s Thursday 1:17 P.M. After all, the novel’s narrator/hero (a teenager whom everyone calls Duck) moves neither forward nor backward in time during the entire novel. Duck would, in fact, be perfectly happy if he could simply figure out how to get time started again, because right now he is the only thing moving in a world in which every other living thing and machine is frozen solid at 1:17 on the worst Thursday afternoon of his life.

How bad a day is Duck having? Well, consider this: minutes earlier, he walked away from his mother’s deathbed; his father is institutionalized; and Duck has just stepped directly into the path of the speeding car that is destined to smash him into pieces. But suddenly the clock stops ticking, and Duck finds himself staring into the eyes of the driver who is about to crush him. So he simply steps away from the intersection.

Thus begins one of the strangest coming-of-age novels a reader is ever likely to encounter. Duck will be eighteen years old tomorrow – but will tomorrow ever get here, or is Duck destined to remain forever a seventeen-year-old boy grieving the loss of his mother?

Survival proves to be surprisingly easy in a world in which everything is literally frozen in in the instant during which time stopped. Washington D.C. grocery stores are filled with food and drink that never spoils; the temperature never varies; shelter is available everywhere Duck turns (if he can just figure out when it is time to get some sleep); and everything in the nearby shopping mall is his for the taking. All around him, people are frozen in the act of walking, falling, fighting, or making love. Everyone but Duck is waiting for the next tick of the clock to determine their fate. Now what?

Ironically, it a world in which time has frozen, Duck has nothing but time on his hands, time to think about his past, time to miss his parents and his friends, and time to figure out what he would do differently if only the rest of the world would catch up with him again. But in order to do any of these things, first he has to figure out a way to get time flowing. Can a boy really come-of-age in a world in which he lives entirely alone, or is his situation akin to the tree that falls in the forest when no one is around to hear it hit the ground?

You’ll have to read Thursday 1:17 P.M. to find out… (mehr)