Post-apocalyptic page-turner. It's influence can be felt on any number of other plague-catastrophe fictions, and also on the non-fiction World Without Us. Some of the author's ideas and sensibilities were ahead of his time, but they sound kind of anachronistic now (especially relating to disability, race, and sexuality). I don't completely buy that a catastrophe would necessarily erase the arts of reading and writing; I kept thinking that if the parents had only read some Fairy Tales to the kids, they would have picked it up a little more. Quibbles aside, Earth Abides is a powerful book, and a great read.