After the Bomb written by Gloria Miklowitz is a thrilling novel that takes place
before, during, and after a bomb which supposedly was sent from Russia by
accident. L.A. and surrounding cities are all altered by the disastrous
happening. Philip Singer a teenager is in a position as leader of the family.
His brother Matt is awfully sick, possibly from radiation, his father was away
at work during the blast and for all Philip knows he might be dead, and his
mother was desperately injured and needs immediate attention. Hospitals are
flooded with injured and dying people and the government doesn't send help for a
few days. The badly injured don't even get the chance to be helped because the
hospitals have to send the ones that are likely going to live to hospitals that
specialize in burns. His mother is so badly burned that the hospitals put her on
the bottom of the list to be flown to burn centers. By the end of the novel
Philip has taken charge, snuck his mom ahead to be flown to a burn center, and
in a sense saved his town from thirst. He truly survived the terror, shock, and
danger of the bomb. The novel goes through a couple of settings such as,
Philip's struggle to keep his family alive, and the conflict between the nature
of a nuclear bomb against the Los Angeles area. When the bomb hits he is playing
around in a playroom shelter with his brother and his girlfriend. They go out to
find out what had happened and found burning houses, their house only left with
one wall, rubble on the ground, debris all over the place, and people running
frantically for shelter. Philip's brother became sick after finding his mother
and bringing her back down to the shelter, and found that his mother had been
burnt severely and needed immediate medical attention. Philip struggles to keep
his brother from getting even more sick than he was and to bring his mother to a
hospital. Philip's family weren't the only people affected by the bomb. the
entire surrounding area of Los Angeles was pounded by a devastating bomb.
Churches, Hospitals, and streets were flooded with sick, dying, and even dead
people. Hospitals that were built to only withstand 200 people now have
thousands, and hospitals lack food, doctors, and water. Philip's struggle for
survival, and the devastating blow against L.A. was only the beginning of the
disastrous bomb. The setting is practically the whole plot of the novel showing
Philip's struggle to get his mother to a burn center that could save her life,
bring his family to safety, and to save his town from thirst. When Philip
arrives at the hospital with his mom the government and hospital had already
started flying patients to burn centers, but his mom was too sick and burnt so
the hospital didn't care for her. She was placed on the bottom of list to be
flown away. Philip secretly switches the tag on her mom with one that says and
earlier number so that she would be flown out more promptly. He does so and she
is flown out early and he most probably saved her life by doing so. Another
example was when the bomb had just struck and Philip's family was in the shelter
which wasn't very safe and stable. He went up to the surface to check out his
neighbor's house which was miraculously intact. Philip found the owner and his
wife in good shape and arranged to bring his family over to the neighbor's cool
basement for safety and refuge. A third example was when the hospital in his
town was almost pout of water and Philip was asked by a nurse to find a worker
that works with the town' s plumbing at his house and manage to get water to the
hospital. He did so and after a while drained water from a resident's pool and
had it flown down to the hospital. These are some examples of how the setting
functions in the novel. After the Bomb is an exciting and stimulating novel
which shows the leadership of a teenager over his family. The novel displays a
realistic happening that can happen any second and describes it intricately.
It's an electrifying, terrifying, and exhilarating rush and is an outstanding
novel. Survival was only the beginning...