Yes, it's a classic of apocalyptic literature but no, I couldn't get through it.

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This is one of those books that rewards patient reading--its cumulative power is immense. We follow the diary of a man who lives on Level 7 of a bunker where the best and brightest go in a kind of experiment to see how humans would endure extended life in isolation after a nuclear holocaust. The details of day to day life are interesting enough, but the growing sense of dread that one day the alarms may go off and our protagonist will have to do the one simple action that is his duty in case of war. Once he does so, his life, literally, is without purpose, and he and the reader await the end of the war above. But things don't go as expected.

In my collection of favorite post-apocalypse novels, EARTH ABIDES, ALAS BABYLON, and A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOVITZ are now joined by LEVEL 7. It may not be as richly-written as EARTH or CANTICLE, but it has real impact, and is a fine fictional warning about what might await those who are 'lucky' enough to survive the first strike.

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