Wasserman opened the first volume of this trilogy of stories with a strong story, and she closes this second volume in a similar vein.
The ‘story’ continues from the first story (whether the bogus apocalypse-caller lives we don’t know), in a clever epistolary form – specifically (as the title makes clear) Dear John stories.
The letters are written by a survivor holed up under the mountain, saying goodbye in no uncertain manner (or tone) to various ex-lovers, through which glimpses of her current situation are gradually given. As with many stories in the volume, the apocalypse itself is simply something that happens then enables the writer to focus on the response of the humans, and their decisions, and humanity as a whole, and as with her first story, Wasserman does this in spade.
More from ‘The End is Now’ here.
