Z for Zachariah: Alone in a Lonely World

Yesterday, I finished reading Z for Zachariah, by Robert C. O’Brien. Published in 1974, during the Cold War, this book takes place during the aftermath of a huge nuclear war that killed thousands of Americans. Told in a diary format, the narrator of this horrifying, yet inspiring, book is sixteen year old Ann Burden. Ann lives in a valley that was unaffected by the war and the tremendous amounts of radiation it gave off. All towns and cities near the valley are brown, wilted, and lifeless. The valley, however, remained intact and alive. Ann is the only person left alive in the valley and, so she thinks, the only person left alive in the whole world. Following the war, Ann’s family, who also survived the war, traveled to a nearby town, with the Kleins, the only other residents in the valley. Ann did not go with her family; she stayed home to tend to the farm. After days, weeks, of waiting, Ann’s family did not return. Ann had to face the difficult truth that when her family and friends traveled outside of the valley, they must have died from the radiation. She had to face the fact that, except for the chickens and cows on the farm, she was all alone. Even the family dog, Faro, ran away, desperately searching for the rest of his family. Ann came to realize that she was probably the only person left alive, living in the only place left alive. Her family always said that the valley had its own weather. Ann came to assume the same went for immunity to radiation, too.

The book begins about a year after the nuclear war that wiped out the country and changed Ann’s life forever. Ann has become a very independent person since she started living by herself; she works in the garden, takes care of the animals, cooks meals for herself, and is resourceful for the future. There is no electricity or gasoline, but she makes the best of things. She goes fishing, creates fires to keep warm, and visits the small store that the Kleins owned when something is needed. However, one day Ann’s routine life is turned upside down. She notices smoke rising in the distance, outside the valley where no one lives. Even stranger, this column of smoke is in a different place every day, as if someone is moving, walking towards the valley and creating a fire when needed. As if someone else is alive. Scared, Ann takes refuge in a hidden cave near her house. She hopes the mysterious person does not see the green of the valley. She has been living alone for a year, and has no idea if this person is a friend or enemy. Unfortunately for Ann, the stranger, a man, finds the valley. He arrives wearing an all green plastic suit, with a gas mask on his face, pulling a big wagon, also covered in green tarp, behind him. Still in hiding, Ann watches as the man rejoices in his new found discovery. She watches him use a Geiger counter, used to measure the amount of ionizing radiation, and how he takes off his suit when he realizes he has found an area unaffected by the war. He, having not been around life for a long time, eagerly jumps into one of two streams in the valley. However, unbeknownst to him, the one stream that he is in contains the only radiation in the valley. The radiation never spread to the rest of the valley, and, thankfully, there is a second stream for a water supply.

Ann, not being able to stand by anymore, comes out hiding and nurses the poor man while he is dreadfully ill. The man, John R. Loomis, whom Ann calls Mr. Loomis, appears to be kind and have good intentions. He tells her that he was once a scientist that specialized in radiation and creating plastics that withstand it, such as the green tarp he was wearing. Ann helps take care of him by making him meals, moving him into her house, and just being there for him. She is so excited to have another person with her, having thought everyone else was dead and that she would be forever alone. She does everything to make sure he lives, and he survives. However, Ann views Mr. Loomis differently after she overhears him talking in his sleep during a nightmare. A different side of Mr. Loomis is revealed when he becomes better, a side that makes Ann think different about having someone else live with her.

Ann realizes that Mr. Loomis is a manipulative controlling man that wants her to be his salve in this new and different world. He takes over every aspect of the valley. Ann, terrified, runs away and lives in her cave again. Mr. Loomis is determined to get her back and to make her be his servant. Even when the family dog miraculously arrives, alive, he takes him in as a weapon against Ann. Ann wishes she still lived by herself, and that Mr. Loomis never came to the valley.

This is an exhilarating book, and the fact that it is written as Ann’s diary makes it so much more personal and heart-wrenching. The reader is taken on the rollercoaster ride of emotions and problems that Ann had to face, and ultimately the results that came with them. This is a fantastic book about how different a world would be with only two people that have two very different ideas.

Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars