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Wool by Hugh Howey – review

P erhaps inevitably, Hugh Howey's Wool has been described as the science fiction version of Fifty Shades of Grey . Howey initially self-published the first instalment of his post-apocalyptic story – just 60 pages – in July 2011. By October, readers were clamouring for more, and he duly obliged. His novel now runs to over 500 pages and has hit US bestseller lists, with book deals on both sides of the Atlantic, and film rights picked up by Ridley Scott.

The Fifty Shades comparison does Howey an injustice, however. This author can really write, and the dystopian life he has imagined is, at times, truly disturbing. This is a world where the air is deadly, and where humanity has lived ever since anyone can remember, in a giant underground silo, a bunker hundreds of storeys deep, creating everything people need beneath the earth. The outside world can only be seen through a blurry image projected onto a wall, "lifeless hills ... a familiar rotting skyline ... ancient glass and steel". The filth of the atmosphere gradually coats the cameras capturing the view, and the silo's capital punishment is "cleaning": the criminal is sent outside to polish the lenses before being overcome by poisonous gases.

The 60-page story with which Wool opens covers what might be the last hours of Holston, the sheriff of the silo, who is still mourning the death of his wife through "cleaning" years earlier. Inexplicably, he locks himself into the silo's holding cell. "'Get the mayor,'" Holston said. He let out a sigh, that heavy breath he'd been holding for three years. 'Tell her I want to go outside.'"

A great pleasure of dystopian fiction is the reader's excess of knowledge: we know what the world used to be, and watch characters struggle towards the truth. Howey provides this in spades. Holston is grappling his way towards a realisation that there might be more to the world than the 150 floors of the silo and its strict, unbreakable rules.

The priests say the silo has always been there, created by a benevolent god to protect them from the deadly atmosphere outside. But ancient children's books contain images of a colourful planet, and despite the edicts forbidding so much as a mention of the outside world, much of the silo yearns for it. Not Jules, though, the tough, ingenious mechanic who takes over from Holston as Howey's lead character. She's utterly unintrigued by the outside, "an uninhabitable wasteland devoid of anything useful". Clearly, then, she's going to be forced to confront the real world, and her investigations into the whys and wherefores of the silo's existence swiftly prove dangerous.

Some elements of Wool work brilliantly: the first two sections are frightening, intriguing and mysterious. Holston, the old mayor Jahns and Holston's deputy, Marnes, are unusual, fully realised characters. Jules is an attractively grease-stained heroine, and some of the tribulations Howey pushes his protagonists through are truly horrendous – and engrossing. He has had enormous fun with the details of his dystopia: the lottery inhabitants of the silo must go through to be allowed to reproduce, following a death; the reality of life in a world partitioned by a single enormous staircase; the claustrophobia of underground existence.

Other elements don't work so well. It's partly down, I think, to the way the novel developed. It started life as a very good short story. That story grew as readers fell in love with the world Howey had created, and as he wrote, the tightness and the skill with which he began unravelled somewhat. He throws in a character – Lukas, a love interest for Jules – who rings false. And while mostly he writes well, sometimes he gets a bit flowery. At one point he indulges in some truly dire love poetry ("Wait for me. Wait for me. Wait there, my dear/ Let these gentle pleas find your ear").

That said, it's easy to see why Wool captured readers so quickly. Give Howey slightly more time to write the next one, and I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

To order Wool for £7.99 with free UK p&p call Guardian book service on 0330 333 6846 or go to theguardian.com/bookshop

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Wool: An elaborate knitting metaphor

Posted by Ruth Arnell , Bill Capossere , Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds | Hugh Howey | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |

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Wool is the omnibus edition of Hugh Howey’s WOOL series. The first book in the series, Wool , is more of a short story. I don’t even think it hits novella length. It would be just a good-sized chapter in some epic brick. And what do you do at the end of a particularly good chapter? You just turn the page and keep reading.

That’s something to keep in mind for anyone who plans on reading the WOOL books. Just buy the omnibus edition, because you will want to keep reading when you get to the end of the first story. And then you will yell at the book and want to keep reading at the end of the third. And by the time you get to the fourth, you will just think, “I can ignore my family for a few more hours because I really need to keep reading this right now because I am freaking going to kill someone if they keep me from finding out what happens next.” I will admit, I was reading Wool on my Kindle while proctoring exams, and gave at least one student the stink-eye for interrupting me to ask a question. And so I am reviewing them all together, because I tend to think of this as one story, released in serialized form like novels from 50 years ago. Amazon puts the print edition at 548 pages, which honestly would just make Robert Jordan fart in the general direction of this tome.

So, back to the story. What has got me all lathered up?

These are the books that THE HUNGER GAMES wishes they could be when they grow up. Set in a dystopian future, humanity has retreated to a silo buried underground, their only connection to the world a series of cameras that show the brown dessicated surface and the crumbling remnants of skyscrapers in the distance. Under strict controls governing every aspect of their lives — where they work, when they reproduce, where they live — people are kept underground, forbidden to even talk about going outside. If you do talk about outside, the punishment is simple. They make you go outside. And there you will die within seconds, killed by the toxic atmosphere that shreds any sort of protection. But what happens when one woman thinks she has learned the truth about outside? Is it all really a lie? Are they being kept here against their will, without even the knowledge to have a will?

I don’t want to go into the plot too much, because Hugh Howey throws a couple of loops that I don’t want to spoil for anyone else, but these books mirror the same level of dystopian ingenuity as Huxley or Orwell, combined with a Martin ian flair for killing off main characters. Anyone with a name has the possibility of being killed, and lots of the people without names too.

But this isn’t violence for the sake of noble sacrifice or villainish emphasis. This is political violence, and Howey makes an argument about the idiocy and simultaneous logic of the use of political violence, totalitarianism and rhetorical manipulation that places this work among those that grace many a college literature class. I think Wool is destined to become a classic of science fiction that is equally thought-provoking and entertaining.

While this is not what I would consider young adult literature, I think it will have broad appeal to younger readers as well, especially those who got turned on to dystopian novels by the HUNGER GAMES books. There are a few swear words, but the level of graphic content it contains pales in comparison to other young adult novels. While there may be a few minor flaws — a moment or two where the pacing drags or the characters pontificate a moment too long — this is the book that I will be foisting upon all my friends telling them, “You need to read this.” And I mean all my friends, not just the ones who typically read genre fiction.

Also, the book is an elaborate knitting metaphor. That’s just awesome.

The setting is not all that original. It’s basically a “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky” genre: a group of people are living in an artificial world and eventually learn that the world is larger than they imagined, as well as that their history is not what they thought it was. More specifically with regard to Wool, the artificial world is an underground Silo whose view of the toxic world outside comes via a group of cameras and sensors that reveals only a barren, brown, poisonous land with some tall ruins in the distance. Due to the constraints of their living space, life is strictly regulated by “The Pact” — which determines jobs, relationships, etc. One of the biggest taboos of the pact is talking about the Outside, a taboo punished by being assigned the one-way trip outdoors to clean the sensors (the bodies of past “cleaners” are clearly visible on the camera monitors). As one expects in this type of story, eventually someone or ones start to question their society and what they’ve been told and then hidden truths begin to be revealed, causing all sorts of trouble.

So yes, the plot here isn’t all that original. It is, however, utterly compelling. I’m not going to say any more about it because while it’s not all that original in the big picture sense, and while it does get a tad more predictable toward the end, the details are captivating enough that I don’t want to ruin your fun. Also, Howey does not shy away at all from killing off major characters, including point-of-view ones, and it would be difficult to talk more plot without spoiling such events. I’ll simply say that the deaths, when they come, are extremely effective; you’ll mourn the loss of more than one of these characters.

And that is really where the strength of Wool lies. I’d say the major reason the plot is so compelling is because the characters are so compelling. Each point of view character is fully formed and distinctive. Howey has a way with succinct characterization — we feel we know each of these characters intimately without getting bogged down in a lot of backstory or interior monologue, making us care deeply about what happens to them even as we speed through the plot, dragged on by its urgency and by our connection to the characters.

Wool also deepens toward the end, as more and more is revealed about how this society was created and maintained, and what decisions went into such maintenance. Here, Howey poses some big questions about ethics, the needs of the many versus the needs of the few, means versus ends, etc.

As I was reading Wool , I kept thinking it reminded me of those great early Heinlein books I read as I was first introducing myself to science fiction. It shares a lot of qualities with those books — a sparse and speedy plot, characters who are good with their hands and who use their skills and knowledge to get out of trouble, ethical dilemmas, and so on. It’s been a while since I’ve read those old novels, and I don’t know if they’d hold up at all, but Wool certainly feel right in place alongside them in my memories. Highly recommended, though I also recommend you don’t start Wool without a good block of time in front of you. Having to stop will just annoy you.

~Bill Capossere

Wool is another addition to the hugely over-saturated dystopia genre (not helped by the comparison to The Hunger Games on the cover of my edition). The premise of the book is not massively original. You’ve got your classic post-apocalyptic scenario: planet Earth had been left desolate and the remains of humanity live in an underground silo. Life in the silo is restricted by a series of regulations that its inhabitants can’t break without being sent for ‘cleaning,’ which involves being sent outside to the ruined world above to clean the cameras which offer the only view of the outside world. It also means certain death, as the toxic atmosphere above quickly burns through the protective suits the cleaners wear.

It’s difficult to talk about the plot without giving too much away. Though the novel spans multiple viewpoints, our main protagonist is Juliette, a feisty mechanic from down deep — the bottom thirty floors of a silo some one hundred and fifty floors in depth. Though she’s never given the world above a second thought, happy to live amongst the machines of the deep, she finds herself having to tackle responsibilities and moral dilemmas that she’s never before considered. Unlike the machines that can be easily fixed, there is no obvious solution to solving the decay that has set into the silo, and Juliette is soon way over her head.

Although you wouldn’t think a post-apocalyptic dystopia about the last struggling dregs of humanity battling to survive underground could be called fun, it really was. One of the best aspects of the novel was how much pleasure Howey seemed to take in world building. He’s created a complex society structured by the roles they have in the silo. There are farms, a floor dedicated to IT, a mechanical division, porters that run up and down the hundreds of flights of stairs delivering food and goods. The silo was so intricately imagined that it became incredibly easy to immerse myself into the book.

Saying that, I have a few structural qualms. What had initially been a tightly-plotted and fascinating tale lost some of its succinctness around two thirds of the way through. This can probably be attributed to the fact that this was originally posted as a collection of short stories online, and as the popularity of Wool escalated, more and more material was churned out. It still remains a very compelling story, but nothing quite reaches the same tension as those opening sections.

Wool ’s roots have been compared to those of (shudder) Fifty Shades of Grey , in that both works started off as internet phenomena before a publisher snapped them up. But that is where the similarity ends. Yeah, Wool ’s premise may not be groundbreakingly original, but the characters absolve the book from that sin. They are relatable and hugely compelling — bar Lukas, a questionable love interest that never quite came to life.

The plot is also impressive in its scope. Howey deals with the political, mechanical and biological ramifications of the silo and does so through the viewpoints of a large cast of characters. Whilst the plot, for the most part, remains relatively linear and predictable, there are some great little twists scattered throughout which are great fun. In a world knee-deep in generic dystopias, Wool is surprisingly refreshing and you’ll have reached the end of its five hundred and fifty pages before you know it.

~Rachael McKenzie

The Twilight Zone feeling was enhanced by the first section of the book which I read several months ago after I ordered it, instead of the omnibus, by mistake. That section was a complete story and elegantly introduces every theme that will be touched on in the rest of the book. My problem with the omnibus version of Wool was mostly this: early in the book, several elements banded together, came up and insulted my Suspension of Disbelief. Suspension of Disbelief stood in the corner and sulked the rest of the time, making it hard for me to stay engaged with what was otherwise a compelling read.

Most people already know this about the plot: on earth, in the near future, all remaining humanity has moved into an underground silo. Their only knowledge of the outside world comes from cameras and sensors mounted on the roof, where they can see dry, dead grass, a brown cloudy sky and the ruins of a city. The present inhabitants of the silo do not know how they came to be there, who built the silo, or why. Asking these questions out loud in public or expressing a desire to go outside will get you sent outside, and you’ll die, almost instantly, poisoned by the toxicity of the environment.

Here are the things I liked about Wool : I liked the main character, once we got someone who lived for more than twenty pages. Juliette is not a Chosen One or someone with a Destiny; she is a practical, capable, smart woman who likes to figure things out and fix problems. This desire leads her to discover more than certain people in the silo want to her know, and soon her life is at risk. I liked, mostly, Howey’s writing style. The book is long and somewhat slow in the middle section, but there is a gentle wit that I liked, and in particular, one relationship that plays out between two characters, early in the book, (as they journey first down, then up the silo) that is elegant and sweet. This world is imaginative, and leaves us with serious questions about what we would do if we found ourselves in the situation the characters do. It is easy to see how the “villains” (and I do feel I have to put that word in quotes) are wrong. It isn’t quite as easy to figure out how we might have handled things, if we had inherited what they inherited.

I liked the radios. Most of us huddle over our smart phones or our tablets and never think for a minute that what we call “wireless technology” is basically radio. The inventiveness of the people in the silo, and the importance of radio communication, is a big part of this book, and I enjoyed it.

What kept me from sinking all the way into the book were niggling details of world-building. For the story to work, the silo has to be completely self-contained. Resources cannot go to waste. Howey is at pains to show us how carefully resources are recycled. Even the bodies of people who died inside, of accidents or natural causes are recycled. The glaring exceptions, of course, are the dead bodies outside that can’t be retrieved. I understand why they can’t drag in the bodies, but it’s a hole in the fabric of the silo-world. Juliette, the main character, works in Mechanics, in charge of the care and feeding of the silos many generators. They have access to oil from where they have drilled shafts, but they have no refineries. I had trouble believing they just poured light, sweet crude directly into the fuel tanks. Another problem is with food, particularly grains and cereals. They eat oatmeal daily, but it doesn’t seem like they could be growing enough grain in the silo environment to dish out oatmeal for everyone every morning. That led to my final problem with the world. I never knew how many people were in the silo, and frankly, it never seemed like very many. One character implies that there are thousands, but it never feels like there are that many. This is what happens when my Suspension of Disbelief refuses to party with me.

Once I decided I was going to read Wool as a parable rather than as a naturalistic science fiction novel I was able to move away from these questions and focus on Juliette and her friend Lukas, who also discovers shocking information about the genesis of the silo. Juliet’s strength and stubbornness make her an easy character to root for.

Wool is a good book, an imaginative attempt at an unusual world and serious social commentary. I didn’t love it, but I certainly liked it, and I recommend it. It’s worth your time. And if you can figure out how they are growing the grains, put something in Comments, will you? I’d like to know.

~Marion Deeds

Wool (Silo) — (Began in 2011-2013) This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.

RUTH ARNELL (on FanLit's staff January 2009 — August 2013) earned a Ph.D. in political science and is a college professor in Idaho. From a young age she has maxed out her library card the way some people do credit cards. Ruth started reading fantasy with A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — books that still occupy an honored spot on her bookshelf today. Ruth and her husband have a young son, but their house is actually presided over by a flame-point Siamese who answers, sometimes, to the name of Griffon.

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BILL CAPOSSERE, who's been with us since June 2007, lives in Rochester NY, where he is an English adjunct by day and a writer by night. His essays and stories have appeared in Colorado Review, Rosebud, Alaska Quarterly, and other literary journals, along with a few anthologies, and been recognized in the "Notable Essays" section of Best American Essays. His children's work has appeared in several magazines, while his plays have been given stage readings at GEVA Theatre and Bristol Valley Playhouse. When he's not writing, reading, reviewing, or teaching, he can usually be found with his wife and son on the frisbee golf course or the ultimate frisbee field.

RACHAEL "RAY" MCKENZIE, with us since December 2014, was weaned onto fantasy from a young age. She grew up watching Studio Ghibli movies and devoured C.S. Lewis’ CHRONICLES OF NARNIA not long after that (it was a great edition as well -- a humongous picture-filled volume). She then moved on to the likes of Pullman’s HIS DARK MATERIALS trilogy and adored The Hobbit (this one she had on cassette -- those were the days). A couple of decades on, she is still a firm believer that YA and fantasy for children can be just as relevant and didactic as adult fantasy. Her firm favourites are the British greats: Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and Neil Gaiman, and she’s recently discovered Ben Aaronovitch too. Her tastes generally lean towards Urban Fantasy but basically anything with compelling characters has her vote.

Marion Deeds, with us since March, 2011, is the author of the fantasy novella ALUMINUM LEAVES. Her short fiction has appeared in the anthologies BEYOND THE STARS, THE WAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, STRANGE CALIFORNIA, and in Podcastle, The Noyo River Review, Daily Science Fiction and Flash Fiction Online. She’s retired from 35 years in county government, and spends some of her free time volunteering at a second-hand bookstore in her home town.

April 16th, 2012. Ruth Arnell , Bill Capossere , Ray McKenzie and Marion Deeds | Hugh Howey | SFF Reviews | 9 comments |

Welcome back, Ruth! And the series sounds great — I’ll have to check it out sometime.

Yay you are back! And I have bought my copy :) Always follow my sisters orders.

Good to have you back!

I just picked up the omnibus ebook and am really looking forward to jumping in.

I agree these are very compelling. I just finished Vol. 4. I am beginning to netpick the details of the world and its history — the timeframes don’t really make sense, nor does some of the cultural development — but they are populated with great characters. Eager to see where the series goes in the final volume, which is almost as long as the other four combined.

Thanks for your review. I saw this while browsing recently, and I wanted to pick it up but I didn’t see enough information about it to decide to get it. Your endorsement of the character development, though, is enough. I’ll add it to my list.

I see Ruth’s plan to get everyone to read this book is working.

I have not read this yet, but I do have it on audio. The premise is nothing new, but I haven’t yet tired of post-apocalyptic bunker stories and I’ll be interested to see what Howey does with it. I loved his novella that I recently read and reviewed.

The graphic novel adaptation is available at Comixology for $8.

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Thoughtful Thursday: It’s the end of the world as we know it | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews - [...] we welcome Hugh Howey, author of the WOOL books, recent favorites of mine. If you haven’t read them, you…
Wool: Intriguing descendant of The Twilight Zone | Fantasy Literature: Fantasy and Science Fiction Book and Audiobook Reviews - […] I came to the WOOL party late. Almost everyone on the site except me has read it, I think, (see…
Suvudu Likes: 10/24/15 | Del Rey and Spectra - Science Fiction and Fantasy Books, Graphic Novels, and More - […] Review: Wool by Hugh Howey, read by Fantasy Literature […]
Pixel Scroll 6/25/18 Don’t Forget To Pick Seven Pixels To Put Under Your Pillow So You’ll Dream Of Your One True Scroll | File 770 - […] or even if you’re just aware of the runaway success of his SILO trilogy, which began with Wool. Machine…

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Wool by Hugh Howey book review

I’m not sure I’ve received such a positive response to a book as when I posted about Wool on my Twitter the other week. I posted out asking whether it was a book that was worth picking up as the new TV series was coming out soon. Hugh Howey, the author did retweet the post himself and so I imagine the majority of responses came from his fans but even so, it was such an overwhelmingly positive response, I knew I had to pick it up ASAP. And I’m glad I did!

Please note that this article contains affiliate links, this means that if you choose to purchase any products via the links below, I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. These affiliate links do not affect my final opinion of the product.

The story behind the publication of Wool is quite an interesting one. Initially, it was written as a short story back in 2011 and published directly on Amazon via their self-publishing platform by Howey himself. After the popularity grew, he continued to write sequels as novellas and then eventually sold these novels and the initial short story as one book called Wool .

The Wool series is set in a dystopian version of Earth where humanity has been placed into these silos under the ground that has over a hundred levels meaning it can take days to get from one end to the other. The first book initially covers the story of Holston and his wife and then goes on to focus on Juliette and her attempts to discover more about the world in which she lives.

Wool plot – 4.5/5

As mentioned above, the whole focus on Wool is around the idea that the Silo is everything everybody has ever known. However, what if there is more to that? What’s really outside the SIlo? What are the powers that be not telling us? It’s a great premise and this initial book starts off really well with the story of Holston and his wife after she begins to question what they see through the screens that are up around the place which are meant to represent windows.

The story then expands and continues to keep up a good pace until around the middle where it really slows quite dramatically to a point where not a vast amount is happening for a good 50 pages. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t feel like nothing is happening, just after the first half of the book throws some fantastic moments at us, it really feels like the pace slackens as the book further on.

The finale of Wool also seems to teeter out quite a bit more than I’d hoped. There are some dramatics that happen but it very much felt like a book that’s setting you up and welcoming you more into the world rather than one that has a true, start, middle and end.

Wool characters – 4/5

When you’re writing a book about a dystopian future, you’ve really got to write characters that make you want to route for them and want them to find out the truth. If they aren’t that interesting then you don’t really care what happens to them and you find yourself way more interested in getting to the bottom of whatever the great big secret is.

Wool does suffer from that just a tad. However, Juliet is just intriguing enough that you do end up rooting for her instead of not caring if she’s thrown under a bus to progress the story. She is a determined and thoughtful character but not one you’re going to fall in love with and find yourself missing once you’ve finished the book.

There are some other supporting characters in the book, one of whom comes much later on and is a character I think many people will enjoy and love. On top of them there are others, who, without ruining the storyline I can’t exactly name but who I can tell you offer up some nice diversity from Juliet in their personalities and who bring further dimensions to the plot too.

Wool final rating – 4.25

Was Wool worth the overwhelming hype I’d heard from it? It felt like it was going to be for the first third, but as it progressed it slowed down and the surprises and action slowed to a pace of walking. I’ve been told the series really kicks off in the second book which is the best of the trilogy and so I’m going to presume people were referring to the series as a whole as being great. Wool will satisfy any and all dystopian science-fiction fans – it ticks all the right boxes for lovers of these genres and opens up a deep world which will leave you interested in finding out more.

Pick up a copy of Wool from Amazon here.

Book review: ‘Wool,’ by Hugh Howey

Even if it were just a run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic novel about a society forced to live underground, " Wool " would still be quite a tale. In the summer of 2011, a 36-year-old jack-of-all-trades named Hugh Howey self-published a short story on the Web. It was discovered by fans of dystopian sci-fi adventure, and they quickly spread the word. Rapidly rising sales led him to continue the story in four additional installments.

Well before any print edition rolled off a press, “Wool” had sold more than 400,000 e-books and was optioned by Hollywood. But what sets it apart from hundreds of thousands of self-published e-books is that it’s a good and compelling story, and well told. It seems as if there should be a marketing trick responsible or some blatant appeal to prurient interest, but this is no “Fifty Shades of Wool.” It’s the real deal.

Simon and Schuster caught the wave and is publishing a five-volume omnibus — in simultaneous hardcover and paperback editions — for us Luddites. By now, if you haven’t read (or at least heard of) “Wool,” you’re hopelessly old-fashioned and oddly well-suited to its rather traditional storytelling charms.

The action takes place inside a huge silo, 144 stories deep, dug into the Earth, where people must live because the atmosphere is toxic and the land is ruined. The small community is stratified as well, with the farmers and mechanicals in the lower third, the information-technology folks in the heart of the structure and the professional class in the upper level. The silo relies on highly regulated statism. The working classes wear color-coded uniforms. Goods and services are exchanged by chits. People are confined by a rigid set of rules on everything from the number of children to the number and kinds of pets allowed.

They have everything necessary to live underground, such as the means to raise fruits, vegetables and animals, some basic manufacturing capability, and a rudimentary power and water system. There’s a kind of steampunk ethos at work, and it’s clearly not your father’s future. They use charcoal for writing and are running short of paper. The distant past and the natural world of the early 21st century have vanished. Worst of all, there’s no elevator in the silo, just a really long spiral staircase.

Every once in awhile, someone is sent outside in a protective suit with industrial-grade wool to clean the grime off the sensors that face the outside world and bring in diluted light. The only problem is that the engineers have yet to find a way to get the cleaners back into the silo alive.

Howey plunges right into this strange underground dystopia and builds it as the story moves along, giving the novel its zip and authority. While richly textured, the silo and the state will never be enough for these people living underground: “There was this unspoken, deadly hope in every member of the silo,” he writes. “A ridiculous, fantastical hope. That maybe not for them, but perhaps for their children, or their children’s children, life on the outside would be possible once again, and that it would be the work of it and the bulky suits that emerged from their labs that would make it all possible.”

Into this world comes a reluctant hero. Her name is Juliette, and the tale revolves around her quest to embody the hope of the underclass. She is a mechanic, a fixer of machines. She is very plucky and inventive, but Howey imbues her with enough flaws and self-doubt to make her a well-rounded protagonist who carries the reader along. She is an ideal knight-errant for our times. When she is dispatched to become a cleaner, her fellow mechanicals rise up and take arms against the state.

It’s easy to see how exuberant word of mouth spread so quickly on the Internet for “Wool.” The characters are well drawn, with a rousing protagonist and antagonist, and the plot races forward without resorting to melodrama. Most of all, the mood is rightly claustrophobic and, at times, genuinely terrifying — particularly with the very real threat of global warming looming. It’s not a perfect novel, and, at times, the method of its construction sticks out like a crooked seam. But “Wool” is the kind of sci-fi novel you can give to those who love the genre and those who never read the stuff.

Donohue is the author of " The Stolen Child " and two other novels.

By Hugh Howey

Simon & Schuster. 537 pp. $26

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Review: Wool, By Hugh Howey

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Dystopian fiction is big business, but very little of it is true to the definition of the word as the polar opposite of Utopia, Sir Thomas More's near-perfect society. Much contemporary dystopian fiction seems to have more to do with apocalyptic zombie movies than George Orwell's 1984 or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 .

Hugh Howey's Wool, though, is a proper futuristic dystopia in which the dead don't eat the living but rather harbour the secrets of what has gone before; secrets to be picked at and peeled away piece by piece to unveil the true horror of the world. It calls to mind the science-fiction movies they used to make so well in the 1970s – Logan's Run or George Lucas's THX 1138 .

In most dystopian fiction, the characters don't know at first that they're living in a dystopia, and so it is with Wool . Thousands of people inhabit a gigantic silo below ground. A bank of sensors transmits images of a ruined, poisoned landscape into the sealed subterranean world, but the silo is the world in total, created by God so humanity can live in an inhospitable universe that reaches only as far as the sensors can see.

On the face of it, it doesn't seem too bad a society. Overseen by an elected mayor and a sheriff who keeps order; everyone employed on one of the 150 levels, from those mining on the bottom-most storeys to those working in the cafeteria near the surface. Crime is rare, and those who commit it are given the ultimate sentence: they are sent out into the toxic atmosphere to ritually clean the sensors before collapsing, dead.

When Juliette, an engineer from the lower storeys, is chosen to be the new sheriff, and then finds herself on the wrong side of the law, the carefully maintained façade of the silo begins to crumble in a tense, character-led narrative that holds your attention to the very end.

Howey is something of a publishing phenomenon. Wool was originally self-published as a series of interlinked novellas, shifting an aston- ishing 250,000 copies. The different sections sit well as a novel, and there is only a minor amount of jarring where they are stitched together. And, with the film rights already sold to Ridley Scott, Howey's Wool is likely to be spoken about in the same breath as The Hunger Games and The Passage before long.

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Wool – Book Review

by Russ Thompson | Apr 7, 2013 | Book Reviews | 1 comment

If you haven’t already encountered the massive hype surrounding Hugh Howey’s dystopian sci-fi novel, Wool, the online world is abuzz about the remarkable story of the author who self-published the book then managed to sell print-only rights to Simon and Schuster and to keep his e-book rights, something that’s unheard of, especially for an indie author with no known previous track record.

Like Amanda Hocking before him, Hugh Howey has become the next big publishing sensation, but it remains to be seen whether his book will sell as many print copies as it has already sold in e-book units. He has garnered and continues to garner a fair amount of critical praise, and with good reason.

With shades of Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery and Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series of books, Wool has created a dystopian sci-fi universe that takes place for the most part inside a silo that makes 1984 seem liberating in comparison. There has been an uprising that led to civilization as the principal characters know it, living permanently indoors in a silo from which there is no escape. The outside world kills humans—the air contains poisonous material that destroys them. People need a ticket for permission to have children, but it can pass them over and go to another couple, which means one of them must die in order for that child to be born. Death comes in even worse circumstances.

The novel has its share of philosophical moments, as well, amid the post-apocalyptic circumstances. Although we’re introduced to the sheriff of the silo in the first section, we move on to the protagonist, Jules, a hard-working, no-nonsense worker who, like very few others before her, discovers that there’s far more to the one uprising than everyone in the silo knows about. There have been multiple uprisings, and the ones running the silo have been going back and deleting files to keep the residents of the silo in darkness. Although she is strong-willed and absolutely a survivor, she’s also a sympathetic main character and very admirable in the face of so much injustice. Most readers will find it easy to get behind this underdog and root for her to win.

Wool presents an interesting story that has a universal appeal and transcends the usual genre restrictions so that even people who aren’t sci-fi fans will enjoy the story. It’s not just another purely plot-driven page-turner with corny cliffhanger chapters and contrived elements. Rather, Wool presents a captivating story. In this case, the hype is justified.

Wool has all the makings of a summer blockbuster, but a clever one with a story that makes the reader think, and it’s no surprise that Ridley Scott has optioned the film rights, because he’s the most well-suited director to bring this story to new life on the big screen.

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Wool: Book One of the Silo Series (Silo, 1) Paperback – October 20, 2020

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NOW A SERIES ON APPLE TV+ THAT STEPHEN KING CALLS “MYSTERIOUS AND TERRIFICALLY SUSPENSEFUL.... EXCELLENT SCIENCE FICTION WITH THREE-DIMENSIONAL CHARACTERS."

* INCLUDES ORIGINAL ESSAY "A HISTORY OF THE DARKEST YARNS" FROM HUGH HOWEY *

“One of dystopian fiction’s masterpieces alongside the likes of 1984 and Brave New World ." — Daily Express

The first book in the acclaimed, New York Times best-selling trilogy, Wool is the story of mankind clawing for survival. The world outside has grown toxic, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. The remnants of humanity live underground in a single silo.

But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they want: They are allowed to go outside.

After the previous sheriff leaves the silo in a terrifying ritual, Juliette, a mechanic from the down deep, is suddenly and inexplicably promoted to the head of law enforcement. With newfound power and with little regard for the customs she is supposed to abide, Juliette uncovers hints of a sinister conspiracy. Tugging this thread may uncover the truth . . . or it could kill every last human alive.

“Claustrophobic and, at times, genuinely terrifying.” — Washington Post

Book 1 of 3 Silo Series
Print length 592 pages
Language English
Publication date October 20, 2020
Dimensions 5.31 x 1.48 x 8 inches
ISBN-10 0358447844
ISBN-13 978-0358447849
See all details

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Editorial Reviews

“Secrets unfold with just the right pacing . . . If you're looking for a good post-apocalyptic read, you can't do much better than Wool .” — Rick Riordan, bestselling author of the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series

“One of dystopian fiction’s masterpieces alongside the likes of 1984 and Brave New World ." — Daily Express (UK)

“With Wool Hugh Howey has created a new science fiction classic.” — Ernest Cline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ready Player One

“Sci-fi’s Underground Hit . . . appeal[s] to both men and women, and has attracted hard-core science fiction fans as well as general readers, much like The Hunger Games .” — Wall Street Journal

“Howey's Wool is an epic feat of imagination. You will live in this world.” — Justin Cronin, bestselling author of The Passage

“Exhilarating, intense, addictive.” — S.J. Watson, bestselling author of Before I Go to Sleep

“The success of Howey's Wool trilogy was no fluke. This is a superior SF thriller, both slick and gritty." — Financial Times

“ Wool is incredible. This is the best science fiction series I've read in years. Not since A Canticle for Leibowitz have I been so utterly and completely enthralled.” — Douglas Preston, #1 bestselling author of Blasphemy and The Monster of Florence

“The best science-fiction stories are like tiny seeds that take root and blossom in the reader’s imagination. Hugh Howey presents an entire garden of post-apocalyptic wonder, with weeds and predators, tended by the secret caretakers of a destroyed world. Page-turning sci-fi at its finest.” — Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

“Well written, tense, and immensely satisfying, Wool will be considered a classic for many years in the future.” — WIRED

"The old assumptions about indie books no longer apply; Wool clears away the grime of the past and reveals the new truth. Here is a non-traditional author who can stand proudly in the company of traditionally published writers." — Geek Dad for WIRED

“In Wool , Hugh Howey delivers the key elements of great science fiction: an authentic and detailed future-world; realistic, relatable characters to live in it; and a taut, thoughtful story. Howey’s supple, muscular writing is the icing on the cake.” — Jonathan Hayes, author of A Hard Death

“ Wool is frightening, fascinating, and addictive. In one word, terrific.” — Kathy Reichs, bestselling author of the Temperance Brennan and Tory Brennan series

“Howey uses cliffhangers brilliantly and creates an immersive, engaging story that’s anchored throughout by moody and atmospheric prose . . . a compulsive, accessible journey into a sharply realized and well-crafted dystopian world.” — SFX Magazine

“ . . . Compulsively readable, with each chapter acting like a potato chip. Reading just one at a sitting isn’t enough . . . Howey’s Wool world is so intriguing and his characters so compelling.” — Locus

“In a nutshell Wool might not be pitch perfect, but it is the nearest thing to it, and even if you are not the biggest post apocalypse fiction lover in the world, you will be once you have finished this.” — Hollywood News

About the Author

Hugh Howey is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Silo Series: Wool , Shift , and Dust ; Beacon 23 ; Sand ; Half Way Home ; and Machine Learning . His works have been translated into more than forty languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Adapted from his bestselling sci-fi trilogy, Silo is now streaming on Apple TV+ and Beacon 23 is streaming on MGM+. Howey lives in New York with his wife, Shay.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Morrow Paperbacks (October 20, 2020)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 592 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0358447844
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0358447849
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.31 x 1.48 x 8 inches
#114 in Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction (Books)
#133 in Dystopian Fiction (Books)
#298 in Science Fiction Adventures

About the author

Hugh Howey is New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of WOOL, MACHINE LEARNING, SAND, BEACON 23, and many others. His works have been translated into over 40 languages with millions of copies sold around the world. WOOL has been adapted into Silo, a TV show from AppleTVPlus. A show based on BEACON 23 is due out in 2023 from AMC. Hugh lives between New York and the UK with his wife, Shay.

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“And now you see why some facts, some pieces of knowledge, have to be snuffed out as soon as they form. Curiosity would blow across such embers and burn this silo to the ground.”

(*) "You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!" - courtesy of "Planet of the Apes" Left - what a silo looks like, in case you are agriculturally challenged, like me. Right - apparently people already live in the underground missile silos. Yup.

“People were like machines. They broke down. They rattled. They could burn you or maim you if you weren't careful. Her job was not only to figure out why this happened and who was to blame, but also to listen for the signs of it coming. Being sheriff, like being a mechanic, was as much the fine art of preventive maintenance as it was the cleaning up after a breakdown.”

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What happened in Wool by Hugh Howey - Recaptains

Wool by Hugh Howey

Title: Wool

Author: Hugh Howey

Series: Silo #1

- Wool (2013) - Shift (2013) - Dust (2013)

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Goodreads Summary:

In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo. Jules is part of this community, but she is different. She dares to hope. And as her walls start closing in, she must decide whether to fight, or to die.

Here is a spoiler summary of what happened in Wool by Hugh Howey to help refresh your memory before you read the sequel. If you need help remembering what happened in Wool, then you’re in the right place.

What happened in Wool?

Holston’s wife was sent out cleaning three years ago at her own request. In the silo, if you voice your interest in going outside, the higher ups will grant that because you can’t have people talking about the outside all over the place.
Holston now wants to join his wife. He says he’ll clean the cameras outside, because everyone does. He is let out, and he sees green earth and birds. He realises this is fake, though, and as he starts to head over the hill he dies next to his wife’s body.
Now they need a new Sheriff. Mayor Jahns and Deputy Marnes head down to see Juliette, a Mechanic who has potential. They talk to her dad briefly first on their way. They meet with Jules and she says she’ll take the job but she needs a power holiday in the silo first so she can get the generators running properly.
On the way back up, Jahns and Marnes stop off at IT. Bernard, the head of IT, is annoyed because he didn’t want Jules to get the job. He gives the pair some water and food for their journey back up to the top.
The water is poisoned and Jahns is killed, so now they need a new mayor. Bernard steps up, of course.
Juliette spends her first couple of days trying to figure out what the hell is happening. It doesn’t help that Marnes supposedly kills himself in his room, so she is assigned a new deputy. Billings is one of Bernard’s people, so it’s becoming more and more suspicious.
Juliette speaks to a guy called Lukas and I guess they connect over stars or whatever.
Juliette goes to see a lad in IT who she knows, and he gives her a bit of info on IT being super dodgy.
Bernard finds out that Jules went down to IT and has her fired. She steps down from her role and heads back to Mechanics. She receives a note from her IT guy, which seems to be some kind of riddle about an inside joke.
IT guy also mysteriously dies. He clearly knew something.
Juliette is arrested. She’s being framed for something she didn’t do, because Bernard wants to get rid of her.
Juliette is sent out for cleaning. She doesn’t clean at all, and instead walks over the hill. This throws everyone into an uproar and the silo into chaos.
Bernard calls up silo one (!!!!!) and tells them there’s a problem over here in silo eighteen. Ah shit.
Jules stumbles across another silo and breaks in. She has to wade through a lot of bodies.
Walker attends an underground meeting in Mechanical and explains he called in some favours with Supply in order to build Jules a decent suit that’ll help her survive. It sounds like another uprising is about to begin.
Juliette bumps into a guy in the silo. His name is Solo, and he starts explaining that everyone in his silo died a while back when they tried to exit the silo. He explains that there are multiple silos and they’re from just a couple of them.
The uprising back in Silo 18 starts.
Bernard appoints Lukas as his shadow and tells him about the other silos. There’s a guidebook for Lukas to refer to too, and it tells him to prepare for war as there was no cleaning.
There’s a bit of a fight in IT. Bernard receives a call from Juliette who tells him she’s on her way back.
Jules starts calling Lukas regularly while she works on getting the pumps in Silo 17 up and running. She needs to drain the lower levels but at this rate it’ll take years, which will be far too late.
Walker and the others start listening in on the radio. They overhear some conversations that suggest there are other silos. So now they know too.
Lukas reads up on the history of the silos. He’s got a lot to get through, but he manages to read up on some stuff about a Civil War and psychological experiments.
Juliette goes underwater to get to the pumps. She radios Solo while she’s down there, but then suddenly the radio goes silent.
Turns out Solo wasn’t alone after all and he was attacked by some kids. Solo’s real name is Jimmy.
Juliette gets into contact with silo 18. The uprising wins, Lukas gets some help from Billings, and Juliette returns. I feel like this is just the beginning!

That’s what happened in Wool! Check out our recap list for more recaps. If you can’t find what you need, you can request a recap from us!

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Behind the Pages

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Aug 25, 2023

Wool by Hugh Howey Book Review

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Wool Book Review

To those in the Silo, life underground is all they’ve ever known. Any remnants of the past and life on the outside have been lost. The one truth left behind is that death waits for any who venture outside. But some would seek out the past. Those who would see the order of the Silo disrupted to calm their curiosities. But order must be kept, and there are certain individuals in place that will maintain it at any cost.

Wool tells stories of the Silo through multiple viewpoints. Each story weaves together to establish the foundations of the world. There will be a succession of main characters as Hugh Howey draws readers deeper into the inner workings of the Silo. Each learns the truth in different ways and has varying degrees of reactions to it.

There was a wonderful opportunity to use the various stories to entice readers into the truth of the Silo. Yet there was a lack of tension surrounding the reveal. Readers' attention is drawn more toward solving crimes occurring in the Silo. And while the political machinations were devious and sure to keep readers engaged, the execution felt disjointed. This could have been caused by the writing style.

There were also some character plot points revealed at odd times. Feelings like jealousy were used for plot progression when characters were in situations that didn’t line up. If someone’s life is in immediate danger, I’m not sure their romantic interest would be worried about jealousy. The safety and well being of the character they care for would overtake their emotions. While moments like this enhanced the reader’s understanding of character backgrounds, the catalyst could have been done better.

The story of the Silo is fascinating though and readers will be eager to see what comes next. With the information revealed in this first Omnibus, there is so much left to explore in this world. I’m willing to give this series another try in the hopes of uncovering the events that led up to the Silo.

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Summary and Study Guide

Wool, a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel, is Hugh Howey’s first book. Originally self-published in 2011 as an e-book, Simon & Schuster later licensed it. The e-book features illustrations by Jimmy Broxton and Darwyn Cooke.

Wool takes place in the world of the silo, a 144-floor underground community of humans, hundreds of years after an unknown event has caused the air above ground to become toxic. Expressing the forbidden desire to go out of the silo is punishable by cleaning. Cleaners wear suits designed by the IT department that allow them to stay alive long enough to clean the cameras that show the outside world to the residents inside. Eventually each cleaner succumbs to the toxic gases and dies. Most cleaners say they will not go through with the cleaning , but eventually all do, a source of mystery in the silo.

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The novel opens with Holston , the sheriff of the silo, volunteering himself for cleaning. Three years earlier, his wife did the same after making a startling discovery in the silo’s servers. Holston, driven mad by grief and curiosity over his wife’s discovery, goes out to cleaning and discovers that the world is lush and alive, contrary to what he has been taught. He cleans the cameras out of pity for the people left behind in cramped silo. He soon realizes, however, that his helmet is showing him an altered version of reality and that the world really is toxic. He dies next to the body of his wife.

The mayor and deputy sheriff, Jahns and Marnes, go on a downward journey of several days to recruit a woman named Juliette for the role of sheriff. Juliette works in the “down deep” of Mechanical. She reluctantly accepts the role of sheriff in exchange for a power holiday that would give her enough time to make repairs on the silo’s generator. Jahns clashes with Bernard Holland , head of IT, over her appointment of Juliette as sheriff. Bernard, who is biased against mechanics and also furious over the power holiday, poisons Jahns canteen, assassinating her. Marnes, who was in love with Jahns, kills himself out of grief.

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As sheriff, Juliette begins to investigate what drove Holston and his wife to cleaning, running afoul of Bernard, who is serving as interim mayor. She also meets Lukas, who works in IT, and starts a romance with him. Bernard banishes Juliette to Mechanical and soon after sentences her to cleaning. While she is in Mechanical, however, Juliette realizes that IT’s cleaning suits are designed to fail rather than keep cleaners alive. She devises a plan to secretly funnel higher quality supplies to IT for the next cleaning suit. Right before going out, Juliette also realizes that the visor of her helmet is showing her an illusion .

Juliette becomes the first cleaner in the silo’s history not to clean the cameras and to disappear out of sight of the cameras. Wearing a cleaning suit that actually protects her, she manages to walk far enough to come across another silo, exactly like her own except that its residents have all died after devolving into in-fighting. There she discovers first one survivor, a man she calls Solo , and later a group of wild children. She repairs a pump to dry the dead silo’s flooded levels, concocts a plan to dig laterally underneath and connect it with her home silo. She also discovers a way to communicate with people back home via radio.

Juliette’s failed cleaning causes turmoil back in the silo. The workers of Mechanical, riled by Juliette’s arrest, disappearance, and the revelation that the suits are designed to fail, plan an attack IT. Bernard, meanwhile, prepares IT for the uprising and trains Lukas to be his replacement. Mechanical loses the battle against IT and is forced to retreat back to their levels, where they board themselves up behind steel walls. Lukas, as Bernard’s trainee, finds out that there are 50 silos in total and that the people who built them were also the ones who caused the extinction of most of the planet’s population. Unbeknownst to Bernard, Lukas is in communication with Bernard’s enemy, Juliette, in the other silo via the secret transmitters in the server room.

When Lukas starts to question Bernard’s murder of dissidents, Bernard sentences him to cleaning. Juliette finds out about the planned execution in time and builds a cleaning suit to go save Lukas. When she arrives back at her home silo, however, Lukas sacrifices himself to the cleansing fires in the airlock chamber rather than go outside. Looking at the body, she realizes that it was Bernard who died. Her replacement sheriff, having found out that Juliette was still alive, revolted against Bernard. Juliette is elected mayor of the silo after people submit an overwhelming number of write-in ballots. She decides that she will govern based on truth rather than deception.

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The film follows a woman (Cornish) who wakes up in a police interrogation room with no memory of the prior night and the accusations against her may have life altering implications. However, something is not quite right in this police station.

“Felipe Mucci has created a tense and tightly wound thriller that will keep audiences guessing at allegiances and motives,” said Quiver Distribution Co-Presidents Berry Meyerowitz and Jeff Sackman. “We are delighted to be working with the great team at Kinogo Pictures on Detained.”

“We’ve poured our hearts into crafting a captivating and exhilarating film, and I’m absolutely thrilled to join forces with Quiver to share Detained with audiences everywhere,” said director Felipe Mucci.

“I am very excited to be partnering with Quiver Distribution on this release,” said Ryan Scaringe of Kinogo Pictures. “Quiver has a great working relationship with their filmmakers and excels at enhancing the visibility of their films. I couldn’t think of a better home for Detained .”

Detained is produced by Ryan Scaringe ( The Djinn, The Boy Behind the Door ) and co-produced by Amy Lippens. Executive producers include Monica Sufar, Abbie Cornish and Laz Alonso. The deal was negotiated by Judah Klatzker from Quiver Distribution, and Alfredo Lara Orbezo from Sublimity Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers. Sublimity is handling Worldwide Sales.

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From a Dead Dog to a Made-Up Meeting: Takeaways From Kristi Noem’s Book

After a rough start to the rollout of her memoir, the South Dakota governor has continued to defend shooting her dog and to deflect on a false story about meeting Kim Jong-un.

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Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota speaking at a lectern in front of a large American flag.

By Chris Cameron

May 7, 2024

In one sense, Kristi Noem has had a wildly successful rollout of her new book: America can’t stop talking about it.

But all the chatter is not for the reasons Ms. Noem, the conservative governor of South Dakota, might have expected when she finished “No Going Back,” a memoir that recounts her political career. The book appears aimed at raising her profile as a MAGA loyalist while former President Donald J. Trump weighs his choices for running mate . Just a month ago, Ms. Noem had been widely seen as a contender.

Instead of talking up her conservative bona fides, however, Ms. Noem has spent the last week on national television defending a grisly account in the book in which she shoots her dog in a gravel pit. The killing of the dog, a 14-month-old wire-haired pointer named Cricket, has drawn bipartisan criticism and scrutiny.

The book, published on Tuesday, includes a number of other noteworthy details, some of which Ms. Noem has discussed in recent interviews. Here are five takeaways.

Noem has a lot of criticism for other Republicans.

Ms. Noem’s account of her time in office — first as South Dakota’s sole House representative and then as governor — includes many stories that broadly criticize Republicans for their electoral failures, while also targeting figures who have drawn the ire of Mr. Trump.

She describes a phone conversation she had with Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who dropped out of the Republican presidential primary race in March, claiming that Ms. Haley had threatened her because they were both prominent Republican women. Chaney Denton, a spokeswoman for Ms. Haley, has said Ms. Noem’s account of the conversation was inaccurate, and “just plain weird.”

Ms. Noem also blames Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee , for the poor performance of Republican candidates in the 2022 midterms, and criticizes her for not supporting Mr. Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen — though Ms. Noem herself writes in that section that “Trump lost in 2020.”

“We got lazy, and no one was held accountable,” she says, adding that Mr. Trump was wrongly blamed for Republicans’ underperforming. She also called out the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans, though she says she has hope for 2024 and is “willing to help.”

Ms. Noem devotes a section of the book to RINOs — Republicans in Name Only — a favorite pejorative of Mr. Trump that he has deployed against critics within the party.

“In many ways, these political creatures are worse than some donkeys,” Ms. Noem wrote, referring to Democrats in that section as “donkeys.”

But Ms. Noem also takes a swipe at some Republicans on the far right in her party, saying that they have contributed to recent election losses.

“Losing sucks. But Republicans happen to be great at it,” she writes in one section, adding: “Candidates talk like crazy people, make wild claims, and offer big promises. And they lose. Of course, there are some crazy candidates, but I’m not talking about them. This is about good folks who choose the wide path of bomb throwing and parroting whatever’s on social media, as opposed to speaking rationally and humbly offering solutions.”

Noem says shooting her dog was a “difficult” choice, and suggests one of President Biden’s dogs should be put down, too.

Ms. Noem has repeatedly defended her decision to kill her dog , Cricket, and her politically baffling choice to include the anecdote in her memoir.

In the book, she describes an incident where Cricket killed a neighbor’s chickens and says the dog tried to bite Ms. Noem as she sought to restrain her. After taking Cricket home and shooting her, Ms. Noem writes, “I realized another unpleasant job needed to be done. Walking back up to the yard, I spotted our billy goat.”

The goat, Ms. Noem writes, “was nasty and mean,” smelled terrible and often chased her children around. So she dragged him out to the gravel pit, too — but didn’t kill him with the first shot, and had to go back to her truck for more ammunition to finish the job.

In an interview with Sean Hannity last week, Ms. Noem said she had included the story in the book to illustrate the “tough, challenging decisions that I’ve had to make throughout my life.”

In an interview on “Face the Nation” on CBS on Sunday, Ms. Noem called attention to another part of the book in which she suggested that one of President Biden’s dogs, a bite-prone German shepherd named Commander, should also be put down.

In a section of the memoir discussing what Ms. Noem would do on her first day in office as president, she wrote that “the first thing I’d do is make sure Joe Biden’s dog was nowhere on the grounds (‘Commander, say hello to Cricket for me’).” Ms. Noem made a similar suggestion in her interview on Sunday.

“You’re saying he should be shot?” asked the CBS host Margaret Brennan.

“That what’s the president should be accountable to,” Ms. Noem replied.

The print edition of the book includes a false anecdote about Noem meeting Kim Jong-un.

Ms. Noem writes in the memoir that she met with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, while serving on the House Armed Services Committee.

“I had the chance to travel to many countries to meet with world leaders — some who wanted our help, and some who didn’t,” she writes. “I remember when I met with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. I’m sure he underestimated me, having no clue about my experience staring down little tyrants (I’d been a children’s pastor, after all). Dealing with foreign leaders takes resolve, preparation, and determination.”

This was an error, according to Ian Fury, the chief of communications for Ms. Noem. Ms. Noem has said in later interviews that she takes “responsibility for the change,” but has not explained why the anecdote was included or whom she could have been referring to, if not Mr. Kim. She has also pushed back when the false anecdote has been characterized as a mistake.

“This is an anecdote that I asked to have removed, because I think it’s appropriate at this point in time,” Ms. Noem said in her interview on “Face the Nation.” “But I’m not going to talk to you about those personal meetings that I have had with world leaders.”

Noem gives a glowing portrait of Trump, and alludes to her future aspirations.

Ms. Noem heaps praise on the former president in her memoir, describing him as “a breaker and a builder,” writing, “He was relentlessly attacked for personal failures — and fictional ones — but stayed in the race and never wavered.”

She also reminds readers that she defended Mr. Trump in a speech the day after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, “regardless of the fact that what unfolded on January 6 was undeniably ugly.”

At one point, she also says that Mr. Trump, “in some funny ways,” is similar to her young granddaughter.

“I see similarities between Trump and my granddaughter, Miss Addie (that’s what I call her),” Ms. Noem writes. “She’s almost three years old and, in my unbiased view, one of the most brilliant human beings I’ve ever met (tied for first place with my grandson, of course!)”

But while Ms. Noem may be angling for a place at Mr. Trump’s side as his running mate, she insists in the memoir that if she is picked, it should not be because she’s a woman.

“I’m often asked by the national media if I think Donald Trump should pick a woman to be vice president,” Ms. Noem writes. “My answer is always about choosing the best people for the job.”

The final chapter of the book focuses not on any vice-presidential aspirations, but rather on what she would do on “Day 1” if elected president herself. It begins with a quote from Mr. Trump saying in December that if elected as president, he wouldn’t be a dictator, “except for Day 1.”

Along with putting federal property up for sale and convening a bipartisan working group on immigration, Ms. Noem writes, she would invite the Obamas and Bidens over to the White House for a screening of “The Grey,” a Liam Neeson film about battling wolves that she describes earlier in the book as among her favorites.

Noem offers a somewhat exaggerated account of protests outside the White House in 2020.

In the book’s introduction, Ms. Noem writes that a chaotic protest outside Mr. Trump’s 2020 nomination for re-election , held at the White House in August, was a pivotal moment for her — and inspired her to “live a life of significance — no matter where that commitment took me.” She wrote of a Washington under siege.

“We could hear explosions and screams in the distance,” she wrote. “On the other side of the fence, sounds of shouting and chaos. I smelled what we guessed was tear gas. We were trapped.”

But her account of a “massive and, at times, violent protest” doesn’t align with contemporaneous reports.

There was a significant demonstration outside the White House during Mr. Trump’s renominating event — one that tried to disrupt his acceptance speech by making noise . Reports from the time described the demonstration as “generally peaceful” and “significantly smaller” than the demonstrations that were forcibly dispersed by Mr. Trump earlier in the spring . There is also no evidence that tear gas was deployed that night.

Chris Cameron covers politics for The Times, focusing on breaking news and the 2024 campaign. More about Chris Cameron

Our Coverage of the 2024 Election

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President Biden and Donald Trump have agreed to two debates on June 27 on CNN and Sept. 10 on ABC News, raising the likelihood of the earliest general-election debate in modern history.

The early-debate gambit from Biden amounted to a public acknowledgment that he is trailing in his re-election bid , and a bet that an accelerated debate timeline will force voters to confront the possibility of Trump returning to power .

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, the Silicon Valley investor Nicole Shanahan, said that she had given another $8 million to their independent campaign.

Biden’s Investments in Battlegrounds: Biden’s economic policies have helped spur billions of dollars in new investments in Arizona and Georgia, yet Trump has maintained a significant lead over Biden in both states .

Warming to Trump: In an about-face, big financiers on Wall Street, in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are increasingly on board for a second Trump term after the first one alienated them.

Russian Disinformation: Ahead of the election, Russian disinformation videos are trying to appeal to right-wing voters with fake messages about Biden , experts say.

Black Women in the Senate: The Democratic Party has taken heat for not backing Black female candidates in statewide races. But in November, voters could double the number of Black women ever elected to the Senate .

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r/books on Reddit: [Spoilers] Just finished the "Wool" (silo) trilogy
He's a master of tension and cliffhangers. There are a few things though that kinda get me. In Wool, I simply had a hard time caring about some of his action sequences. Juliet swimming down to the pump in Silo 17 felt like it took forever to finish, and an inordinate amount of time was spent on this sequence when it wasn't nearly carrying the ...
The Wool Trilogy (Silo, #1-3) by Hugh Howey
Hugh Howey. 4.37. 7,296 ratings382 reviews. The bestselling Wool trilogy now available in one download. Includes Wool, Shift and Dust. Wool. In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo. Jules is part of this community, but she is different.
Wool by Hugh Howey
Wool by Hugh Howey - review. ... with book deals on both sides of the Atlantic, and film rights picked up by Ridley Scott. ... To order Wool for £7.99 with free UK p&p call Guardian book ...
Wool: An elaborate knitting metaphor
Wool by Hugh Howey. Editor's Note: When first published, Wool was an omnibus of edition including 5 "books." Now, Wool is considered the first novel in Hugh Howey's SILO series. The other two books are Shift (also at first considered an omnibus) and Dust which we've since reviewed.. Wool is the omnibus edition of Hugh Howey's WOOL series. The first book in the series, Wool, is more ...
Wool Series by Hugh Howey
Book omnibus, part 2 of 2. Silmapete, Teine osa. by Hugh Howey. 3.67 · 9 Ratings · 1 Reviews · published 2013 · 3 editions. Varemetes ja mürgitatud tulevikumaailmas elab kogu…. Want to Read. Rate it: Part of The Silo Series. Book 1 of Silo Series: Wool Omnibus was originally published as 5 short stories part of the Wool series.
Wool (Wool, #1) by Hugh Howey
Hugh Howey. I'm the author of WOOL, a top 5 science fiction book on Amazon. I also wrote the Molly Fyde saga, a tale of a teenager from the 25th century who is repeatedly told that girls can't do certain things -- and then does them anyway. A theme in my books is the celebration of overcoming odds and of not allowing the cruelty of the universe ...
Wool by Hugh Howey book review
The first book initially covers the story of Holston and his wife and then goes on to focus on Juliette and her attempts to discover more about the world in which she lives. Wool plot - 4.5/5. As mentioned above, the whole focus on Wool is around the idea that the Silo is everything everybody has ever known. However, what if there is more to ...
Book review: 'Wool,' by Hugh Howey
Even if it were just a run-of-the-mill post-apocalyptic novel about a society forced to live underground, "Wool" would still be quite a tale. In the summer of 2011, a 36-year-old jack-of-all ...
Review: Wool, By Hugh Howey
Howey is something of a publishing phenomenon. Wool was originally self-published as a series of interlinked novellas, shifting an aston- ishing 250,000 copies. The different sections sit well as ...
Wool
Wool By Hugh Howey Simon & Schuster ISBN: 978-1-4767339-5-1 March 2013, $15.00, PB; $26.00 HC Reviewed by Darkeva. If you haven't already encountered the massive hype surrounding Hugh Howey's dystopian sci-fi novel, Wool, the online world is abuzz about the remarkable story of the author who self-published the book then managed to sell print-only rights to Simon and Schuster and to keep ...
Wool: Book One of the Silo Series (Silo, 1)
Hugh Howey is New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of WOOL, MACHINE LEARNING, SAND, BEACON 23, and many others. His works have been translated into over 40 languages with millions of copies sold around the world. WOOL has been adapted into Silo, a TV show from AppleTVPlus. A show based on BEACON 23 is due out in 2023 from AMC.
Wool Omnibus (Silo, #1) by Hugh Howey
9,564 reviews 124 followers. May 3, 2022. Wool Omnibus (Silo #1), Hugh Howey. Hugh C. Howey is an American writer, known best for the science fiction series Silo. The first Wool story was released as a standalone short in July of 2011. This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge.
What happened in Wool by Hugh Howey
Title: Wool . Author: Hugh Howey. Series: Silo #1 - Wool (2013) - Shift (2013) - Dust (2013) Add it: Goodreads. Goodreads Summary: In a ruined and hostile landscape, in a future few have been unlucky enough to survive, a community exists in a giant underground silo. Jules is part of this community, but she is different. She dares to hope.
Silo (series)
Silo is a series of post-apocalyptic science fiction books by American writer Hugh Howey. The series started in 2011 with the short story "Wool", which was later published together with four sequel novellas as a novel with the same name. Along with Wool, the series consists of Shift, Dust, three short stories, and Wool: The Graphic Novel. [1]
Wool by Hugh Howey Book Review
Wool tells stories of the Silo through multiple viewpoints. Each story weaves together to establish the foundations of the world. Each story weaves together to establish the foundations of the world. There will be a succession of main characters as Hugh Howey draws readers deeper into the inner workings of the Silo.
Wool Summary and Study Guide
Overview. Wool, a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel, is Hugh Howey's first book. Originally self-published in 2011 as an e-book, Simon & Schuster later licensed it. The e-book features illustrations by Jimmy Broxton and Darwyn Cooke. Wool takes place in the world of the silo, a 144-floor underground community of humans, hundreds of years ...
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From a Dead Dog to a Made-Up Meeting: Takeaways From Kristi Noem’s Book

Noem has a lot of criticism for other Republicans.

Noem says shooting her dog was a “difficult” choice, and suggests one of President Biden’s dogs should be put down, too.

The print edition of the book includes a false anecdote about Noem meeting Kim Jong-un.

Noem gives a glowing portrait of Trump, and alludes to her future aspirations.

Noem offers a somewhat exaggerated account of protests outside the White House in 2020.

Our Coverage of the 2024 Election

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