[Phaethon]

There is a book I recommend, In The Country of Last Things

It has a disturbingly real take on what a post - peak lifestyle/city might be like. It's worth the read.

[Novus]

Sounds very interesting and was writen in a time (1987) when the energy crisis was thought to solved. It sounds very post apocalyptic not really say how civilization has fallen because that has been forgotten.

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')In a book-length letter home, Anna Blume reports that her search for a long-lost brother has brought her to a vast, unnamed city that is undergoing a catastrophic economic decline. Buildings collapse daily, driving huge numbers of citizens into the streets, where they starve or die of exposureif they aren't murdered by other vagrants first. Government forces haul away the bodies, and licensed scavengers collect trash and precious human waste. Weird cults form around the most popular methods of suicide. Anna tries to help, but the charity group she joins quickly runs out of supplies and has to close its doors. A number of post-apocalyptic novels have been published recently; Auster's, one of the best, is distinguished by an uncanny grasp of the day-to-day realities of homelessness. This is a scary but highly relevant book. Edward B. St. John, Loyola Marymount Univ. Lib., Los Angeles

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Anna Blume, a young woman, is searching for her brother who disappeared ( a letter is the last sign of life from her brother ). It brings her to a country unknown and without a name. Apparently terrible things happened not so long ago. The people there have to live in poverty and hardship with a never ending struggle with all sorts of criminals.

At first sight this book has some things in common with a SF novel. Something very bad happened, civilization is almost gone. But is Paul Auster really a writer to use science-fiction ? He writes about coincidence, about the intertwining of fiction and reality and about individuals in relation to their relatives ( as is the case with Anna Blume ). The ( coincidental ) meeting with the father is one of the most returning subjects.
Why would such a writer use science fiction ?

Who knows better than Paul Auster himself ? In an interview with L.McCaffery and S.Gregory ( The Red Notebook and other writings - edition Faber & Faber - London ) he says (about The Country of Last Things) that there are specific references to the Warsaw ghetto but also to events taking place in the Third World today and that New York is turning into a Third World city ( again: according to Paul Auster ).

As far as I'm concerned I think that everyone has the right to interpret this novel as he/she wants.
I like this novel because Anna Blume is a brave and touching character in search for her brother.