The previous cleaning took place three years before, when his wife was ejected from the silo, and he has never really recovered. Journal rendition of a silo by Mike SodalĪs the story begins, the sheriff, Holston, actually volunteers to go out and do the next cleaning (in essence, a suicide mission). After all, there is only so much room in the silo.ĭetail from Wall St. The “cleanings” are not protested by the silo’s denizens on the contrary, they are celebrated, because every time someone dies naturally or is banished, a lottery is held so that young couples can vie for the right to have a child. No one really knows why these exiles always perform the cleaning, especially since almost every new cleaner vows not to do it.

Order is maintained by means of assigning “cleanings” to those who break the law: these people are ejected from the silo and told to scrub the camera lenses to the outside before they invariably die from the poison air. Porters travel up and down the silo steps to make deliveries. The silo has a mayor, sheriff, and a number of deputies throughout the structure. Different professions are assigned to the different levels, which include farms, living quarters, supplies, mechanicals, and the all-important IT tech area. The story takes place inside a huge underground silo that goes down 144 stories, with only the very top level having a view of the outside, which is nothing but a desolate landscape. This post-apocalyptic dystopia is excellent, and is, in my estimation, deserving of both its many high ratings and its optioning by Ridley Scott for a film adaptation.

Wool by Hugh Howey