Book Review: This World We Live In

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
(Click on the cover to find a library copy.)

SUMMARY: It's been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth's climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce. The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda's father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda's complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever. (adapted from the inside flap)

REVIEW: This is the third (and final?) installment in what is now called The Last Survivors series. It began with two companion novels, Life as We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone. These stories covered the same events from two different points of view, but this third book advances the plot forward while bringing those points of view together. When I first heard about this book, I thought the idea of having all of the characters meet each other sounded lame. While reading, I did think that some of the events were pretty implausible. However, I think the author ultimately pulls it off because this book is bigger than just the characters. As they all work for their survival in an increasingly hostile environment, they forge connections that wouldn't happen under other circumstances. You start to care about these people and root for them against impossible odds. That makes up for some of the other flaws! Plus, this book is a page-turner, with lots of action and tense situations that will keep you riveted until the very end.

Book Review: The Dead and the Gone

The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Reviews by Gretchen, Meg, and Debbie (Meg's mom!)

Click on the book cover to see which libraries own it.

GRETCHEN SAYS: The Dead and the Gone is a companion to Life As We Knew It, and it is even more chilling. It made me change my Facebook status to "Gretchen just finished The Dead and the Gone and feels the urge to stock up on canned goods." In this book, the disaster and survival scenario is replayed in New York City rather than rural Pennsylvania. On the day of the disaster, siblings Alex, Brianna, and Julie find out their parents are among the gone. As they try to survive on their own, they face all kinds of struggles in their once-familiar neighborhood. Although the references to their Puerto Rican heritage sometimes feel like a plot device, the reactions and interactions among the three siblings are totally believable. Despite echoes of 9-11, the author thoroughly portrays the new horrors that tidal waves and tsunamis bring to this city of islands. The urban enviornment also adds new levels of chaos with food shortages, death in the streets, an active black market for all kinds of goods, and major illness epidemics. If you have not read these books before, start with Life As We Knew It. Even though The Dead and the Gone an incredible page-turner, I still want to know what happens next! There is a sequel in the works, known as P3B (for Possible Third Book), which you can read about on Susan Beth Pfeffer's blog.

MEG SAYS: What would happen to the world if an asteroid pushed the moon closer in orbit to the earth? Like Susan Beth Pfeffer's earlier novel Life as We Knew It, this is the question that is explored in The Dead and the Gone. Rather than continuing the story of a rural Pennsylvania family from Life, the author instead focuses on the same events from a different perspective. This book is about 17-year-old Luis, who lives with his sisters in New York City. The book follows his struggles to survive after his parents die in the initial distruction the asteroid causes, and later as the city descends further and further into chaos. I loved Life as We Knew It, and this companion piece lived up to my expectations. I enjoy fairly realistic sci-fi novels, and this was no exception. The book remains realistic in its portrayals of a world gone crazy, from stampedes in food lines to Luis' increasingly desperate search for a way to get his sisters out of the city. I also liked that, while Luis and his family were devoutly religious, the various priests and nuns were characters rather than stereotypes, and the book rarely got preachy. I would highly recommend both his book and the original to anyone looking for a fast-paced, realistic dystopian novel.

DEBBIE SAYS: The Dead and the Gone retells the story of Life as We Knew It, detailing the impact to life on Earth when an asteroid hits the moon, knocking it closer to Earth. The perspective of this version is of a teenage boy whose parents die in the initial impact, and who now must care for his two younger sisters. This family lives in an apartment building in NYC. The original version is about a teenage girl living with her mother and brother in rural Pennsylvania. The author paints a vivid, realistic picture of life in the post-impact world with none of the utilities and resouces that we take for granted today. My only disappointment was with the depth of the character description. I felt I knew and understood the characters in the original version much more and found them to be more believable.

Book Review: Life As We Knew It

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

SUMMARY: The prospect of an asteroid hitting the Moon is just a mildly interesting news item to Pennsylvania teenager Miranda, but her priorities undergo a radical change when that collision shifts the Moon into a closer orbit, causing violent earthquakes, massive tsunamis, millions of deaths, and an upsurge in volcanism. Thanks to frantic preparations by her quick-thinking mother, Miranda's family is in better shape than many as utilities and public services break down in stages, wild storms bring extremes of temperature, and outbreaks of disease turn the hospital into a dead zone. In Miranda's day-by-day journal entries, she focuses on the stresses of spending months huddled in increasingly confined quarters, watching supplies dwindle, and wondering whether there will be any future to make the effort worthwhile. The author provides a glimmer of hope at the end, but readers will still be left stunned and thoughtful. (adapted from School Library Journal)

OPINION: This book is not nearly as well-written as How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, but that doesn't stop it from being an intriguing conjecture about living under challenging circumstances. What struck me most was the family's trip to the supermarket after the collision, where they were stuffing carts with crazy amounts of canned goods, medicines, and pet food. They had the presence of mind to plan for a long period of suffering, but even that preparation wasn't quite enough. The day-to-day realities of this book are what make it worth reading, and you will become involved in Miranda's struggle for survival as life on earth becomes more and more endangered.

UPCOMING: Look for The Dead and the Gone, a companion book about the same events an how they impact life in New York City, in May 2008.