Sunday, October 26, 2008

BOOK: Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, 336 pages

RIP III challenge, end of the world challenge (I iknow it's long over)

I read a review of this book before I read it that suggested you have a good stretch of time available before you pick this up, because it would be very hard to put down. So true. I devoured this book in the past day. I also meant to read this for the End of the World Challenge, but it didn't come in to the library in time. It does fit the criteria for the RIP III though, and regardless of all the reading challenges I am trying to fit it into, it was just a great read.

Miranda is an ordinary teen, arguing with her Mom, dealing with her divorced parents, growing apart from her friends. As an asteroid is about to hit the moon one night, her biggest concern is that all her teachers have assigned a project based on this interesting night sky phenomenon. What nobody expected is the after effect of the moon being a bit closer to the earth: tsunamis, earthquakes, volcano eruptions. Survival becomes the name of the game, and Miranda's journal entries chronicle her changing life focus and how her family tries to survive.

A tremendous book, let's call it The Road -lite but no less powerful, just written with a different audience in mind. It was scary because life could change that quickly. Even the oil shortage and thinking about what would we do it there was no more oil? How would we heat our house and survive if some calamity were to happen? It is very easy to picture the changes that Miranda and her family are forced into. Pfeffer has written another companion novel (the dead and the gone) following another teen, this one in New York City, throughout the same event.

I'll be recommending this book to our school librarian.

also reviewed by tinylittlelibrarian, bookfool , stephanie , dewey, joy

5 comments:

  1. Great review! This was such a great book, I loved to see how much Miranda, grew, changed and adapted to life when disaster occurred.

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  2. I'm so glad you liked this! I thought it was a great book, too.

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  3. I loved this book! Though frankly it scared me silly, realizing that there was no way my family would survive in such circumstances.

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  4. I can't wait to read this one. I've been waiting for it to come up on bookmooch but it's not so I think I'll just have to buy it!

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  5. I loved this book as well I still have to read the dead and the gone. Glad you like it. :-)

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