Pfeffer, Susan Beth - Life as We Knew It
Sun, Sep. 30th, 2007 11:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterFifteen-year-old Miranda's living her normal life until one day, a meteor hits the moon. Instead of just being a spectacular astronomical event as predicted, the meteor knocks the moon out of place, affecting the tides, the climate, and other things. Post-apocalypse YA!
Miranda doesn't really believe that things will be that bad at first, even after learning about how most of the East and West Coast are dead, and she mentally rolls her eyes when her mom buys them thermal underwear and months and months worth of cat food and canned food. But then, gas prices go to $10/gallon, the electricity begins to fail, and then they lose the radio.
What I liked the most was how realistic this felt. All the big events happen elsewhere, and we get nothing like the focus on giant walls of water or the fall of the Chrysler Building, as we do in movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon. Instead, it's things like people moving away, it's the school closing early because they can't provide lunches, it's the family friend coming in with news of West Nile. And gradually, Miranda's world closes in on her until there are no real choices left.
I'm not usually an post-apocalypse fan, just because I generally suspect I would be one of the first people to die, and also because I don't like how a lot of post-apocalyptic scenarios end up with antiquated gender roles and the rejection of altruism. And I'm not sure if I enjoyed this book, per se; it's hard to enjoy a read like this. But it hit me hard, and I found myself walking home in the cool California night air and freaking out at the cold (volcanic ash in the air OMG will never see sun again!) and at all the cars (gas is nonexistant) and things like "What if my glasses break? I won't be able to get new ones and I will die because I cannot see!"
It's not completely bleak, as there are moments of hope and happiness, but, um. It's a pretty terrifying book.
Spoilers
Also, like![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rachelmanija (link below), I was a little off-put by the gender roles -- I like that Miranda finally asks her brothers to do their own laundry, and it's nowhere near as iffy as it could be, but still.
And while I can see why people think the end's a cheat, I don't care! I was crying when Miranda decided to walk off, and I don't think I could have borne the book ending with her death, not after everything else. Again, like Rachel, I'm not convinced that anyone's really saved; I feel it's sort of hard to recover from lack of sunlight, but I will pretend in my head that Miranda's family makes it and dies fairly old even though the human race in general is doomed.
It's a really good book, just possibly not for everyone. I am still terrified and immensely grateful for electricity and my computer, but most of all for food, lots of food.
Links:
-rachelmanija's review (link to day-view so the spoilers are behind a cut because Rachel's write-up is ten times better than mine)
-buymeaclue's review
-janni's review
Miranda doesn't really believe that things will be that bad at first, even after learning about how most of the East and West Coast are dead, and she mentally rolls her eyes when her mom buys them thermal underwear and months and months worth of cat food and canned food. But then, gas prices go to $10/gallon, the electricity begins to fail, and then they lose the radio.
What I liked the most was how realistic this felt. All the big events happen elsewhere, and we get nothing like the focus on giant walls of water or the fall of the Chrysler Building, as we do in movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon. Instead, it's things like people moving away, it's the school closing early because they can't provide lunches, it's the family friend coming in with news of West Nile. And gradually, Miranda's world closes in on her until there are no real choices left.
I'm not usually an post-apocalypse fan, just because I generally suspect I would be one of the first people to die, and also because I don't like how a lot of post-apocalyptic scenarios end up with antiquated gender roles and the rejection of altruism. And I'm not sure if I enjoyed this book, per se; it's hard to enjoy a read like this. But it hit me hard, and I found myself walking home in the cool California night air and freaking out at the cold (volcanic ash in the air OMG will never see sun again!) and at all the cars (gas is nonexistant) and things like "What if my glasses break? I won't be able to get new ones and I will die because I cannot see!"
It's not completely bleak, as there are moments of hope and happiness, but, um. It's a pretty terrifying book.
Spoilers
Also, like
rachelmanija (link below), I was a little off-put by the gender roles -- I like that Miranda finally asks her brothers to do their own laundry, and it's nowhere near as iffy as it could be, but still. And while I can see why people think the end's a cheat, I don't care! I was crying when Miranda decided to walk off, and I don't think I could have borne the book ending with her death, not after everything else. Again, like Rachel, I'm not convinced that anyone's really saved; I feel it's sort of hard to recover from lack of sunlight, but I will pretend in my head that Miranda's family makes it and dies fairly old even though the human race in general is doomed.
It's a really good book, just possibly not for everyone. I am still terrified and immensely grateful for electricity and my computer, but most of all for food, lots of food.
Links:
-
rachelmanija's review (link to day-view so the spoilers are behind a cut because Rachel's write-up is ten times better than mine)-
buymeaclue's review-
janni's review