Monday 27 February 2012

Susan Beth Pfeffer - Life As We Knew It

Title: Life As We Knew It (The Last Survivors, book 1)
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Pub. year: 2006
Pages: 337
Editor: Graphia
Summary: Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.




As Muffin says, I don't do 'it's-the-end-of-the-world' stories. But I have this friend with whom I exchange books in a way that the other has no choice but to read what the first put in her hands. So, yeah, she lent me this one and I had to read it. And as it turns out, I'm kinda glad she did.

This book is kind of an Anne Frank's diary. In a 'lol-it-didn't-really-happen' way, here. Anne Frank had WW2, Miranda has 'the Moon is getting closer and the everything is messed up'. She writes about her day-to-day life and what is happening to her. We are following the catastrophe as it happens in her life, and their consequences on it.

What was incredible is that during the whole reading process, I was like 'Oh my gosh, do I have enough cans? I should probably buy some other blankets! I miss chocolate.' and then 'Oh wait...'. When my curtains were closed, I was wondering if there really were a blizzard outside. So yeah.. I really felt like I was living the climate changes and its consequences.

It's a quite realistic book about a possible end of the world. I mean, I don't know if scientifically it's plausible, but it could be. What's interesting is how people react when this happens. And there was this bizarre effect that made me care more about new changes in climate than about people dying in the story. I don't know how to explain that... maybe the way the author wrote about it was more nerve-racking.

Anyway, I was quite absorbed in the story 'til the end, and really enjoyed it. So if you're into apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic stuff—even if you're not, I'm the living proof of it—give it a go!


Quotes:

'I never really thought about how when I look at the moon it's the same moon as Shakespeare and Marie Antoinette and George Washington and Cleopatra looked at.'

'It wouldn't be New Year's without a resolution. I've resolved to take a moment every day for the rest of my life to appreciate what I have.'

'I have no privacy. But I feel so alone.'

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