Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Life As We Knew It--Susan Beth Pfeffer

Title: Life As We Knew It
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Pages: 337 p.
Publisher: Harcourt Inc.
ISBN: 0152058265



This was probably not the best time for me to read this book, but I knew there was a request list for it and I felt guilty so I got it done.

Miranda and her family are happily anticipating an meteor hitting the moon. The worst it can do is make another crater right? They have cookies and go outside to watch the show with the rest of their neighbors. But something goes horribly wrong...

The meteor. Suddenly the moon was closer to Earth than it should have been. It's easy to forget how important the moon is--but with it being out of whack the tides were also out of whack, causing huge tsunamis, tornadoes, volcanoes, earthquakes and all sorts of natural disasters. Floods wiped out whole states and countries, killed millions of people and left others with no food, oil, or electricity.

Miranda is one of the lucky ones since her mom freaked out at the beginning and used all her money to stock the house with boxed and canned food. But their food and their luck can't last forever.

Written in journal format, Miranda's story is gripping and heart-breaking. She is a likeable sympathetic character who sacrifices everything to help her family. There was one point that kept bugging me--they had food but no electricity so how were they cooking? It was finally explained that the stove was natural gas and didn't rely on electricity so they were fine cooking. Until the gas ran out. Although it was eventually explained this bugged me because I automatically think of not being able to cook when the electricity is off. Other than that very very minor point, this is a good solid read and highly recommended.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This book- and review was AMAZING!!!!! I reccomend it to anyone who loves adventure!

Anonymous said...

Im reading this book right know and I think susan is an awsome writter and I am just so into the book that I just can't put it down. The book is so trajic what happens and how the family trys to survive with no electricty, food shortages, tidal waves, and so much more. the changes of weather and the moon is like so close that you can touch it. Also the family is split up into 4s. I hope you make a sequal and more books.

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