If you couldn’t tell from my previous blog posts, I love science fiction, especially anything all to do with astronomy. But above the spectacles of spaceships and super-societies, I find end-of-world dystopias to be even more fascinating. Seeing as tomorrow, July 20, is Moon Day (the 75th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on our lunar neighbor) I figured I would talk about my favorite disaster novel of all time, “Life as We Knew It” by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Important note: while we do not currently have this book, or any in this series in the Blough-Weis Library (though I hope we will soon enough), this book is available on Libby, which can be accessed by all members of Susquehanna through your email and password! Without further ado, lets crash into this book!
About the Book:
“Life as We Knew It” is the first out of four books in “The Last Survivors” series, though I find that this one is the best overall. Susan Beth Pfeffer has many, many other books, but this series contains her most popular novels by far, and is the last of her work as she retired after the fourth and final book’s release in 2013. Many of Pfeffer’s books are targeted to children and young adults, this one being a book that I read obsessively in my middle school years, through my meteorological and astronomical adoration phases.
The book begins as the world ends, with a meteor impact pushing the moon much closer to Earth, causing major changes in the tidal effects on the planet. Massive tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions begin wrecking the world’s population and soon the ash produced by these disasters’ clouds the sky and juristically lowers the Earth’s average temperature. The novel is told through diary entries from Miranda Evans, a 16-year-old girl, who struggles to survive the harsh conditions of northeastern Pennsylvania with her mother and two brothers. Miranda is adamant on surviving and exploring their now nearly abandoned town as her friends and neighbors that she once loved move south or tragically pass on.
Reviews of the Book:
As much as I adore this book, it isn’t the brightest star in the sky. The story isn’t very realistic and is dulled down at certain points to keep it within the limits of a young adult novel. The second book in the novel “The Dead and the Gone” is a more matured version of this novel, yet I don’t feel it encapsulates the true terror and desperation that is exposed in “Life as We Knew It.” If you were to read this novel, I would still highly recommend the second novel as we read from a different perspective, this time in the hectic depths of New York City and three siblings. With that said, I would definitely not recommend the two books that follow.
“Life as We Knew It” was the only book that got me back into reading after my concussion, and for good reason, while not being well known, this book has been praised by many critics and has won the Young Adult Library Services Association’s “Best Book for Young Adults” award in 2007. This book certainly has its fall backs, but I’ve always found comfort in its simple concept, yet devastating plot. The imagery and narrative of this novel are immaculate, and I love how each of the characters develop and adapt to the desperate times they are stuck in. Overall, I would still highly recommend this novel and its sequel if you have ever shared an interest in the genre of end-of-the-world fiction.
You must be logged in to post a comment.