Life As We Knew It

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Blurb from Goodreads: 
It’s almost the end of Miranda’s sophomore year in high school, and her journal reflects the busy life of a typical teenager: conversations with friends, fights with mom, and fervent hopes for a driver’s license. When Miranda first begins hearing the reports of a meteor on a collision course with the moon, it hardly seems worth a mention in her diary. But after the meteor hits, pushing the moon off its axis and causing worldwide earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, all the things Miranda used to take for granted begin to disappear. Food and gas shortages, along with extreme weather changes, come to her small Pennsylvania town; and Miranda’s voice is by turns petulant, angry, and finally resigned, as her family is forced to make tough choices while they consider their increasingly limited options. Yet even as suspicious neighbors stockpile food in anticipation of a looming winter without heat or electricity, Miranda knows that that her future is still hers to decide even if life as she knew it is over.  

Review: 
I’ve decided to model my review after the spirit of the book and Miranda’s journaling.  Let’s see how this goes: 

I posted my review for The Hunger Games yesterday, and I’m happy that I’ve received quite a few comments regarding the book.  Since I’m the slowest reader on the planet, I had spent all day with the book for the Read-a-Thon, and although it made me very sad, I’m glad I finally read it.  One of the comments I got today caught my eye.  Not surprisingly it was from A Buckeye Girl Reads.  During the Read-a-Thon, we kind of cheered each other on, and I can’t help feeling grateful to her, especially since her comment today really peaked my interest.  This is what she wrote (in part): 

I loved this book – ever since reading Life As We Know It by Susan Beth Pfeffer I’ve been into YA Dystopian type books.   

After reading that comment, the title of the book she mentioned won’t leave my head.  I wonder why?

*runs in squeeing* Mom asked me to run with her to Walmart, and I kind of pouted about it, but I needed some stuff as well, so I reluctantly tagged along.  Now I’m so glad that I did because I found some amazing deals on books!  Really cheap books, which always makes me smile.

In the ridiculously small book section of Walmart, I went through everything, looking hungrily for the best deals.  At the end of shifting through the shelves, I had 10 books in hand, completely ignoring the ‘necessities’ I had needed.  Then, as I was about to walk off to find my mom, I noticed a small corner of books I hadn’t looked through yet, and guess what I found! Life As We Knew It for only $5.87!!!  The very same book that A Buckeye Girl Reads mentioned just yesterday. Next to it was The Dead & The Gone, another book in the series.  Score!

At that point, I needed to reconsider my book pile.  Unable to resist, I decided on six books, all under eight bucks!  I spent the rest of my time in Walmart reading the first chapter of Life As We Knew It, despite the stink eye I was getting from a Walmart employee.  No need for that lady, I’m buying the book! And I gotta say, after the first chapter,  I’m intrigued.

P.S. As I was buying the books, my aunt, who has somehow managed to join us in the store (we live in a smallish town) said, “Missie, are you really going to read all those books?” I smiled, embarrassed for some reason and nodded. Then she said, “I’ve never read a book in my life.” And although that comment make me LOL, I felt sad for her.

Last night I was ready to dive back into Life As We Knew It.  I hadn’t stopped thinking about the book since reading the first chapter.  I was disappointed with the last book I read and I wanted something good to get lost in.  But I didn’t start reading until late at night because after work, I spent some mindless hours in front of the TV watching How I Met Your Mother and Glee! Then I got hungry, which sucked because there is nothing to eat at the house. I’m terrible at taking care of myself. So I munch on crackers (and a bit of Nutella) and I watched TV. After I got ready for bed, I started to read, but sleep took me quickly. Bum deal.

Tonight I wont have much of a chance to read because we are celebrating my sister’s birthday at grandma’s house. Sis said she requested enchiladas for her birthday dinner.  It’s a win-win!

Even though I came home from grandma’s pretty tired after stuffing my face with heavy food, I read until I passed out.  I got more than half way done and I should be finished by tomorrow. 

I’m really enjoying the style in which the story is told.  The reader is in Miranda’s journal as she writes about everything she is experiencing, about everything that is changing.  In Miranda’s world, the moon was hit by a meteor on May 18th (my birthday), and the crash causes the moon to shift closer to the earth, affecting gravitational pull.  The outcome is disastrous, and the coastline is the first to suffer, with reports of major city being swallowed up by massive tsunamis.

Despite what she thinks, Miranda is handling things pretty well.  I can’t imagine how terrifying a journey like this would be, even while reading, because I keep thinking about my 16 year old self.  And about how lucky I was to have had such a careless existence back then.  One in which I didn’t have to worry about where my next meal would come from.

As Miranda thinks about prom and dating and kissing boys, she is also thinking about food, and how hungry and weak everyone is becoming and the conditions they now have to live in.  It is completely heartbreaking.

For a fleeting moment, I thought, I can’t keep reading this, it’s too depressing.  But this family, and the way they are portrayed, you grow to care for them, and just hope everything will be okay. Miranda is struggling along with her brothers, Matt and Jonny, and her mother.  And I want them all to survive.    

I finished Life As We Knew It last night (or early this morning, however you want to look at it). I’m exhausted because I read until 3:30am, and today, work started off with a busy schedule.  I’m so terribly depressed after reading this book.  Please don’t get me wrong, the story is AMAZING! I loved it! But, end of the world stuff that could really happen one day is sad.

I think the writing is extremely clever and poignant.  Pfeffer gave Miranda a very strong mind, with thoughts that are her own interpretation of how things are unfolding around her. Miranda’s diary entries ranged from the insightful to ramblings about nothing.  Some of my favorite passages included:

“We need to have a reason to be alive.”

I rolled my eyes. I bring in kindling and visit Mrs. Nesbitt and wash our clothes and clean Horton’s liter.  I mean, that’s my life. Sitting in the kitchen with Mrs. Nesbitt with neither of saying a word is the high point of my day.

Peter and Jon broke the wishbone. Jon won, but it didn’t matter since we all have the same wish.

Mom got it in her head that even though none of us can sing, we should do a Sound of Music thing and sing together.  If Julie Andrews ever heard us, she’d probably jump into the first available volcano. Be we don’t care.

The story ends with Miranda having a sense of hope.  When food became very scares, she was willing to sacrifice herself so her brothers could live longer, and of course I was ugly face crying again when she went off to do just that.  But instead of dying she finds help! And seemingly, just in the nick of time.

After finishing this book, I desperately wanted to know if things get better for Miranda and her family.  I was even willing to stay up longer to continue reading the next book.  It was then that I discovered that my other Walmart purchase, The Dead & The Gone, was not the sequel to Miranda’s tale, but a companion story about a boy named Alex, who journals about the same first year in which the moon moved closer to the earth.  WTH? Really?!  As much as I’m enjoying this author, I don’t have any interest in reliving that year through another set of eyes, it was awful enough the first time.  I need my stories to move forward.

Regardless, I’d rate this story 4.5 squees!  Like I said, I can’t get it out of my head, and I’d strongly recommend it to anyone interested in dystopian themed works.  Having just read The Hunger Games, I couldn’t help but think that the events that took place in Life As We Knew It to be what caused the future described in The Hunger Games.  The two books seemed to be so intertwined.  The main theme in both was the lack of food.  Of course, I probably just feel this way because I haven’t read many YA Dystopian books, even though I have a pile of them on my TBR list.  

8 comments

Posted at 8:32 pm  •  Labels: 2010, 4 stars, Apocalyptic/Post Apocalyptic, Book Review, Dystopian Fiction, Susan Beth Pfeffer, YA