Life as We Knew it

This edition by Marion Lloyd Books 2010

This book left me confused as to whether or not I liked it. I’m loving post-apocalyptic books these days and I felt a bit disappointed in this one. It felt decidedly un-apocalyptical. (And yes, I like to make up words.) I never felt like the main character was in peril. Towards the end, they started running out of food and some of her family got sick, but that was it. I cringed (as I do when I read these types of books) waiting for all hell to break loose, riots in the streets, attacks on their house, one of her family members dying, but all of my cringing was for naught.

The writing was excellent, though, which is why I was so torn. And then it hit me. 16-year-old Buffy would have loved this book. It was a very safe end of the world story and I really liked safe back then. My tastes have changed though, and 38-year-old Buffy needs a bit more. I kind of feel that in these types of stories the main character really needs to go through some difficult stuff to become a really interesting main character. This usually involves losing her family or at least the primary caretaker so that she would be forced to figure things out for herself.

I loved the premise of this story. Oh, and I almost forgot my Nutshell blurb: An asteroid has hit the moon and has moved it closer to Earth triggering tsunamis and volcanic eruptions. This is the story of Miranda and her family (told in journal format) and how they try to survive.

I felt that this would have been far more interesting if it was told from the perspective of someone who was trapped on the top floor of a high rise building when a tsunami floods the entire city. Or something similar. That would give me more of a sense of fear than following the lives of a family who are slowly running out of food. I need to feel that all is lost and that the characters are going to somehow rise above it and be better for it. The main character did grow throughout the story which made me very happy as she really got on my nerves in the beginning.

I enjoyed reading this book but I probably won’t read the sequels. I can’t criticise it too much because it was intended for a much younger audience.

Currently Reading…

I finished The Last Wish on Friday (thoughts on the book to come) and have started a new commute book. I don’ t know about you, but I find it very exciting to start a new book. I’ve started reading Life as we Knew it by Susan Pfeffer. Unlike the previous post-apocalyptic book I read, this one is very much YA . There’s nothing wrong with that, but talk about shifting gears. In my last post, one of the critiques I made was that the fifteen year old boy seemed older than his age. In this book, the protagonist is a sixteen year old girl and so far she sounds very much like a sixteen year old girl. I’m actually finding her kind of annoying. (Yes, I know. I’m never happy.) To be fair, I was pretty annoying when I was sixteen. I’m reasonably sure that I’m not the intended demographic for this book, but the story is good so far, so I’ll stick with it. Unless, of course, the character becomes TSTL. (For those of you not up on the lingo, that stands for Too Stupid To Live.)

Only time, and a few more commutes, will tell. I shall let you know my thoughts anon.

 

Library Day

So, it’s been a pretty craptacular week. Nothing specific has happened; it just seems like nothing has gone my way causing frustration upon frustration. Yes, poor me.

The one bright spot in my week was going to be my trip to the library. I can’t begin to tell you how much I love the library. There’s a really nice one which is only a 20 minute walk from work and it’s my favourite place to go during my lunch hour. (Yes, I will walk quite a distance for a good library and no, I don’t go every day.) However, things  at work conspired to keep me from going there until yesterday.

Off I went, a skip in my step, headphones firmly in place as I anticipated the joy I would feel as I entered the building. Alas, it was not meant to be. Books just weren’t leaping off of the shelf at me. I was only able to find four and I wasn’t too excited about them. (I say ‘only’ because I usually bring home 6 -8 and have to ruthlessly decide between which ones must be left behind.) I decided to ask a member of their staff for help on finding one of the books I wanted. That was a mistake. He was really surly and condescending and talked to me as though I had never been to a library before. I’m no library rube! I practically have a cot set up in the sci-fi/fantasy section.

Perhaps I ruined my trip with the negativity I’ve felt all week and should have waited until today to go. (I’m in a much better frame of mind today, you’ll be pleased to know.)

At any rate, here are the four books I found:

Genesis by Karin Slaughter

Life as We Knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Shaka the Great by Walton Golightly

Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty by Karl Shaw

I’ve just consulted my TBR list on Goodreads and have discovered, in this very moment, that the Genesis that is on my list is by Bernard Beckett not Karin Slaughter. I’ve picked up the wrong book… I did wonder, yesterday when I was looking at the book, why I had put it on my TBR list. Not that I don’t like thrillers. Who knows? It might be good. I’m actually much more excited about my selection now that I’ve purged the negative thoughts that plagued me for the past four days.

What a week.

Anyway, I will be finishing up at least one of my current books this weekend and will post my thoughts about it on Sunday. Hope to see you then!