Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer November 18, 2007

Life As We Knew It is one of those books that you should recommend to whiny people. I’d probably say, “You think your life is tough? Well read about what goes down at the end of the world!” Actually I probably wouldn’t say anything remotely like that, but in my mind I would…

I had a similar reaction to this book as that of Leila at the bookshelves of doom. I actually found myself checking my pantry for canned and non-perishable food. Then having strange everyone’s dead and you’re all alone nightmares. *I really have to watch what I read right before I go to sleep.* I’m a slow reader so this process of nightmares and worries lasted me a week. Thing is, I couldn’t put this book down. I had to make an effort to put it down, I so wanted to read more about gloom and doom.

So here’s the basic storyline, the moon gets hit by a exceptionally dense asteroid and is shoved toward the earth, resulting in it’s gravitational pull messing with our environment. There are massive tides, volcanoes spring up where they once were dormant or non-existent, the atmosphere is covered in a dense covering of ash from the volcanoes, and it stops raining. The temperature plummets when the season begins to change and life just plain sucks because no one has food, electricity, gas, or running water. Life As We Knew It is a survival story featuring the plight of Miranda, her mother, younger brother Jonny, and older brother Matt. Will they survive without supermarkets, electricity, or heat? Is there anyone out there to save them, or will they have to fend for themselves? To see what Miranda and her family resort to doing to survive read Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer.

Hate to say it but this book reminded me of How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since they have somewhat of a similar dystopic feel to them and besides How I Live Now won the Printz Award. But I’m having a heck of a time with the titles. Sadly enough I’m already mixing them up and I can’t even claim senility or senior moments. Anyway if anyone asks for readalikes, don’t forget either.