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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
Un roman catastrophe avec un suspens insoutenable et un enchaînement d'événements qui nous maintient en haleine. Les auteurs délivrent un très bon message pour la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique et nous offrent une étude des humains en crise (spoiler : ils deviennent fous).
This book is like if Lord of the Flies married a nonfiction book about climate change—an intensely, increasingly distressing plot, interwoven with very real concerns raised by water shortages/droughts and the recent wildfires in California.
Excellent excellent! Highly recommend for teens and adults alike.
Excellent excellent! Highly recommend for teens and adults alike.
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reading this book and then thinking about the president’s order to release reservoir water in CA for no reason makes me insane. Unrelatedly, I will be stocking up on water from Costco this weekend.
This book had an uphill climb to convince me of its merits, because I tend to subscribe (perhaps in Pollyanna fashion) to the idea that people will generally come together in a crisis and not immediately devolve the way the preppers expect, but a water crisis of the scale described in the book does seem like as good a reason as any for society to temporarily collapse. The characters all had lots of stuff that was hard and in some cases unlikeable (especially profit maximizing robot Henry) but overall I felt like this was a classic Shusterman joint that left me with plenty to think about.Also, did I conflate something in my head or did we run into dalton fighting for the BMW keys and then never get any resolution on that?
This book had an uphill climb to convince me of its merits, because I tend to subscribe (perhaps in Pollyanna fashion) to the idea that people will generally come together in a crisis and not immediately devolve the way the preppers expect, but a water crisis of the scale described in the book does seem like as good a reason as any for society to temporarily collapse. The characters all had lots of stuff that was hard and in some cases unlikeable (especially profit maximizing robot Henry) but overall I felt like this was a classic Shusterman joint that left me with plenty to think about.
When a drought of disastrous proportions (dubbed the "Tap Out") hits Southern California, Alyssa and her little brother, Garret, are told to sit tight while their parents go to the desalination plants to get water. But then, days later, with water running out, their parents are still not home. News of riots and shootings on the beach reach them, and still their parents are missing. Finally, Alyssa, Garret, and their neighbor, Kelton, take matters into their own hands. They go out to save their parents and hopefully find some water, which is now worth its weight in gold.
Along the way, accompanied by new "allies" Jacqui and Henry (Alyssa isn't sure she can trust them, especially Jacqui), they are forced to face powerful truths about the cruelty of mankind, the state of nature, and debates at the heart of every society. They are forced to kill strangers and are attacked by their own neighbors, all just for water. They are astounded by how quickly man turns into a beast when survival is on the line.
Jarrod and Neal Shusterman effectively meld together philosophical thought and action scenes to make a dystopian-thriller novel. Another great part was how the authors chose a familiar setting, the USA. Most disaster novels chose settings that make the conflict feel removed and unimaginable to most readers, such as the Amazon Rainforest, the Congo, the Arctic, or even an imaginary land such as the Society in the Matched Series. In this book, however, all of us can relate to the Tap-Out as a consequence of human negligence that can happen anywhere. The realism and philosophy woven together make this a great read for any fan of dystopian novels. – Meenal, SPL Teen Volunteer
Along the way, accompanied by new "allies" Jacqui and Henry (Alyssa isn't sure she can trust them, especially Jacqui), they are forced to face powerful truths about the cruelty of mankind, the state of nature, and debates at the heart of every society. They are forced to kill strangers and are attacked by their own neighbors, all just for water. They are astounded by how quickly man turns into a beast when survival is on the line.
Jarrod and Neal Shusterman effectively meld together philosophical thought and action scenes to make a dystopian-thriller novel. Another great part was how the authors chose a familiar setting, the USA. Most disaster novels chose settings that make the conflict feel removed and unimaginable to most readers, such as the Amazon Rainforest, the Congo, the Arctic, or even an imaginary land such as the Society in the Matched Series. In this book, however, all of us can relate to the Tap-Out as a consequence of human negligence that can happen anywhere. The realism and philosophy woven together make this a great read for any fan of dystopian novels. – Meenal, SPL Teen Volunteer
Have to admit, this was not one of my favorite reads. I thought that this book brought up a great concept and a great story line, but I also think it was dragged out way more than it needed to be. I thought this was a pretty slow read and even hard to get through at some points. I thought many of the "snapshot" moments were a little irrelevant and the story could have done without them. Despite this, I do think Shusterman did a great job with portraying what was happening in the story. It felt so realistic at times and really made you wonder what would happen if something like this actually took place in our world today.
Being that this is a Young Adult novel, it could be used in the classroom. In my opinion, this should be a text used in high school classrooms. As mentioned before, I think this book is quite slow and, at times, repetitive. I could see this book being difficult for young adult readers to grasp, especially in a classroom setting. Although, I do think this book would offer up some great discussion in a classroom. The nice thing about this text is that it could work in multiple subject areas. English, History, and Science would all really be beneficial classes to analyze this book. I think it would offer the chance to bring up current environmental issues and consider what "What Ifs?" of these current issues. Its also relatable as this book is all about the journey of 3 teenagers and 1 pre-teen. What would teenagers do if they were actually in this situation? Because of the age of the characters, I think this could draw students in a little more and grasp their attention. Overall, I think this book would be a challenging read in a classroom, but one that could definitely work and provide some insightful questions and discussion.
Being that this is a Young Adult novel, it could be used in the classroom. In my opinion, this should be a text used in high school classrooms. As mentioned before, I think this book is quite slow and, at times, repetitive. I could see this book being difficult for young adult readers to grasp, especially in a classroom setting. Although, I do think this book would offer up some great discussion in a classroom. The nice thing about this text is that it could work in multiple subject areas. English, History, and Science would all really be beneficial classes to analyze this book. I think it would offer the chance to bring up current environmental issues and consider what "What Ifs?" of these current issues. Its also relatable as this book is all about the journey of 3 teenagers and 1 pre-teen. What would teenagers do if they were actually in this situation? Because of the age of the characters, I think this could draw students in a little more and grasp their attention. Overall, I think this book would be a challenging read in a classroom, but one that could definitely work and provide some insightful questions and discussion.
Alarming in how real this book could be. Also made me feel like I should brush up on some survival skills.
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Not too bad. Sure does make you want to horde water. But I couldn't always tell the characters apart. If I put the book down in the middle a character's part and came back to it, I often couldn't tell who was talking. The writing was okay. Sad as it is, I do think this is a pretty accurate portrayal of how this would happen if a water shortage happened.
tense