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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
The California drought has escalated. The taps are dry. Government officials shut off the flow of the Colorado River into California. Help does not seem to be coming. Alyssa, her brother, her neighbor, and a couple of newfound companions try to make their way to what they hope will be a safe spot to ride out the emergency. Along the way, they are forced to make some life or death decisions. The brilliant and scariest part of this story is that it could be real . . . and probably has been real for many people living through natural disasters and waiting for help to arrive. Shusterman calls those desperate for water "water-zombies" giving this novel a very apocalyptic feel. And like any good zombie novel, the real focus is on the humans: do we lose our humanity during times of crisis? Give to readers who like Rot & Ruin, Ashfall, and Life As We Knew It. You will be monitoring your water consumption after reading Dry!
challenging
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:
No
A catastrophe kills 200,000 people, California is burning to the ground, and the last chapter is called "The New Normal". It may be a Young Adult book, but it's not science fiction!
And it was a way better book about a dry planet than Dune.
And it was a way better book about a dry planet than Dune.
adventurous
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great idea but the plot developed too slow. Towards the end it finally got more intressing but the final outcome was also too easy.
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
fast-paced
I received what I expected! If you like the premise and are fine with YA - this is the book.
I loved the use of different types of people and how they would progress during a crisis. This is a rough dystopia that really gets you thinking: what would I do?
Fast pacing, a few plot twists and great writing. I was seated, entertained and scared. No notes.
I understand if this was a let down because of it being a YA novel. However, I believe that it's a good aspect! One, it's important that young readers can access such an important book about climate change and two, reading this as an adult novel would absolutely give me anxiety. It was good to have chaotic, annoying and unpredictable teenagers to balance out the seriousness of the topic ;)
I loved the use of different types of people and how they would progress during a crisis. This is a rough dystopia that really gets you thinking: what would I do?
Fast pacing, a few plot twists and great writing. I was seated, entertained and scared. No notes.
I understand if this was a let down because of it being a YA novel. However, I believe that it's a good aspect! One, it's important that young readers can access such an important book about climate change and two, reading this as an adult novel would absolutely give me anxiety. It was good to have chaotic, annoying and unpredictable teenagers to balance out the seriousness of the topic ;)
I liked the book in general, even though it gave me anxiety and worsened my fear for climate change. However, I think the continuous striving of all authors for a happy ending ruined this book. If the point is to bring awareness on the climate crisis and push people into doing something, then a happy ending just serves as a justification to think "Yes, it was very bad, but eventually it will become better".
It was weird to read a book about people living in a crisis during a real global crisis. Some parts really hit home, and other times I’d have to remind myself that this was a different crisis than what I am currently living in.
*3.5 stars
“Sometimes you have to be the monster to survive”
For years I have heard so much about Neal Shusterman and how loved he is, so I finally decided to read one of his books and I enjoyed it.
Dry is set in California, and we follow this teen girl named Alyssa and her little brother Garrett. Everyone is used to being in a drought, which they call the “Tap-Out”, but everything changes when the water is officially cut off due to there not being anymore available for the time. Alyssa witnesses her neighbors, the people she has grown up around, turn into water zombies whose only mission is to ensure that their families get water by any means necessary.
While we mainly follow Alyssa, we do get perspectives from other characters, such as one of her neighbors Kelton, a girl they meet along the way named Jacqui, and a boy named Henry. Each of them brought a different perspective to the story since they all live very different lives.
Dry is one of the most realistic dystopians that I have ever read due to the fact that it is very much possible in the near future (You could argue that something similar is going on right at this moment in places like Flint, Michigan). I was a little terrified by the events in this book because I knew that it would not take much for that to be some of our realities.
I think this book also takes a good look at humanity and how we act in the face of danger. Humanity is not always pretty on the best of days, but when resources are low and you see the people you care about and love suffering, there’s no telling what you would do; and, I felt that these authors addressed that. They made the readers look at these regular people turn into monsters and savages.
“People can be monsters. Whether it's just their actions, or whether it's who they really are, it doesn't matter. The result is the same.”
It was almost heartbreaking to see these kids having to make these difficult decisions on their own. To see them realize that they would have to shred a little of their humanity and temporarily forget their morals in order to survive.
There is definitely a message here, but I don’t feel like it was bashed over our heads. It was subtle, but it was also showing us the repercussions of our actions. In my opinion, that is exactly what fiction is supposed to do.
Now, there were a couple of things that didn’t work for me.
One was the characters. While I liked having the different perspectives that each of them offered, I didn’t think they were the most well written characters. They fell flat and none of them were really memorable. A couple of them were very stereotypical, which was a little disappointing. I’m mainly talking about Jacqui here. She could have been great, but ultimately she just felt like the 20 million other characters who she is exactly like.
I do agree with other reviewers that the main character, Alyssa, was annoying. I don’t know how I feel about taking a star off for that, so I didn’t. She is a teenager and this is YA and while I personally feel that you can read anything you want (I’m an adult who will always read YA), I understand that I am not the “targeted age range.” Teenagers can be annoying, so I will give her a pass. However, I will say that she had almost no survivor skills, but I guess there would be people who are like that.
My other problem was that by the halfway point, the story kind of lost its steam. I was so engaged for the first 50 to 60% of this book, but the last half went a little left. There was too much happening and things got a bit far fetched for me.
However, I did really enjoy this and I think a lot of people will as well. This was fantastically written and I will 100% recommend this to people looking for a realistic dystopian.
“...and I realize that this is the true core of human nature: When we've lost the strength to save ourselves, we somehow find the strength to save each other.”
“Sometimes you have to be the monster to survive”
For years I have heard so much about Neal Shusterman and how loved he is, so I finally decided to read one of his books and I enjoyed it.
Dry is set in California, and we follow this teen girl named Alyssa and her little brother Garrett. Everyone is used to being in a drought, which they call the “Tap-Out”, but everything changes when the water is officially cut off due to there not being anymore available for the time. Alyssa witnesses her neighbors, the people she has grown up around, turn into water zombies whose only mission is to ensure that their families get water by any means necessary.
While we mainly follow Alyssa, we do get perspectives from other characters, such as one of her neighbors Kelton, a girl they meet along the way named Jacqui, and a boy named Henry. Each of them brought a different perspective to the story since they all live very different lives.
Dry is one of the most realistic dystopians that I have ever read due to the fact that it is very much possible in the near future (You could argue that something similar is going on right at this moment in places like Flint, Michigan). I was a little terrified by the events in this book because I knew that it would not take much for that to be some of our realities.
I think this book also takes a good look at humanity and how we act in the face of danger. Humanity is not always pretty on the best of days, but when resources are low and you see the people you care about and love suffering, there’s no telling what you would do; and, I felt that these authors addressed that. They made the readers look at these regular people turn into monsters and savages.
“People can be monsters. Whether it's just their actions, or whether it's who they really are, it doesn't matter. The result is the same.”
It was almost heartbreaking to see these kids having to make these difficult decisions on their own. To see them realize that they would have to shred a little of their humanity and temporarily forget their morals in order to survive.
There is definitely a message here, but I don’t feel like it was bashed over our heads. It was subtle, but it was also showing us the repercussions of our actions. In my opinion, that is exactly what fiction is supposed to do.
Now, there were a couple of things that didn’t work for me.
One was the characters. While I liked having the different perspectives that each of them offered, I didn’t think they were the most well written characters. They fell flat and none of them were really memorable. A couple of them were very stereotypical, which was a little disappointing. I’m mainly talking about Jacqui here. She could have been great, but ultimately she just felt like the 20 million other characters who she is exactly like.
I do agree with other reviewers that the main character, Alyssa, was annoying. I don’t know how I feel about taking a star off for that, so I didn’t. She is a teenager and this is YA and while I personally feel that you can read anything you want (I’m an adult who will always read YA), I understand that I am not the “targeted age range.” Teenagers can be annoying, so I will give her a pass. However, I will say that she had almost no survivor skills, but I guess there would be people who are like that.
My other problem was that by the halfway point, the story kind of lost its steam. I was so engaged for the first 50 to 60% of this book, but the last half went a little left. There was too much happening and things got a bit far fetched for me.
However, I did really enjoy this and I think a lot of people will as well. This was fantastically written and I will 100% recommend this to people looking for a realistic dystopian.
“...and I realize that this is the true core of human nature: When we've lost the strength to save ourselves, we somehow find the strength to save each other.”
Interesting middle school level book on the breakdown of Southern CA when the water is turned off.