Reviews with content warning for Eating disorder - Life As We Knew It

I read this book when I was younger (maybe seventh grade) and during the pandemic, I remembered reading this and enjoying it (a book about a "new normal" written over a decade ago, yes please!). When I looked into getting a copy to reread it, I discovered this book is actually part of a series that I did not know existed! I have slowly collected all four books, and finally did my reread of this title.
"Life As We Knew It" is told in a series of journal entries from high schooler Miranda. Miranda is from a small town in Pennsylvania, where she lives with her older brother (who is away at college), younger brother, and mom. Her father has a new wife who is expecting her first child soon. Because of all the climate problems created by humanity, an asteroid is scheduled to hit the moon, and it is so big that it should be visible to the naked eye. The entire world is excited to witness such an incredible event, but no one was expecting the fallout that would ensue.
The moon controls so much on planet Earth, so when an asteroid hits the moon and moves it closer to Earth, life is changed forever. I loved seeing this post-apocalyptic-esque story unfold. The population is initially panicked, and everyone is buying everything they can. But, the story quickly delves into despair when no one has electricity, access to food and water, and the temperatures start rapidly dropping. Miranda has a strained relationship with her mom to begin with and being forced into such close proximity really tests their patience for each other. Miranda is just a young girl who was worried about finals and who she will go to prom with, and now she has to worry about survival.
There are definitely some references in this book that age it, but overall, I enjoyed this story as much as I did when I was younger.

Content Warnings

turnpaige394's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Really great dystopian/apocalyptic novel! It was a brutally honest look at a family and what they do to survive and how they interact with each other. I couldn’t put it down!

Content Warnings

taliahsbookshelf's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is a good read - pretty easy, but still covers a lot of information and goes into into development on the story without sacrificing ease of understanding the plot and where it's going. Susan Beth Pfeffer does a good job setting up the series with this book, but it could just as easily be a standalone if you don't want to read the rest of it (though I suggest continuing). Our narrator drives me crazy - Miranda Evans is supposed to feel like your average teenage girl living through what people would probably call the apocalypse (the moon moving closer to earth - for more details, read the book!), but I just find her kind of whiny. Like, I get she's going through a lot and has a lot to process as a young girl going through all of this, but there's a tone taken throughout the book that makes it somewhat difficult to sympathize with her, even though it's written in first person. This was especially surprising with the diary format, but it still holds, regardless. Nonetheless, disliking the narrator/MC doesn't mean I dislike the book, and that was definitely the case for this.

Spoilers:
Low-level spoiler:

Reading back through this, I am realizing that Miranda's mom probably had a great idea of what to get, and I do think reading this again after the pandemic has given me a much better idea of how people would actually react if they were to go through something like this.

Low-level spoiler:

The first time I read this through a couple years ago, I didn't think twice about the surgical masks comment. However, given what we've gone through recently, I genuinely thought this was kind of funny. Obviously, this was not intentional on the part of the author, but I doubt anyone in the future going through something like what happens in this book would actually find the surgical masks "weird," just based on the pandemic and how everyone was wearing them.

Content Warnings

pear's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Loved the development of the main character, Miranda. She really grew up a lot during that year.
The science wasn't very on point but that wasn't the reason I was reading the book so I don't mind. What really mattered was how the characters faced the increasing difficulties in their ways - and that was done superbly.

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