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A review by ericadawson
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
As anxiety-inducing as apocalypse and post-apocalypse stories tend to be for me, I enjoyed this.
Miranda is a 16-year-old girl who documents how much her life changes across the span of one year when a meteor (or asteroid) hits the moon. She's young--a child--and there are definitely moments where she's immature, but she's not childish in a grating or melodramatic way. She's insightful and really toughens up by the end of the book. I loved how the relationship with her mom was portrayed, although I wish it had remained as much a focus by the end of the book as it was in the beginning. My only real gripe was with her mom's insistence that the entire family slowly sacrifice themselves for Johnny--even after he got sick and Miranda was the only (mostly) healthy one. I can't quite pin why it doesn't sit right with me, but it's not a plot point I really enjoyed, and I wished that part of Miranda's maturation involved her questioning her mother on that.
Otherwise, the plot, pacing, and voice were all fine! The author uses more than just the weather and outside events to show the steady decline of Miranda's home--her family talks less, and more of her writing is dedicated to introspection or being physically outside as a means of escape. She dreams less, has more fantasies, but also is more cynical as the world literally bleaches of color.
I'll be adding the sequel to my TBR.
Miranda is a 16-year-old girl who documents how much her life changes across the span of one year when a meteor (or asteroid) hits the moon. She's young--a child--and there are definitely moments where she's immature, but she's not childish in a grating or melodramatic way. She's insightful and really toughens up by the end of the book. I loved how the relationship with her mom was portrayed, although I wish it had remained as much a focus by the end of the book as it was in the beginning. My only real gripe was with her mom's insistence that the entire family slowly sacrifice themselves for Johnny--even after he got sick and Miranda was the only (mostly) healthy one. I can't quite pin why it doesn't sit right with me, but it's not a plot point I really enjoyed, and I wished that part of Miranda's maturation involved her questioning her mother on that.
Otherwise, the plot, pacing, and voice were all fine! The author uses more than just the weather and outside events to show the steady decline of Miranda's home--her family talks less, and more of her writing is dedicated to introspection or being physically outside as a means of escape. She dreams less, has more fantasies, but also is more cynical as the world literally bleaches of color.
I'll be adding the sequel to my TBR.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death