Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life as We Knew It (Last Survivors, #1)

by Susan Beth Pfeffer

I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald's still would be open.

High school sophomore Miranda's disbelief turns to fear in a split second when an asteroid knocks the moon closer to Earth, like "one marble hits another." The result is catastrophic. How can her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis are wiping out the coasts, earthquakes are rocking the continents, and volcanic ash is blocking out the sun? As August turns dark and wintery in northeastern Pennsylvania, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in a year's worth of journal entries, this heart-pounding story chronicles Miranda's struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world. An extraordinary series debut!

Susan Beth Pfeffer has written several companion novels to Life As We Knew It, including The Dead and the Gone, This World We Live In, and The Shade of the Moon.

Reviewed by clementine on

2 of 5 stars

Share
I read this book about 4 years ago, and I remembered almost nothing of it so I read it again. And... it was dull. It was an interesting look at how things would unfold given those circumstances, but it just wasn't exciting. I suppose the point was that it was supposed to be isolated, but very little actually happened.

The characters were poorly developed and I didn't care about any of them. Miranda comes off as whiny and pathetic, always relying on someone else to do things for her. None of the other characters seemed to have any discernible personality. Miranda's narration also bothered me. It was unnatural and simplistic all at once - no 16-year-old girl talks like that, and it certainly seemed like Pfeffer was talking down to people given that Miranda is amazed that she knows the word "despicable".

I don't know, once again I feel disappointed by a dystopian/post-apoc novel with a great premise that just fell flat.

Last modified on

Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 11 March, 2012: Finished reading
  • 11 March, 2012: Reviewed