With a bang? With a whimper? Or a plague or nuclear bomb? Or asteroid? What happens when the world begins to end, or a cataclysmic event changes our civilization so radically and so quickly that vast numbers of people cannot adapt? This week I’ll explore five books that envision such scenarios.
The first is a young adult novel by Susan Beth Pfeffer titled Life As We Knew It. Miranda is a sophomore in high school who keeps a diary about her friends, her divorced parents, her pregnant stepmother, her classes and assignments. She is aware that there is talk in the news about the possibility of an asteroid hitting the moon, knocking it out of its orbit. All of her teachers talk about it and it’s on CNN day and night, but she doesn’t quite grasp the significance. “I guess Ms. Hammish thinks this moon thing is historical, because in history that’s what we talked about,” she writes.
When the asteroid hits, it sends the moon closer to the earth. Cell phones and cable tv no longer work, and Miranda realizes that civilization may indeed be changing. The family learns from a network station that tsunamis have caused widespread destruction along the eastern seaboard, and hundreds of thousands of people have been killed.
Miranda’s diary entries from then on describe the changing, colder climate she and her family endure, the increasing gas prices, the scarcity of food, the lack of electricity and lack of heat as the world gets colder and colder. Sick neighbors die when they can’t get to doctors. There is looting and crime. Neighbors trudge through the snow to help each other. The library stays open as long as it can, but eventually it has to close.
Life As We Knew It had me thinking about the paltry supplies my husband and I keep in case of a hurricane or ice storm. They would last a week or two. We would need to learn new skills, as Miranda does, and adopt new ways of looking at the world, in order to survive. This is a great novel for anyone twelve and older.
my 10-YO daughter loved this…and is awaiting the companion novel due out this winter.
I kept getting bogged down with the science behind the asteroid…just how big does an object have to be to push the moon out of orbit?
Also…anyone that grew up with well water knows that once the power goes out water stop flowing, including to the toilet. Small editing mistake perhaps.
Love the cover, an eye catcher for the shelves.
Todd,
I thought about mentioning the questionable science. I hesitantly checked the Science Fiction category. Some of the science may not be hard science. I honestly don’t know, and it bothered me at first when I kept wondering if an asteroid could push the moon closer in orbit to the earth. But the book does a really good job of introducing questions about long-term consequences of changes brought on by global scientific phenomenon.
I loved this book. It stayed with me for weeks. I would take a shower and be so appreciative of the running water. Everyone I talked to about the book decided that we probably wouldn’t survive because our livestyles are just not set up for it.
One of my favorites in the “dystopian lit. genre”! Thanks for reviewing it, Jeannette.
[…] Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer […]
i love the one-liners in this book
such as:
i thought the world was coming to an end, and i was going to miss the action.
I absolutley loved the book….I thought the world would come to an end when I read the book. It is definately a page turner!!!
i know right i felt like it was happening to me
wow. I dont think a more pointless piece of literature exists. in an effort to try to see how civilization would be forever changed in the case of such an event, we dont get to see a silver lining. the are starving, frozen and constintly at odds with each other. even though it happens, miranda is dealt way more then any normal 17YO girl needs to deal with. and the fact that people jsut pile there problems on her doesnt help….if miranda were a real person id give her a gun and a bullet
its just a book, Mirandas not a real person, now i know how you would react in a situation…
OMG could this happen? do any of us no omg this book really just scared the crap outta me i was just so scared the hole time i was like thinking what if this did happen i cant live with out my cell phone or tv or texting or makeup or showering and this poor gurl had 2 omg poor thing its almost like they are amish just with out the moon and the asstearoid thing right?
OMG! soooooooooo Good!
it was a pretty amazing book, yea, but know that i think on it, hey, didnt people in the old times go through the same freaking thing? yes, i would freak out, i mean NO TV, OH GOD!! but thats ok because what was tv to paul revere? we should all learn to ride horses and stuff. miranda and her brother got around it! why cant we?
True people in the older times did go through similar things in that they had no electricity, but they did not have tsunami’s and earthquakes that wiped out entire coastlines, or random volcanic eruptions.
Oh my gosh! I loved that book. I’d rather be at the movies, but that book caught me. OMG. cool book. awesomeality, honey! what if that happened to me? OMGGGG i like dan. what a book!! it had me goddamn sweating in my chiar.
lovely
I read this book in about two days. I could not put it down but i had a butt load of homework. It really made me apriciate what i have and how Miranda, the main charecter, handeled everything that was happening
my teacher is reading us this book in class, and ive got to say that its not too bad. Matter of fact i knida like it. I recommend it you sci-fi people.
[…] about the US still stand and I’m not as enamoured with it as Reading Rants, or all of these folk, but I like apocalyptic literature. I love the set up – the moon is pushed out of […]
I was totally captivated by this book. You really just have to sit down and think. Could this happen? How long would I survive? Before you know it you’re at the store, stock piling on blankets and canned goods! I was not able to put this book down, and the ending had me both shocked and relieved. I recommend this book for anyone who needs a news flash on how fragile our current lives are, and the stakes and sacrifices need to survive them.
Ehmagawd, I loved this book. You’re exactly in Miranda’s, the main character, eyes. It is hard to believe people could, possibly, have to live like that, and yet it seems so simple and quick how it all happens.
Recommended to everyone 12+, it is slightly innapropriate with preg-talk and sleep.
This was a great book and I loved it. But I’m doing a book report and I can’t find Miranda’s last name. What is it????
evans
omg i love this book
hey i just wanted 2 ask what the setting was in this book
does any one know where she lives?
AMAZINGGGGGGG!
Yeah she lives in Pensilvania but i loved this book. actually i am doing a reaport on it right as we speek. haha
i love this book sooooooooo much. it is not what you would think coulde happen from one small thing. i couldnt put down the book after i got started.
Does anybody know what Miranda’s last name is?
Does it say in the book what part of Pennsylvania they live in? Oh and does it say in the book what Sammi and Megan’s last name is?
I hate book reports… but I love this book!!!
Yeah. THIS. BOOK. IS. AWESOME. totally dude.
To all the previous writers – learn to spell! Then you might learn something about science too. Wells don’t run dry because of use – it’s a factor of the water table level. And water does not pump out of a well without power, and with no electricity, the sinks and toilets would not be running.
The moon would not – could not have gone from quarter to half moon, or whatever it grew into. The reflection from the sun gives the moon “light” and if it got closer to the earth in the middle of the night, it would have DECREASED in size.
This book is so full of scientific errors. But also, Dan asks Miranda to the prom in an early chapter, and then later in the story, at the hospital he tells her he was getting up the nerve to ask her. Huh?
Well “aj”
Instead of picking apart a book because of all its “Scientific errors”, maybe you should learn how to enjoy a book.. because of the good entertainment it brings people. So stop bashing on this excellent book, and find something better to do. Thanks.
What is Miranda”s last name?!?!? What city does she live in?
her last name is evans
Mady-
Miranda lives in Howell, Pennsylvania (page 174). I don’t believe she (as the narrator) ever mentions her last name.
Does anyone know when this story took place. I dont think is says anything except during her sophomore year. What year was it?
Thanks!
her last name is evans
says so in wikipedia
Aha! Thanks, sujjie! And you can check it by going to Amazon.com, using their “Search inside the book” feature to search “Evans,” and see that on page 333, she introduces herself to someone as Miranda Evans.
Her last name is Evans.
Hey! For those of you who were wondering…
Miranda’s last name is Evans. miranda evans
Also…
They live in Howell, Pennsylvania
Miranda is 16 years old.
Her brothers are Matt and Johnny, and her friends are Megan and Sammi.
Hope this helps :) :) :)
Mady-
Miranda’s last name is Evan’s.
She lives in Howell, Pennsylvania.
:)
This was a HORRIBLE, BORING book. I would not recomend it. EVER!
I’ve just recently read “Life As We Knew It” and I have to say I agree with most of your comments. It definitely kept me captivated especially during my non-English subjects lol.
This novel actually taught me alot of things, from being grateful for what I have to how one could prepare for the end of the world or at least somehwhat how to survive in a wrold crisis as such.
An awesome read, I loved every bit of it.
Now all I’ve gotta do is find the second book.
Pfeffer your Legend :)
There is now a third book in the trilogy, titled This World We Live In. This comes after The Dead and the Gone, which I reviewed here: http://bit.ly/cuD3Ro
I honestly hated this book. One of the worst books I have read in my whole life. Terrible book.
i am doing a project for school on this book and we have to make a sock puppet of the main character… but i don’t know what she looks like from any details in the book. HELP!
Hmm… If I had a question like this, I would try to make sure there really wasn’t anything in the book that describes the character physically. Rather than flipping through it and hoping to latch onto a detail here and there, I use Amazon.com’s “Click to look inside” feature. http://www.amazon.com/Life-Knew-Susan-Beth-Pfeffer/dp/0152061541/ I searched for “hair” and “thin” and “legs” and several other words that might describe her looks, but it seems you’re right — Miranda didn’t describe what she looks like.
You can get some idea — you know how old she is, and you know that over time she’s gotten thinner and thinner as the food gets more scarce. On occasion, she’s an ice skater, so she’s in pretty good shape (though portraying this in a sock puppet might not be easy or even important). She says, at one point, that she’s jealous of a friend’s long blonde braids, so you know she doesn’t have long blonde braids, but that doesn’t say what color her hair is or how long it is.
I would go with whatever picture of Miranda you had in your mind when you read the book.
Good luck!
What could describe Miranda in JUST three words?
I’m doing a project for school, what would describe Miranda’s personality in three words with evidence in the book?
I am having a Sci- Fi day at school and need to dress up as Miranda, but given absolutely no details in the book, i am simply stuck!
I loved this book!! It was soo good that I thought that that actully happened to the moon! !It was a real page turner! I normaly dont like these types of books but this book inspires me!
does anyone know if it says where the setting is anywhere in this book and what page its on?
wow, evryone said her last name was Evans after sujjie! i bet u all copied her. lol
i just want to say that i totally understood the consequences of this book. It was such a page turner. I wanted to read it over and over again but it was my school library book so i couldn’t. My 4th grade teacher was like “maybe you should tell us about it if its so good of a book.” and im like ya right. Im not going to spoil it.” I always had my nose in a book but now I finaly stuck it in a good book. now im in 6th grade and ive read the whole series and i loved i. Its really depressing but it has such a great plot. Im so sad that Mrs. Nesbitt died. I wish she had been a long-lasting character from the help she gave Miranda.
oh and you should totally read the series. Ive read it and im doing a movie poster on the 3rd book for an english book report thing-a-mabober. I really love the books. If ur wondering wat all the books r called here u go:
Life as we knew it
dead and the gone
This world we live in.
Go to barnes and noble and buy them or go to the library and get them but whatever u do get them. I cant believe the series ended. It should have had a better ending but at the same time it couldn’t have been any better
Oh and im the anonymous. I just forgot to put my name
Oh and after reading the book my english teach was like “now give me some good quotes” and i was thinking that i should just quote the whole book bcuz it was such a good book. Oh and i know some of u ppl were just giving ur honest opinion but boo u should recommend it to some ppl bcuz u don’t kno wat they like. Im not much of a sci-fi person…. well actually i am but im sure ppl that don’t like to read would enjoy this book. learn to not hate on books or “scientific errors’ bcuz everybody has there flaws.
oh an if u hated that book so much u should have just pt it down and stopped reading t. If u did don’t even put a post on here bcuz if u put it down u never finished it and didn’t here wat else the author put and i need wat her physical apperance is bcuz im suppossed to describe wat the main character looks like and i even asked my mom but 1st of all she hasn’t read the book and 2nd she said leave it up to ur imagination and i was imagining matty brown hair and blue eyes but im not sure. Does it give a physical description of her mom and dad bcuz if it does then she would look like them right??? Scientifically she would whoever wants the scientific answer. Blak. I hate science but love sci-fi and hate apocolyptic movie. They make me angry. Hahahahaha. Especially zombie movies bcuz nobody can become alive if their dead. Hence the word DEAD. Oh and if u dis on my spelling and say i don’t kno how to read just so u kno i do but i don’t want to spell words normally. I don’t usually write like this.
what was miranda’s last name?
its evans
ok so i see that the time placement must be recent but it doesnt say when im doing a report so just wondering
i need to no how it ends
Read it. Then you’ll know how it ends.. -.-
does any one know how miranda changes at the end
I LOVE this book. As soon as the moon got closer I felt like a was apart of the book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i absolutly loved this book
What is Dan’s last name? The most recent thing you guys said was in 2012, so I don’t think I’ll get an answer, but I’m doing a book report, and it seems wrong just to have him as Dan. Please answer thanks!