Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Rating: 5 stars
The Blurb:
Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event--an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales. When Alex's parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle. With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.
The Review:
This is the second book in the Life As We Knew It series. The first book was told through the eyes of Miranda This time we get to hear from Alex Morales, a seventeen year old boy from New York. After an asteroids disastrous collision into the moon causes the moon to be knocked out of orbit and pushed closer to the Earth terrible things begin to happen; Alex Morales loses his parents He doesn't know if they're safe, injured, or dead. So it's up to Alex to take care of his two younger sisters; fourteen year-old Brianna, and twelve year-old Julie. Although Alex and his sisters hope that things will get better, their food supplies soon begin to decline. Luckily Brianna is able to be sent to a convent to work and learn where she can get three meals a day. Alex and Julie have to work a bit harder and while the schools are still open and serving lunch it still isn't enough. Alex and his friend Kevin have to resort to searching through the dead bodies littering the streets of New York , looking for anything of value that they can trade for food. As Alex and Julie find a rhythm and think they can survive Brianna comes home with a fresh case of adult onset asthma and thinks get a lot more complicated.
I loved this book so much. Alex is a great character and I really found his struggle to survive with his family to be extremely engrossing. He does a great job taking care of his sisters and they do a great job taking care of him. He is a good guy even if he does sometimes have fleeting thoughts about dropping his sisters off somewhere and going off on his own.
I personally liked having the book told from the perspective of Alex rather than Miranda because he seemed much more mature and his struggle was so much harder. Of Alex's sisters I liked Julie a lot more than Brianna. Julie is young and she can be annoying at times but Brianna is extremely religious and overly hopeful. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with being religious, it's just that Brianna is borderline delusional at times.
Title: This World We Live In
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Rating: 2.5 stars
The Blurb:
In the year that has passed since a meteor collided with the moon, Miranda’s friends and neighbors have died, the landscape has frozen, and food has become increasingly scarce. The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.
The Review:
This book is the third in the Life As We Knew It series. It's been a year since the moon was pushed closer to the Earth and things are slowly starting to get better. Miranda's dad comes home with his wife and their new baby Gabriel. Along with them comes a man named Charlie and Alex and Julie Morales from the second book.
This book was really short and it just wasn't as good as the first two. I liked that the two groups came together and that we get to here more from Alex but that was about it. There were so many things that I had problems with. Miranda and Alex strike up a romance which is nice, but they fall in love ridiculously fast and it's not realistic at all. Another thing that annoys me is that Matt (previously one of my favorite characters) becomes a complete tool! He gets married to some girl he meets at a motel while searching for food. When he brings her home he starts to treat his family like crap. This whole book feels like it was something the author wrote in a day and it just doesn't flow properly. I hate that I'm giving this book such a low rating because I loved the first two but I just really didn't like it.
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