Name: Life as We Knew it
ISBN: 9780152061548

Susan Beth Pfeffer

Through journal entries, sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

Life as We Knew it

Life As We Knew It

Monicap

I really didn't think I'd like this as much as I did.

When I first started reading, it took me a while to get used to the writing style. But I did, and it was awesome.

I love how realistically the whole situation was portrayed. The apocalypse, though it's beginning seems outlandish, all makes sense. It wood make sense for a change in the moons magnetic pull to effect the tides and volcanic eruptions.

I love how realistically the WHOLE thing was portrayed, including the characters. You can't expect every character to be noble and strong and fearless in the face of a completely shitty situation, and the characters in this novel were no noble or strong or fearless. I loved how the family unit fractured and came together. I loved how they loved each other.

On principle, I dislike the ending because it was inactive. But in reality, I love the ending because I just really wanted everyone to be okay.

i hated the characters but i actually liked the book, slow start but once it got going it managed to keep my interest the entire way

samiha

Sarah Sammis

julia

This book is pretty unrealistic. First of all, the moon would definitely not be able to get that close to the earth. Also, where is the food at the end of the book coming from? Aren't all the crops dead? However, I guess I can ignore that, assuming that this is supposed to be complete science fiction. Many parts of this book are very boring. Miranda does nothing, Matt's outside all day, Johnny SOMEHOW goes to camp, and I've forgotten what Miranda's mom does. The ending is pretty good.

Melissa Palmer

This was a great read. I enjoyed all the books in the series but this one was my favorite.

Nessa Luna

This is a weird book to read in the middle of a pandemic, but somehow I felt like rereading it. Of course, our situation is nowhere near as bad as Miranda and her family have it, but I felt like a lot of things were similar. Still, it is both a great and weird book to read.

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.

Jeannette Ordas

Another one of those end-of-days books, but I liked this one for its realism. An astroid hits the moon & knocks it of its axis and hello tidal waves, volcanos & long winters with no sun. It's kinder and gentler than the Road and while reading it I felt like it could have been the gentler pre-cursor to that book...what happens in the early stages of the post apocalypse. It also reminded me of Ashfall what with the super volcano action. 3.5 stars but bumped up to 4.

Maggie Gordon

Life as We Knew It remains one of the most affecting YA dystopias that I’ve read all year. It’s about a world where the moon has shifted orbit due to an asteroid crashing into it, resulting in the climate changing dramatically, and humanity is now struggling to survive. The book is told through the eyes of Miranda, a high school age teenager living in a small town with her family. Her mother is smart enough to recognise the first signs of trouble, and she makes sure that her family has enough supplies to support themselves while the world crumbles around them. Canned goods, however, don’t last forever, and illness and injury are things that your average North American family can’t always handle on their own. The group starts to struggle as it becomes more and more apparent that there isn’t a government left to save them and hard choices must be made.

The only thing that really bothered me in Life as We Knew It was the fact that Miranda’s family was so worried about ensuring that her youngest brother would survive. It is true that many people try to protect the most vulnerable around them, but the explanation given by the family was that Jon was the most likely to survive the apocalypse, so all the family resources should be focused on him. Jon, however, was 12. Miranda was 15-16 years old, and Matt was around 19 years old. These older teens were more likely to be able to take care of themselves and survive than the kid who still needed a babysitter before the world ended. This “feed Jon at all costs and let everyone else die” wasn’t a story-breaking issue, but it did irk me that the rest of the characters were so ready to sacrifice themselves so stupidly.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that I really enjoyed this book, the rest of the series is not something that I want to read. The perspective changes multiple times, and the characters develop into people that I don’t particularly like. So for those going forward with Pfeffer’s novels, you might have to check out a few plot synopses first.

Jenni Pertuset

Life As We Knew It completely delighted me and freaked me out. Though the natural disaster seemed far-fetched, the human reaction was just right. I started stockpiling after reading this.

Fröska

I actually did the audio version of this via the Overdrive app (I highly recommend you NOT doing this, as the narrator's voice is terrible). The book had such a great start to be able to develop into something more, but it flopped like bouncy castle held together with duct tape. 

Here are some topics that this book has that would normally make for a great story line:
1. Natural phenomenon causing destruction of modern society
2. Reasonable natural events that would occur from said destructive natural phenomenon
3. A family struggling to survive
4. Flu epidemic

SPOILERS HERE ON OUT. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Reasons why this book crapped harder than a vegan eating taco bell:
1. This book could have addressed the family's psychological state so much better than what actually occurred. Granted, this book is clearly written for a 9-15 age crowd, but seriously? I'm pretty sure typical end of the world reactions do include wanting to go ice skating when there's no working hospital.
2. The way this family tries to survive and the events that take place seems so out of order. They start talking about cutting back on meals to just one a day, yet you haven't even tried savaging for food in nearby areas? 
3. You really think you are going to go through a year of end-of-the-world reactions and not have to deal with crazies trying to break in or take advantage of you? It's like the whole Last Survivors series world' motto was 
"Yes, life is getting rough, but let's just leave each other alone, yeah?".
4/5. WHY WOULD A PREGNANT WOMAN AND HUSBAND, WHO IS RUNNING OUT OF FOOD AND DOESN'T KNOW WHO IS STILL ALIVE, GO ACROSS MULTIPLE STATES TO TRY AND FIND FAMILY? GAS WAS AT $12 A GALLON AT THIS POINT IN THE BOOK, AND YOU COULD ONLY PURCHASE 2-5 GALLONS AT A TIME, DEPENDING ON YOUR STATE. NO ONE IS GETTING PAID - WHY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE WOULD EVEN ACCEPT MONEY FOR GASOLINE. MOST PEOPLE/PLACES WOULD BE TRADING FOR FOOD, BATTERIES, RADIOS, ETC...
6. Why does the youngest brother act like he doesn't know what is going on, and why doesn't the mother expect more of him? He's 9, not 4. Oh, food is short and natural disasters are occurring and we aren't exactly able to predict them or what is coming next? Better ship my youngest off to camp. Food running out? Let's not tell the youngest, and let him eat when he wants so that he can just watch us all die until he's the last one alive with our rotting corpses - just an idea. Oh, you guys are only eating one "meal" a day? I didn't notice during your double digit weight loss that's probably contributed to your brittle mom-bones.



Let's just say that the more I listened, the angrier I got. I finished the book but my IQ fell, and I'll probably fail a stress test.

petit-chocobo

UPDATE July 2020: first re-reading, just as good, read within 24hours, gonna re-read the rest of the series <3 of course still a 5 star. 


----

Cette review est publiée sur mon blog: http://petit-chocobo.eklablog.com/chr...

Voilà ce qui se passe quand on achète une série entière d'un coup de tête, sans faire de plus ample recherche.... une CATASTROPHE.... 
Non, je blague :) J'ai adoré!

Chroniques de la Fin du Monde, petite série fort sympathique, fait partie de ma fameuse commande Amazon monstre, de 40 et quelques livres, commande qui j'ai du faire en 2 fois grâce à l'efficacité légendaire de notre chère poste en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Donc aprés mes 2 mois d'attentes pour que la commande arrive, je vous avoue que j'ai eu le temps de me poser des questions sur cette série et de même revenir sur ma décision en mode "J'aurais jamais du prendre ça....". Quand le colis est arrivé j'ai tout de même décidé de commencer par cette série, en me disant, trés sagement, qu'il vallait mieux commencer par là autrement la série risquait de moisir dans ma bibliothèque pendant des années (ce ne serait pas la première fois..... N'est-ce pas Gone?) Donc sans y penser plus que ça j'ai pris le 1er tome et je l'ai commencé tout de suite! Je vous avoue que j'ai été TRES agréablement surprise! 

L'histoire, narrée à la première personne, nous est contée sous la forme d'un journal intime, celui de l'héroïne: Miranda, jeune adolescente de 15 ans, qui s'apprète a voir le monde qu'elle a toujours connu changer pour de bon. On accroche donc trés vite, l'écriture est fluide et trés accessible à ceux ou celles qui voudraient se lancer dans la lecture VO (je l'ai lu en anglais). Comme on est plongé au coeur des pensées d'une jeune fille de 15 ans, le vocabulaire est relativement simple, l'environnement nous est familié ce qui facilite l'immersion. On suit tout au long du livre les ressentis de la jeune fille et je me suis personnellement trés attachée à elle. C'est une jeune fille authentique, loin d'être la plus populaire du lycée ou même la tête de turc, elle est normale et correspond à la description qu'on donnerait d'une adolescente l'ambda. Certes elle n'a rien d'extraordinnaire, elle pourrait même vous parâitre relativement ennuyeuse et sans saveur, mais comme elle ne porte presque aucune caractéristique hors du commun il est trés facile de s'identifier à elle, de se sentir proche d'elle et de sa vie. Aprés tout, on pourrait trés bien se retrouver à sa place non? Les autres personnages m'ont parru moins attachant et je pense que c'est pour la simple et bonne raison que nous suivons le journal de Miranda, et non celui de toute la famille, les pensées et les ressentis des autres personnages passent donc au second plan, voir même au 3ème. Ils ne sont pas transparant pour autant, mais paraissent tout de même de moindre importance. 

Revenons à l'histoire en elle-même. Je n'avais jamais lu d'histoire de ce genre jusque là. Des romans post-apocalyptique j'en ai lu mais pas de cette trempe. On lit volontier des romans sur une civilisation post-apocalytpique où tout a changé, mais on est rarement confronté à un roman qui traite du moment exact où tout a changé. Ici Miranda vit tranquillement sa vie d'adolescente lambda, dans sa petite ville lambda, jusqu'au jour où un évènement planétaire va transformer la face du monde. Ce qui est prenant dans ce livre c'est qu'on passe notre temps à se dire que ce genre de chose pourrait nous arriver à tous. On est tout de suite plongé au coeur du problème, le roman ne commence pas directement par l'impact de l'astéroïde, il faudra quelques chapitres avant que tout se lance, en tant que lecteur on est dans une position des plus frustrantes, on sait pertinament que l'impact de l'astéroïde va se transformer en catastrophe planétaire et on assiste impuissant à la vie tranquille de Miranda qui, ignorant le tournant que sa vie et celle de toutes les personnes qu'elle a pu connaître un jour va prendre un tournant décisif, continu son traintrain quotidien. J'ai trés rarement été aussi prise dans un roman, l'enjeu est tellement fort et nous est si commun (aprés tout on est pas à l'abris d'un bon astéroïde n'est-ce pas?) qu'on se plonge dans la lecture en se rongeant les sangs. Plusieurs fois j'ai du poser mon livre sur les genoux quelques secondes pour me dire "Putain le stress...." parce que forcément on se met à la place de Miranda et on se demande comment on aurait réagi à sa place, est-ce qu'on aurait eu les bons réflexes ou est-ce qu'on ferait parti des pauvres ignorants mourrant les premiers jours? Cette histoire est si prenant que pendant des jours je n'ai fait que penser à ça, j'ai mêle fait des cauchemards à cause de ça! Ce livre nous prend aux tripes!

L'auteur nous plonge avec succès dans notre propre monde et nous force à nous poser nous-même des tas de questions sur notre vie, sur ce qui a vraiment de l'importance et a reussi à me faire prendre plus au sérieux des savoirs fondamontaux sur la survie qui nous passent pourtant souvent au dessus de la tête.

En tout cas, il peut nous tomber un astéroïde sur la tête, je suis prête!

Denne boka leste jeg ut på én dag og det var ikke uten grunn -- den var utrolig virkelighetsnær og tankevekkende. Jeg tok meg selv i å passe på at jeg ikke spiste for mye, slik at jeg skulle ha igjen mat til dagene framover osv. Boka er skrevet som Mirandas dagbok og det gjør den veldig personlig, jeg kjente meg ofte igjen i karakteren. Man fikk virkelig følelsen av å være der. Mange episoder i boka var kjempetriste og jeg fikk vondt av å lese dem. Det er skummelt å tenke på at dette faktisk kan skje og at det kan være oss i samme situasjon om noen år. Anbefales virkelig! Les den nå!
 En liten funfact til slutt: Mirandas bursdag er den samme som min -- 20. mars. Jeg synes det er så artig med sånne småting. :-)

Paige Green

Rating: 4/5

Genre: YA Dystopian	

Recommended Age: 14+ (some sexual references, tiny gore, realistic ways on how the world will collapse).

Pages: 337

Author Website

Amazon Link

I usually have a hard time getting into books when I first start them. Call it my rebellious nature taking control or just that I hate starting over at page one even if it’s a different book. But that was not the case with this book. This book was, in short, absolutely everything I want in a dystopian novel. The world building and realistic circumstances of this possible event made me legitimately scared for the future and heavily invested in Laura’s life. The format was told in diary format, so I was invested in learning about what happened to Laura and her family from day to day. I found that while told through diary format all of the characters were fairly well developed and the plot was intriguing. The pacing was also well done and the story kept me interested throughout the whole of the book.

The only issues I found with this book were the sexist comments and that I’m not receiving much information outside of the family’s town. This book, while wonderfully well written, is really sexist. I thought for sure the book would make some big show in the end about how all of these comments are untrue, but it really didn’t. The character grew and became stronger, but the comments weren’t ever mentioned again. Usually I don’t have issue with these comments if they’re within a historical setting, but this book takes place at least in the 2000s and by then I’m pretty sure women had sufficiently proved themselves to be just as strong as men. 

Verdict: Avoiding all the sexist comments, this book is a terrific read for any dystopian reader! I’m not immediately heading to my local grocery store to stockpile food and water before an asteroid crashes into the moon.

Life as We Knew It

I have a hard time rating this book. Did I like it? Yes. I guess. It's hard to "like" a book that is describing what might be the end of the world. But, at the same time, it definitely stayed with me while I wasn't reading it. I kept just wondering what would happen to these characters. That has to count for something. Three stars it is, I suppose.

Milana Marie Waller

This book was unexpectedly creepy and, naturally, realistic. It’s creepy because of its realistic plot, which seems like it could most definitely happen. Miranda is the perfect narrator. I just love apocalyptic books. I am not sure how I am going to like The Dead and the Gone, because it is not a direct narration and from a different characters perspective. But I am definitely looking forward to This World We Live In. By the way, I think these titles are on point.

Chrissie Smith

I normally enjoy dystopian books but this one was incredibly  slow.  I enjoyed bits and pieces, but I had to force myself to pick this one up. I think the only reason it wasn't a DNF was because it was a book club book, I had a deadline to meet. There are two other books in their series but I happily stopped after this one. 

Life as We Knew it

Reviews

Highlights