Name: Kim's review of How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
Item: How I Live Now
Rating: 5
Author: Kim

Meg Rosoff

How I Live Now is an original and poignant book by Meg Rosoff, now a film tie-in edition to celebrate the release of the major film starring Saoirse Ronan. How I Live Now is the powerful and engaging story of Daisy, the precocious New Yorker and her English cousin Edmond, torn apart as war breaks out in London, from the multi award-winning Meg Rosoff. How I Live Now has been adapted for the big screen by Kevin Macdonald. Fifteen-year-old Daisy thinks she knows all about love. Her mother died giving birth to her, and now her dad has sent her away for the summer, to live in the English countryside with cousins she's never even met. There she'll discover what real love is: something violent, mysterious and wonderful. There her world will be turned upside down and a perfect summer will explode into a million bewildering pieces. How will Daisy live then? 'Fresh, honest, rude, funny. I put it down with tears on my face' - Julie Myerson, Guardian 'Assured, powerful, engaging . . . you will want to read everything that Rosoff is capable of writing' - Observer 'An unforgettable adventure' - Sunday Times Bestselling author Meg Rosoff has received great critical acclaim since the publication of her first novel How I Live Now (winner of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize). Her other novels, Just in Case (winner of the 2007 Carnegie Medal), The Bride's Farewell and What I Was which was described by The Times as 'Samuel Beckett on ecstasy', are also available from Puffin. Follow Meg on Twitter @megrosoff. Also by Meg Rosoff: How I Live Now; Just In Case; What I Was; The Bride's Farewell; There is No Dog

How I Live Now

Monicap

I didn't really understand the mechanics of the war that was going on, but that might have been because I was falling asleep as I listened to the audiobook a couple of nights in a row. 

I actually think this book was interesting as an intense character study of Daisy and her relationship with herself, her world, her life, and the characters around her.

Syahla Aurel

After all this time, I know exactly where I belong.
Here. With Edmond.
And that's how I live now.

Honestly, I enjoyed the movie adaptation more, but the book has also given me many reflections about "living in the moment". Also, in this book, Daisy and Edmond have a lot more chemistry; hence it has given me a more profound explanation of their relationship to understand the movie ending better.

I had to read this book for class and it took me almost 2 months to finish it. I hated the fact there were few to none punctuation marks, I know Meg Rosoff did this to create the idea that we were following Daisy's train of thought but for me that just made everything very unpleasant and confusing. 

The plot itself was very, very vague. There's cousin incest, an eating disorder that was never properly addressed (even though its pretty much the only character trait Daisy has) and a very confusing war. The only part of the novel that was decently written was the epilogue about the events following Daisy's return to the US. 

If I didn't have to read the book for class, I would have stopped reading after 40 pages or so, which says a lot considering I hate leaving books unfinished. 

Isabelle

I had to read this book for class and it took me almost 2 months to finish it. I hated the fact there were few to none punctuation marks, I know Meg Rosoff did this to create the idea that we were following Daisy's train of thought but for me that just made everything very unpleasant and confusing. 

The plot itself was very, very vague. There's cousin incest, an eating disorder that was never properly addressed (even though its pretty much the only character trait Daisy has) and a very confusing war. The only part of the novel that was decently written was the epilogue about the events following Daisy's return to the US. 

If I didn't have to read the book for class, I would have stopped reading after 40 pages or so, which says a lot considering I hate leaving books unfinished. 

Nessa Luna

Read this review, and many more on my blog October Tune!

Honestly, after seeing the trailer (of the movie based on this book) I thought the book might be good. I had tried reading it before, but I thought my ebook version was a bit weird, because the dialogue was all wibbly-wobbly. But it turned out that the dialogue was actually written like that. No quotation marks, no commas to indicate where the dialogue started and stopped (well sometimes there was), nothing.

The way the story was written, with Daisy telling that she was going to write down how the war changed her life, reminded me a bit of Tomorrow When the War Began (and also with the whole unknown enemy thing); but that was probably just a coincidence. I liked the story, apart from the whole incest thing. Really, why do people think that it’s a good idea to write about incest? Why? If you want your main character to fall in love with someone, you can just make up that they’re a friend of your cousin, not your cousin! They’re fictional, anything is possible! You can make up anything! Okay, of course, they can make up that their main character fell in love with their cousin but why?!

A lot of things were quite unclear to me, for example there was this conversation between Daisy and Major McEvoy, and then she said something like ‘eleven letters starting with E’, and I spend the rest of the book trying to think of an eleven lettered word that started with an E. It was probably mentioned before in the book, but who remembers every word mentioned in a book? That’s right, no one.
There was also a part where someone (I’m not gonna mention names, because spoilers) was shot, and this other guy started getting out of the car, and apparently, he was shot too. I had to read that part THREE times before I understood what happened. At first, I just thought they drove off without the second guy, but it turned out he had died as well.

I told myself I’d read fifty pages, and see if it had improved after that. It didn’t, but I read on because I’m like that (I don’t like leaving books unfinished). At the end, Daisy got a phone call from someone, and then apparently ‘part zero’ ended, because after that we got ‘part one’ (it might have been that my e-book was wibbly-wobbly and part one was actually supposed to be called part two, but I have no idea). Part one was written a lot better than the rest of the book, with proper quotation marks, because apparently Daisy was a grown-up now and grown-ups write properly. Honestly, if the book had been written better, and if they hadn’t included the whole incest thing, I might have liked the book more. Books about wars (fictional or non-fictional ones) have always interested me, but this one was actually a bit ‘boring’ (not very action packed until I was at page eighty or so). I’m just really a fan of action-packet stories.

Still, I’m glad I read the book, because then I’ll probably understand the movie a bit better (If they ever decide to play it in the Netherlands, because IMDb hasn’t got a Dutch date, hmpff).

Jeannette Ordas

Kind of a weird read. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it (though I most certainly did in parts). It was pretty inconsistent with lots of ups and downs and a lot of things left unsaid.

Nice book, she writes sarcastically and u can tell when she doesn't want to talk about something even if it's important and she has to say it for the story

Augustus N.

riven

Incredible book, incredible film, incredible cast. Everything tied together beautifully. Most certainly worth reading before watching the film. Heart-wrenching, tragic and beautiful. Definitely a novel I’d read a second time.

Kayla Walters

This was a good read, plot wise, but I had problems with the narrative voice in the novel. Sure, teenagers speak and probably think in run on sentences, but I kept wanting to edit Daisy's paragraph long sentences.

Natalia Hernandez

Daisy is 15 years old and sent to live with her aunt and cousins in the English countryside. There, they basically live alone, do whatever they want, have fun, it's the dream. Until something devastating happens and they are forced to grow the heck up. 

I watched the movie before reading the book, and I love the movie. I love the characters and the setting, the photography and the actors. The book is different, there are other characters, and although the idea is the same it was weird to me to see so many differences... why make a movie based on a book if you're going to change so many things?

I liked the book. A lot. I loved filling in the blanks I had when I saw the movie (twice). I loved getting those lovely tidbits you can only get when reading a book, that look inside the character's minds, and in this case they're super special and I enjoyed them tremendously. It was an emotional read, I reacted physically to some things, I cried twice and having the actors from the movie live in the pages while I read the book was great.

A fast read, about coming of age, growing up, finding family and your place in the world, and so much more. A would read it again in a heartbeat.

To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.

How I live now

Julie D.

Ana Cob

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

Not for the faint of heart. Dystopian before dystopian was a thing in YA literature. Precursor to a lot of what

Amy Grieve

Ever since seeing the movie trailer for the big screen adaptation of this book I have been wanting to read it. The only thing that held me back last time was the mere mention of incest but really once I was reading the book I didn't see that, I only saw the love between all the characters. 

These children were so brave and survived so much. To me this book was perfection: the characters were perfection, the writing was heartfelt and meaningful and mostly it stay with me long after I had finished the last page. This book now is going the list of my favourite books.

Elena Garcia Navarro

Emily fowler

I feel like I need to say that my problem with this book is NOT the love story, I thought that was super sweet, my problem with this book is that is not how a 15yo speaks. I found the prose very immature and more suited to a primary aged child, it really took me out of the story.

shalee olsen

Olivera Mitić

razan 

slightly confusing at some parts, but still it's a good book nonetheless.
 also i thought the writing style is unique and interesting .

Ingrid cops

Straf tienerboek, is intussen al enkele jaren geleden dat ik het heb gelezen, en heb het nu aan mijn dochter doorgegeven. Benieuwd of zij het ook zo goed vindt.

Meagan Fowler

I enjoyed this book in certain sections but it as a whole it was an okay book. I just wish that I would have been able to connect to it more.

I'm not even sure what to say about this book that hasn't been said a thousand or so times before. It was a little difficult to understand some of the stuff that goes on in the book. If you've read it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But, somehow, as the book went on, it didn't seem so wrong. (That's a pretty strange thing to say, I know.)

The voice sounded like a teenage girl, which made it easier to get wrapped up in it. I just... wow... incredible book. I think this one will stick with me for awhile.

Grace McCarter

A little slow to start, but the characters and the layers that come soon after are enthralling, ethereal and amazing to read about. A dark and different coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of an ambiguous fictional war. Do not underestimate this book!

Heather Killeen

BUT YOU'RE COUSINS. Okay, so this was a pretty beautiful book about war that could be applied to anytime, any war, but is set in the near future. There were many many passages that rung so true it hurt. But I just couldn't really fully accept the romance between cousins. I'm sure the author was trying for something risky, trying to show that in war social constructs and taboos fall apart. And although in my brain I had come to accept the possible post-apocalyptic realities of people eating each other, or killing each other for survival due to the many examples in the shows and books I've read, this particular taboo still just grosses me out. I would still recommend reading it for all the other wonderful and moving parts in the book, especially if you can ignore this particular taboo haha.

Laura

Meg Rosoff lives in the same corner of my mind that several other American expat British writers live in. You'd be surprised how many there are, including Patrick Ness and Elizabeth Wein. My vague, sort of interest in her writing started when my old high school librarian mentioned that she was one of his favorite authors, and was recently renewed after reading Life: An Exploded Diagram, when I discovered while researching Mal Peet that she finished one of his books for him, kind of like how Patrick Ness wrote A Monster Calls. 

Oddly, for a tiny little book it took me forever to read. Kind of like how it took me forever to read On the Jellicoe Road. I had such a hard time getting into it that I was ready to dnf it and cut my losses, but I'm in a slump and don't want to admit it by not finishing books. 

Her writing reminds me of Elizabeth Wein's, likely because Wein has clearly been heavily influenced by her. As I've gotten older I've found myself growing out of that style of writing. No necessarily stream-of-consciousness, per se, it can be done very well- after all, I consider the Modernists some of the best writers and they were the ones to start that type of narrative. No, I'm talking about the ALL CAPS, Certain Things Capitalized to Sound Quirky, crossed out words, and more. I mean, sure, I could forgive it if the book was meant to be written like a journal entry, but when it's presented as a typical novel, it grates on me. Kind of like how The Pearl Thief grated on me, come to think of it. I think authors maybe do things like that because it gives their characters the illusion of having a personality- if they write with all caps and no quotation marks when someone is speaking and capitalize things to make them sound like official titles, then the main character is automatically Spunky and Lovably Rebellious. 

Rosoff probably did this to make Daisy endearing, maybe because she realized that Daisy had to have some endearing, relatable qualities. Because Daisy's a pretty shitty human. She's anorexic (I'll come back to the poor treatment of her anorexia later) for attention, she hates people without any real reason to, like her stepmother, she's shitty to her father, and her lack of detachment as to what's going on makes me think of sociopaths. I mean, I get having a hard time emphasizing about an attack that happened a half a world away, but when you live in England, a small country, and the attack was in London, you still have to feel something for the people that died instead of dismissing it. I like to think I'm not alone in thinking this, and I don't think I am evidenced by all the people who reached out to Paris or Manchester or Orlando. Her detachment doesn't make her seem relatable, the way Rosoff probably intended for her to seem, it makes her seem cold, unfeeling. Again, sociopathic. 

The love story in this was kind of horrible. It wasn't that I was particularly bothered by cousin-cousin incest, since I knew that it would be about this and if I was extremely against that stuff being in fiction I wouldn't have picked this up in the first place. Besides, after enjoying Forbidden as much as I did I don't think I could get on a soap box about it, and frankly anyone who loves history as much as I do can't be that bothered by cousins kissing. 

No, my problem with Daisy and Edmond's relationship more had to do with the fact it was chemistry-less. I felt nothing for either of them, because they were just kind of smashed together. I mean, she mentioned feeling a few feelings, Edmond could read her mind, and then they kissed and I guess started screwing, but honestly they could have been playing Monopoly for all I knew. Sure, there were some references to how much they loved each other and snarky references on her part to Underage Sex, but that's all I got from their relationship. 

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...

Kim &
How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

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