Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Out of this world, 17 Jul 2008
I can't believe how great this book is. I wish I'd had more time to read it as it's a book to be devoured. I found myself wondering from the outset how I might've managed in similar circumstances and to be honest, I couldn't. Our narrator is Miranda, a sixteen year old from Pennsylvania. She lives with her mother, older brother Matt and younger brother Jonny. Her father has left home and lives with his partner, Lisa whom we find out on the first page is pregnant.
The novel is written as a diary within sections - which are the seasons. Although, there are chapters usually ended at a significant point. It is narrated in the present tense and there are no clues from the blurb as to how the novel ends. The present tense works so well in this novel because it means the reader does not have any clues and the characters are unaware also of the outcome.
At the beginning of the novel we get to know Miranda and her friends through the first few diary entries and then what the scientists have predicted will happen changes everything. An asteroid hits the moon, spinning it out of control, bringing it closer to earth. From this point on, the novel is about life, its changes and, as the title says, life as we knew it. Superbly written, with great characters. You will admire them, pity them and cheer them. You'll find yourself wondering what's coming next and trying to imagine yourself in the same situation. However, you'll have to read it to answer the question Miranda asks on the back cover - will we survive?
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
nail biter, 28 May 2007
This book is set in Pennsylvania and is written in the style of a teenager's diary. It begins with the typical dramas that fill every teenager's life but then news comes that an asteroid is heading for a collision with the moon.
When it does hit, throwing the moon off kilter, the catastrophic effect on the Earth is frightening. Floods and volcanos devastate the Earth's population and Miranda's family realise they are facing a nightmare future. Miranda's diary tells the story of their fight for survival as they learn to live with diminishing supplies of power, heat, food and water.
It is a very well written book with strong characters and a story that keeps you reading right up to the end. Aimed at older children/young adults this really is an excellent read that many adults would also find unputdownable.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, 2 Dec 2008
I wish I had read this book before I read The Dead and the Gone by the same author. I don't want to include any spoilers, but I just finished reading this book 5 minutes ago... And I couldn't believe the difference. This is Coke Zero by comparison, and reads like a Disney adaptation of The Dead and the Gone.
Where the earlier book asked the question, how do you survive when the world ends, in the harshest possible conditions? This book answers that question: pretty easily, with a minimum of inconvenience, and by having food thrown at you left right and centre.
Don't get me wrong, this is a really good book, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I just wish I had read this one first, as it would have had 4 stars without my crushing disappointment at the sheer lack of... I don't know. It simply lacks when placed alongside the other book.
Please, I beg you, if you are planning on reading either, read the other one. If you get both, then save the better one for afterwards.
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