A Review of 'Life as we Knew it' by Susan Beth Pfeffer

“When Miranda first hears the warnings that a meteor is headed on a collision path wit the moon, they just sound like an excuse for extra homework assignments. But her disbelief turns to fear in a split second as the entire world witnesses a lunar impact that knocks the moon closer in orbit, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate.

Everything else in Miranda’s life fades away as supermarkets run out of food, gas goes up to more than ten dollars a gallon, and school is closed indefinitely.

But what Miranda and her family don’t realize is that the worst is yet to come.

Told in Miranda’s diary entries, this is a heart-pounding account of her struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all—hope—in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar time.”

Let’s get it out now… TEN DOLLARS A GALLON?!?!?!

Are we better?

Okay. Moving on…

One of my favorites! I have read this book three or four times at least. It’s a survival story, it’s science fiction, it’s heartfelt… it’s amazing! I have read other books that were in diary entry form (I think they were called the Young America Series? It was something like that…) but this is totally different than the other diary-form books that I’ve read. Miranda’s perspective was awesome. She’s just your average teenage girl who just needs to get her thoughts on paper.

I liked that the parts were split up by season. As I read, I felt like it gave me a better scope, or rather, something to compare to what was happening in the story. It was very interesting how Miranda and her family survived. They basically changed up their houses, utilized the wood burning stove that they had in their sun room, and rationed their food. I guess it was sort of like Y2K with everyone freaking out and buying back-up generators (I was too young to remember this time). The only difference is something actually happened in this work of fiction.

‘Life as we Knew it’ is part of a trilogy called The Moon Series. I have read each one of them. The others are entitled ‘The Dead and the Gone’ and ‘This World We Live In.’ The second one, ‘The Dead and the Gone,’ is narrated by a boy named Alex who lives in New York. Same circumstances; a meteor crashes into the moon, so now their family must survive. The difference is, they live in an apartment, their parents are gone, and there are three people. Maybe four. Because of the gravitational pull that the moon controls, New York starts to flood. So Alex’s family has different problems. Miranda and Alex both return in ‘This World We Live In’ and continue their adventures when they come together.

This is a truly amazing series. I really do recommend it.

I do have a warning for younger readers: there are suicides in this book and some mild language. Be wary.

On top of this, the author, Susan Beth Pfeffer (I’m still not sure how to pronounce her last name) is a blogger. Who knew? Any way, I’m following her (a slightly creepy way of saying I read her blog as she updates it) and what she writes is humorous and witty. Check it out it you have the chance! All you have to do is click her name in this paragraph and you should be taken to her page.

Thank you for reading! Have a great week!

--Jude

Update: You just take the "P" off and you have the pronunciation of her last name; "FEFF-er." Thank you Google language tools!