Friday, February 19, 2010

2010 book 50

Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life as we knew it
Pfeffer wrote a bunch of YA books in the 80s (remember The Year Without Michael? Or the various sisters at 16?) but her 2008 novel is a much grimmer affair. It's all told in diary format, starting off with the usual 16-year-old girl worries, but then an asteroid hits the moon, causing scores of natural disasters and throwing life totally off-kilter. I think part of the reason I found this so distressing was that, since my tv died today, I spent the afternoon reading in my bedroom with my little tv on (I like the noise) and so everything felt all out of wack anyway. But I had to keep reassuring myself that there wasn't a moon-related apocalypse and my microwave still worked! Pfeffer does a great job with the atmosphere and with the protagonist and her family relationships--I was almost scared to get toward the end, wondering what would happen. Apparently there's a companion novel out and another on the way, and I'll definitely be reading those too. A.

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