By: Gail Gauthier,
on 12/13/2007
I'm a Reading Fool got her hands on an ARC for the dead & the gone, Susan Beth Pfeffer's companion book to Life As We Knew It. She has posted a review. It sounds very, very grim, a different kind of grim from the grimness in LAWKI.
By: Sarah Darer Littman,
on 8/12/2007
So many books. So little time. I'm sure you all know the feeling.
But I've been reading up a storm the last week or so. Here's my little list:
Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson. Comment: Wow! What a voice. I hope someday I can write a book with such an authentic male protagonist.
Life as we knew it by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Comment: I hope this wins the Prinz. I couldn't put it down. I'm trying to get my son to read it so we can discuss it. Brilliant idea, cleverly executed and incredibly thought-provoking.
The Sunflower: On the possibilities and limits of forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal. ![[info]](http://stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
the_webmeister's aunt Pauline was reading this for her book club when we were in Canada, and I was so intrigued I had to order it the minute I got home. Another thought-provoking read. saramerica used it in a recent column which you can read
here.
Those who save us by Jenna Blum. My friend Malaine recommend this and as I was reading it I realized I'd already read it a while back, but it is so engrossing I didn't mind reading it again, especially given my recent visit to Germany and after reading The Sunflower and Life as we knew it. How would we react in a given life -threatening situation?
Would we be able to hold on to our deepest moral values? Or would the will to stay alive trump all?
Currently reading:
Impulse by Ellen Hopkins. I'm amazed at how much she is able to convey about the characters in verse in a short time (although I guess having read Sonya Sones' books, I shouldn't be) and how much I have come to care about these kids in a short period of time. I've got a sinking feeling that one of them isn't going to make it, and but I'm not sure which one - keep changing my mind about who is going to be the one whose demons get the better of them.
I was hoping to finish it last night but fell asleep. Note to self: go to bed to read earlier tonight!
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. This one's been sitting on my nightstand since my new editor extraordinaire, David Levithan, handed me a copy when I visited Scholastic HQ. I kept putting off reading it because there was so much hype and I wasn't sure what to make of it. But I picked it up this morning and Bam! I'm already engrossed. I was afraid the number of pictures would detract from my ability to get into the story, but not true. I'm already on part two and dying to know the mystery.
OK, back to the books. What are *YOU* reading these days?
By: Gail Gauthier,
on 6/13/2007
I was planning to do a Life As We Knew It post today because recently I received a couple of announcements through listservs regarding blogs that coincidentally both talk about the book.
And then while perusing those blogs, I found something really interesting.
Susan Beth Pfeffer has a blog up called Meteors, Moons, and Me. So far it's pretty much about her book, Life As We Knew It, which, of course, is what you'd expect from the blog's title. While reading through her posts, I noticed one with a reference to a less than stellar review that involved rice.
Also The Inter-Galactic Playground, which focuses on children's science fiction, went quiet for a bit but is back with new posts. Last Sunday, the site reviewed Life As We Knew It. As it turns out, the review isn't wildly complimentary, and early on the reviewer mentions...rice!
What are the chances I'd stumble upon all that? I ask you.
LAWKI was on my mind today because it's been rather cool here in southern New England recently. In fact, this evening it's very close to being cold. I was out on the deck trying to plant some parsley and wondering if all our plants will be destroyed because of this creepy weather the way the family's plants were destroyed in LAWKI.
As Farah at The Inter-galactic Playground suggests, I could just bring all the pots from the deck indoors before they're ruined. But...nah.
By: Gail Gauthier,
on 3/26/2007
The L.A. Times ran an article on why apocalyptic novels are so popular right now. Briefly? 9/11 and Iraq.
The article doesn't mention Life As We Knew It, but, come on. Let's do a little adding of two and two.
By: Gail Gauthier,
on 3/21/2007
If you are a member of the Adbooks listserv and haven't been keeping up with your messages recently, you might want to check them now. This month they've been discussing Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. And who should show up to share some very interesting information about the book but Ms. Pfeffer herself.
She has given me permission to pass on the news that she recently finished a "companion volume," though she is going to refer to it as a parallel book because the action parallels what is happening in Life As We Knew It. The new book is called The Dead and the Gone, and it takes place in New York City with a male protagonist. The book is written in the third person--no diary format this time. The story begins on May 18th when the moon is struck by the meteor and continues until...well, I don't believe in giving too much away.
The Dead and the Gone won't be coming out until next spring at the earliest.
A lot of adult readers never got over the disaster-induced anxiety of Life As We Knew It. We've got some time to try to toughen up for the next installment.
Thanks for posting that link! I read Susan's post about that review and tried to hunt for it, but I was unsuccessful. Boy, she really didn't much like it, did she? I understand what she's saying, and to a point, I can agree. I know it bothered me that Mom was focused solely on her own family's survival. I understood that focus, but it made me like her less. But I wonder if the reviewer's back might not be up a bit in part because she doesn't live in the U.S. (from what I gather). Sorry, I can't agree with her on that point. The book is that much more effective because of the claustrophobic element that their isolation provides. Besides, how would the family have any way of knowing what is happening in the rest of world? They have no radio, no TV, no phones, no newspapers. They're fighting for their own survival. I can't fault them for neither knowing nor worrying about what's happening in Vancouver, London, Moscow, and Beijing.
My gut feeling about the review was that perhaps the book offended the reviewer's moral and political code. Which is fine. As a writer, I can accept a reader feeling that way about my work.
I thought it was an interesting review because LAWKI was very well liked in most of the reviews I saw. I enjoyed considering another point of view.
Regarding the mother, I agree she was focused solely on her family's survival, and it was ugly. But why shouldn't something ugly be covered in a novel? Her desperate attempts to ensure the survival of at least one of her children (which I interpret as a primal desire to survive in the gene pool) wasn't pretty but it was thought provoking. And, in the end, her selfish behavior saved her family.
I don't think we're supposed to take away some kind of lesson or model of behavior from that.