Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Received: At the library

Rating: 4.0/5.0 stars

Summary: Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions.

About a year or so ago, I listened to the audio book format of this book and I really enjoyed it. However, since I’m hosting a four-week long tween book club and reading this book, I knew I wanted to re-read it in the print format so I could highlight quotes and make notes. I must say that the second time reading this book I was not disappointed.

Enough of that, I know this isn’t a new book and I’m sure a lot of you have already read it and/or heard about it, so I’m not going to make this one of my most detailed reviews. One of the biggest differences between reading this book and listening to it is that reading it really made the individual events affect me much more than listening to them. I think there are two reasons for this: 1. Sometimes when I listen to an audio book I know I can space out, therefore missing some points. 2. Reading a text allows you to do so at your own pace, therefore forcing you to really absorb what you are reading. Plus, if a point affects you more than another, you can re-read it.

There are plenty of articles, stories, and television shows that clearly depicts and reports various ways the world will be coming to an end and that sort of thing. Oh yeah, and library patrons tell me about them, making my day that much more interesting. J Although I know some of these things might be true, I try not to live my life being terrified that every day I’m going to die or that the world is coming to an end. One thing I liked about Life As We Knew It is that the information about what can happen when an asteroid hits the moon isn’t completely unbelievable or untruthful. Although this makes it kind of disheartening, it’s nice to read about something so real, making the story have that much greater of an impact.

I also enjoyed Miranda’s character because she grows throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, not having a telephone causes Miranda so much grief. Yet, by the end of the story she is grateful just to have her family and to be alive. Sure, she experiences some moments of selfishness and being childish, but that’s to be expected…she’s only human (in the book) right? Miranda experiences happiness, sadness, being scared, overwhelmed, and everything in between.

In the end, Life As We Knew It is one of those books that really hits home. I finished the book in bed right before going to sleep (my hubby was already asleep next to me) and after reading the end, I hugged onto him and wanted to cry. Cheesy? Yes. Deeply impacted by a book because it made me realize how short life is and how grateful I should be for everything I have? Definitely. My biggest hope is that the tweens in the book club will enjoy Life As We Knew It and be impacted by it as much as I was.