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How I Live Now
by Meg Rosoff
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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780385746779 |
Only 1 left in stock at $11.50!
Awards
Winner of the 2005 Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult Literature
Powells.com Staff Pick
"This book for young adults simply captivated me like so few novels for adults will. In a voice that could tell you how to change a light bulb yet still hold you transfixed, fifteen-year-old New Yorker Daisy recalls a summer in the British countryside with her cousins. War breaks out and the children must depend on each other to survive. Her tale is dark, beautiful, and wise. A breathtaking feat of storytelling." Georgie Lewis, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
"Every war has turning points and every person too."
Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she's never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.
As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it's a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy's uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.
A riveting and astonishing story.
Review:
"This riveting first novel paints a frighteningly realistic picture of a world war breaking out in the 21st century. Told from the point of view of 15-year-old Manhattan native Daisy, the novel follows her arrival and her stay with cousins on a remote farm in England. Soon after Daisy settles into their farmhouse, her Aunt Penn becomes stranded in Oslo and terrorists invade and occupy England. Daisy's candid, intelligent narrative draws readers into her very private world, which appears almost utopian at first with no adult supervision (especially by contrast with her home life with her widowed father and his new wife). The heroine finds herself falling in love with cousin Edmond, and the author credibly creates a world in which social taboos are temporarily erased. When soldiers usurp the farm, they send the girls off separately from the boys, and Daisy becomes determined to keep herself and her youngest cousin, Piper, alive. Like the ripple effects of paranoia and panic in society, the changes within Daisy do not occur all at once, but they have dramatic effects. In the span of a few months, she goes from a self-centered, disgruntled teen to a courageous survivor motivated by love and compassion.How she comes to understand the effects the war has had on others provides the greatest evidence of her growth, as well as her motivation to get through to those who seem lost to war's consequences. Teens may feel that they have experienced a war themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's worst nightmares. Like the heroine, readers will emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity. Ages 12-up." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:
"[C]entral to the potency of Rosoff's debut...is the ominous prognostication of what a third world war might look like, and the opportunity it provides for teens to imagine themselves...exhibiting courage and resilience in roles traditionally occupied by earlier generations." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review:
"[A] very relatable contemporary story, told in honest, raw first-person and filled with humor, love, pathos, and carnage....[O]ffers a keen perspective on human courage and resilience." Kirkus Reviews
Review:
"That rare, rare thing, a first novel with a sustained, magical and utterly faultless voice. After five pages I knew that she could persuade me to believe almost anything." Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Review:
"A daring, wise, and sensitive look at the complexities of being young in a world teetering on chaos, Rosoff's poignant exploration of perseverance in the face of the unknown is a timely lesson for us all." People
Review:
"A voice so stridently pure and direct and funny that you simply can't question it." The Guardian
Review:
"[T]he best children's novel for adults since The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time." Time Out
Review:
"Readers won't just read this book, they will let it possess them." The Sunday Telegraph
Review:
"[T]he book provides a realistic picture of what life would be like if a world war broke out today, and it provides a lot of material for class discussion. The relationship between Edmond and Daisy...is described in an emotional rather than physical way." Children's Literature
About the Author
This is Meg Rosoff’s first novel. The author lives in London.
What Our Readers Are Saying
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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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becky_johnson, August 28, 2006 (view all comments by becky_johnson)
As a 42-year old mother to a 13-year old daughter, I did not expect to be so utterly engaged by a book that belonged not to me but to the generation below. I was amused, moved, scared, horrified and, ultimately, entirely subsumed by the world and story described in this book. It evoked emotions in me that I can't remember experiencing merely from reading a book for 20 years or more.
My daughter I were both moved to tears on more than one occasion and sharing the reading of this book brought us as close together as if we had shared our own trauma, rather than reading about someone else's - fictional! - experiences.
Everybody should read this book, younger or older, male or female. It is infinitely accessible and goes straight for the jugular of even the most hardened of cynics. It's probably not going too far to say that reading this book changed both my daughter and me a little. I almost hope that the author doesn't write anything else, because how can she improve on this debut?
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780385746779
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Wendy Lamb Books
- Subject:
- General
- Subject:
- Family life
- Subject:
- Family - Multigenerational
- Subject:
- Farm life
- Subject:
- Lifestyles - Farm Life & Ranch Life
- Subject:
- Social Issues - General
- Copyright:
- 2004
- Publication Date:
- October 2004
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Pages:
- 208
- Dimensions:
- 8.34x5.82x.77 in. .76 lbs.
- Age Level:
- 12-17
