Life As We Knew It

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I went back and added a star to my review, based on the Ebert rule. This book was okay, on a relative scale of what I generally like to read. But if I were to review it for how well it met the conventions of its genre and expectations of its target audience, it deserved another star at least, out of fairness.

The book is written as a journal of a sixteen-year old girl named Miranda, and it begins before the apocalyptic event occurs, giving us a baseline of what Miranda's life is like before the asteroid hits the moon, pushing it into a closer orbit and causing tidal waves and volcanic eruptions as the moon's gravitational force pulls harder on the Earth.

My main gripe with the book was that many of the more event-packed entries strained to be written in the format Susan Beth Pfeffer chose. Too much word for word dialogue and objective viewpoint made it feel less like a real journal and more like a journal interspersed with short stories.

It was a zippy read, broken into easily digestible pieces, though, which made it perfect for reading while in law school. I'm not sure yet if I ultimately care enough about these characters to seek out the sequel, but maybe eventually. Next book, I think I want something a little more demanding.

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