After trying to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and giving up only 40 pages in, I was feeling a little disenchanted with reading. It's amazing how not being able to connect with a novel (or a professor or teacher, etc.) can kill any and all joy in a subject if you aren't able to connect. I'm also a bit thankful for such experiences because it reminds me that the vehicle for the message does matter; I once had a college prof make me hate Shakespeare within the first two days of his class, even though I'd been a life long Shakespeare reader. And while many people poo-poo quiting, I think that quiting creates opportunity, but there is some merit is sticking things out as well; but I found a long time ago that life is short and there are a lot of books out there to enjoy, so it's not worth 'sticking it out' unless the book is going to be used for a grade in a class. With that said, I ditched Ken Kesey and went back to my old steady, Susan Beth Pfeffer.
Susan Beth Pfeffer has managed to charm me with her post-apocalyptic series based on the moon getting knocked closer to the Earth. With the first and second book in the series under my belt (Life As We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone, respectively), I jumped in to This World We Live In whole-heartedly. My students know that I have a bit of a zombie & post-apocalypse fetish, so whenever a movie or a book comes out with these themes I get lots of recommendations- and thus I found out about the third book in the series. I got the book out Thursday morning and had it finished by Saturday night- which is unheard of for me since I'm usually grading till I'm blue in the face or I'm bouncing around between random other tasks- so consider this a strong recommendation for the book.
The story picks up with Miranda, a 17 year old girl, living in rural Pennsylvania with her mother and two brothers (they're the main characters from the 1st book, Life As We Knew It). They're scraping out a living since the previous year's apocalypse (the moon was knocked closer to the earth which meant screwed up tides, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc.). Jon and Matt, the brothers take a week-long trip to the river to catch fish and return not only with fish, but also a young woman nicknamed Syl, who Matt married while away for the fishing trip. Laura, Matt's mother isn't exactly pleased, but she welcomes Syl anyway and the family makes due. By some miracle never mentioned, Syl manages as a married woman but never becomes pregnant (which was my concern/prediction for the family).
Shortly thereafter, Miranda's father, step mother and newborn baby show up on the girl's doorstep. And, they're accompanied by a man named Charlie and two siblings from New York, Julie & Alex Morales (they're the characters from the 2nd book, The Dead and The Gone). the Evans household has now increased to 10 people and all of the characters realize that feeding 10 will be practically impossible unless desperate measure are taken. Hal, Miranda's dad, comes up with the plan to lie and say that the newcomers are all part of the deceased neighbor's family (Mrs. Nesbitt). With this lie, Hal & wife, baby, Julie, Alex & Charlie move into Mrs. Nesbitt's house, which is next door, and Hal & Miranda (Miranda is Hal's daughter) go to town to tell the city about the "Nesbitt family" having returned (this means that the newcomers are entitled to weekly bags of food).
Of course there's budding love between Julie and Jon and later between Alex and Miranda. The problem is that Alex has promised (his brother from Texas, who is a marine) to take Julie to a convent so that nuns may look after her and he plans to go live at a monastery in Ohio. Alex feels indebted to the Evans family and he wants to feel like he's earning his keep. Hal, Miranda, Alex and Julie make the trip to the convent only to find a lonely nun unable to take Julie. The four finally return to the Evans & Nesbitt houses to regroup. Alex and Miranda decide to run away with Julie to one of the safe camps. They let the family know that they're leaving and offer for others to join them, which the "Nesbitt" family decides to do, but not without a fight from the others.
The season finally starts to warm a bit and there are actually temperatures in the high 60s. (Which makes me think that the families could have at least begun to grow some cold weather crops, even if it was gray constantly.) Instead, the children continue to pilage houses throughout the town in order to find the basics before they leave for the safe camps. On the way home from such a trip, Alex and Miranda realize their minutes away from being hit by a tornado and they get home in time to warn their families.
The author throws a few unexpected twists in with the tornado and ultimately she lets the "hand of God" decide the fates of the characters, leaving the possiblity for a fourth book.
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