The Dead and The Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer - Companion novel to Life as we knew it

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Audience: Middle School

Rating: A-

Synopsis:

This book begins with the collision of the moon and the meteor and the action continues to be much faster paced than LAWKI. Alex, a high school junior, is left in charge of his two younger sisters because both of his parents are missing post collision. Alex’s struggles to keep his sisters alive and well are much different than Miranda’s difficulties. Hearing this story from a very different perspective was fascinating -–and intensely scary.

Chatter:

(Spoiler Alerts! )

This book is much darker than Life As we Knew it, probably because Alex had no one to take care of him, but also because life in the city wasn’t as isolated as Miranda’s house. The scenes about robbing the dead and Kevin’s death were disturbing and frighteningly realistic. The pace of this book was much faster too – because we didn’t need the background explanation of the moon and also because things became dire much quicker in a city rocked with tsunamis, disease, and riots.

I like Alex much better than Miranda. Alex is so admirable, his sense of duty and his father are such great qualities. Miranda seemed so whiney in comparison. Imagining her whining about not being able to go swimming at the pond while Alex is debating about whether or not his parents are dead and if he should send his sister away… there’s no comparison between the amount of pressure Alex dealt with and Miranda’s struggle to maintain her temper in a small space. Not that Miranda wasn’t suffering too – just that she didn’t have the responsibilities or pressure that Alex did.

Having read the first book, I wondered if this would be boring because I knew what would happen… it wasn’t at all! Changing perspectives was a masterful decision. Bri did get on my nerves, but I loved Julie. The fact that she could still be excited about lipstick and dancing with boys brought a new level of humanity to the story.

Pfeffer’s third book called The World We Live In or possibly What Was/What Is, is due out Spring 2010. It was originally going to weave together characters from both books, but now she’s planning on setting it in Texas with a new set of characters. You can follow her changes at: http://susanbethpfeffer.blogspot.com

Questions:

What will happen to Alex and his sisters?

Do you think they’ll ever find out more details about the rest of their family?

Who had the more difficult experience – Miranda or Alex?

Keep reading!

Paige