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Loading... How I Live Now (2004)by Meg Rosoff
I need someone to confirm that Lynda Barry really wrote this, not Meg Rosoff. The voice is such a bothersome rip of Cruddy. I couldn't get past it, and then I did, and ended up riveted. And it still mystifies me that there is an unapologetic incestuous relationship at the heart of the story. Pretty amazing, but not a happy kind of scene. Ok YA book. The reader's voice in the audio version was a good match for the teenage protagonist, which was not necessarily a good thing, as it made her--ambiguity intentional--sound slightly annoying. Funniest moment was the pronunciation of Zabar's to rhyme with Babar's, when any New Yorker (which is what the protagonist is) would know it sounds like "gay bars". This was intense. I could feel what Daisy was feeling to such a degree that it was disturbing. It affected me greatly and will stay with me for a while. An excellent description of war that was enhanced, or even defined, by the way it sprang from the background to grab the story then alternately slipped away, lurked and reached out again. The cousins, and even Aunt Penn, who didn't play a significant role, were great characters seen through Daisy's eyes. The connection that Daisy felt to them was portrayed so well and added so much to the emotion of the story. I love the way this was done. I'll read this again. I'm about halfway through and I've only had a few hours on the subway to read it---it's totally breaking my heart and scaring the crap out of me already. Another so-called "young adult" fiction novel...I'm so intrigued by what makes a young adult novel "young adult." I'm almost 30, but I completely relate to these kids...I think most people would... Anyway, I digress. This book is about a 15 year old New York girl (suffering from Anorexia) who gets sent to live with her cousins in the English Countryside. Shortly after she arrives, England is invaded by an unnamed terrorist threat and all hell starts to break loose. Before it reaches their country life however, our narrator, Daisy, gets to spend several heavenly, lazy weeks in the sun with her beloved new cousins and their bevy of animals. The sinister war that's waging in the background starts to creep up and suddenly it's upon them. It's terrifying and very realistic. It reminds me of those children's novels I used to read about Holocaust survivors, where the story moves from Idyllic childhood to sad to terrifying before you realize what's happening. Interesting perspective for young people, I suppose...may make them consider what really goes on in war-torn countries. no reviews | add a review
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I couldn't get past it, and then I did, and ended up riveted. And it still mystifies me that there is an unapologetic incestuous relationship at the heart of the story.
Pretty amazing, but not a happy kind of scene.
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