This World We Live In

There are some great things about this book and some not-so-great things. I'll start with the great. The despair and hopelessness that Susan Beth Pfeffer has created is breathtakingly believable. I find myself scared along with Miranda that their food won't come that week. I can picture their home and the way they live so vividly it's almost scary, and that's what I feel keeps me reading so fast through these books. I've finished each one in 2 days.

Not so great... useless characters seemed to be a favourite in this series. As far as I could tell, the characters of Syl and Charlie are unnecessary. Syl is a random girl oldest brother Matt meets and instantly marries after a day. Even in the apocalyptic times I don't believe that. It just show more came off as weird, and the families immediate acceptance of having a fifth person was weird. And then the fact she's responsible for the death of aging family cat, Horton, which doesn't help her case. Nor is the way she's described as being as beautiful as a model whose clothes are clean when the air and water is gray.

Charlie didn't serve any purpose as far as I could tell. He's not related to anyone, and having no background on him other than what he mentions he just seems like an extra mouth to feed. And then he dies without leaving that much of an impact.

The relationship between Alex and Miranda is so strange and I don't know if I'm just not getting it or what, but from all I've read of Miranda, she'd never go for a guy like Alex. I don't buy that they love each other at all, and her willingness to dump her family for this random guy is horrifyingly un-Miranda, as is her choice to find something for Alex instead of warning her mother about the approaching tornado. It's a stupid mistake that I don't believe Miranda would make. I don't believe she wants to marry him, I don't believe she wants to be with him forever. Thankfully her mother seems to agree, calling it pity and desire instead of love.

The summary on the back of the book ruins the ending. It mentions a 'devastating tornado' which I was waiting for page after page and, of course, it happened at the very end. It would have been more dramatic to leave the reader wondering, not telling them something bad is coming.

And the hefty dose of religion didn't help matters. There was almost none in the first book, just mention of Miranda's friend who was too heavily into a religious cult. And now in book 3, it's normal for Miranda's father to be praying, suddenly Lisa is yapping on about God, and everyone seems to agree with what Alex says about his God. I couldn't stop rolling my eyes at those parts.

The death of Julie after her literally back-breaking accident was quite dark, and the way it was written was very clever because I almost didn't believe that Miranda would do it, and then she fed her the pills and waited with her until she died. So far no one else knows Miranda did this which I'm sure will provide plenty of angst for the next book.

The drama is still good, and as much as I don't like Alex I do like Miranda and will read on to see if her life improves. show less

This World We Live in is the finale in Life As We Knew It series. Unfortunately, it is also an example of a series that just runs out of steam as the story progresses. The first book was amazing; the second was less so, mostly because I did not care for Alex as the main character. This third one combines those elements I least liked about the whole series into one novel. It makes for a lackluster ending to a series that started so well.

One gets the distinct impression that Ms. Pfeffer had no idea how to end the novel, as it ends rather abruptly. Through hindsight, one realizes that this is not a novel in which there will be a happily ever after for Alex or Miranda. It is not as if the moon will miraculously be knocked back into place in show more the span of a year. However, unlike other post-apocalypse novels, there is not even the modicum of hope upon which the reader can feel satisfied. As the story progresses, the situation goes from bleak to worse, and it is almost as if Ms. Pfeffer wrote herself into a corner where she could either end the novel or kill off all the characters. Understandably, she chose the former even though it feels rushed and forced.

Alex remains as unlikeable as he was in The Dead and the Gone. He is still infuriatingly righteous and stubborn. The romance that springs up between Miranda and Alex also does not sit well. The relationship seemingly forms out of nowhere, as there are none of the normal signs that the two are becoming attracted to each other, yet feels horribly predictable because there is little else to cause tension between the two main characters and tie the two stories in the series together. It is a relationship which I could never fully support, which distanced me greatly from the overall story.

The one saving grace of the story is that the reader finally gets a bigger glimpse of life outside of Miranda's small world. Through the travellers' stories and Miranda's own trip, the reader can get a feel for the devastation of the United States wrought by the moon's displacement and how other parts of the country were coping with the disaster. This larger picture creates a greater impression upon the reader than any of Miranda's philosophizing or Alex's stubbornness.

This lackluster third novel is truly disappointing given the freshness and excitement of the first novel. I suspect that if I had cared a bit more about Alex and Julie and eventually about Miranda and her entire family, I may have been more emotionally involved with This World We Live in. Sadly, by the time the novel ended, I honestly did not care anymore, causing me to ignore the fabricated emotional connections that were supposed to make it a powerful story. It is unfortunate because I did care about Miranda in the beginning. Sometimes, stories should not be forced into series. This World We Live in is one example of this. show less

Only slightly less terrifying than the previous two, which is good for the end of a trilogy. I'd read an outline of the plot on Pfeffer's site a while ago and wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did, but I should have trusted her skill to draw me in because this was another thought-provoking and "un-put-downable" read. It's like a car wreck--you can't look away and help thinking about how you would face this same situation. I commend Pfeffer for the depth of the character of Laura, Miranda's mom, who is doing her absolute best to keep her family alive and together against staggering odds.

(This series is terrific and terrifying. It could keep you up at night long after you read it. It's enough to make you a survivalist.)

I really enjoyed This World We Live In. I didn't realize it was the third in a series and now I can't wait to go back and read the first two books in The Last Survivors series. The great thing about this book is that the apocalyptic scenario is so terrifyingly possible.

What if an asteroid hit the moon causing it to move closer to Earth? It seems like such a realistic thing to happen and yet it's scary since it makes you realize how easily the entire environment on Earth could go completely out of whack in an instant. I also liked the though-provoking questions. What happens to the rich people and celebrities? Where do they go? Do they continue to get better treatment than average folks?

The boy who became Miranda's love interest (and as show more far as she knew her only chance at love in her whole life) was extremely annoying. So annoying that I truly wanted Miranda to give it up and accept that life alone would be so much better than being stuck with someone like him. I enjoyed the rest of the characters. Having an entire family virtually alone and seeing how they interact through the stress and manage to survive together was fascinating.

This World We Live In was dark and compelling with no unnecessary fluff. A must of post-apocalyptic young adult fans. show less

There is no happy ending to this series, just moving onward and forward, and accepting that the world has changed, and that -- as the title says -- this is the world we live in. This book continues Miranda's story, but also the story of Alex and Julie from The Dead and the Gone. This story isn't an immediate survival of a post-apocalyptic event as the first two were. Instead, this is more picking up the pieces and thinking about the future.

This thread was woven throughout the book, most notably with baby Gabriel. But also the romances between Alex and Miranda, Matt and Syl, and even Jon and Julie show the inhabitants of this new world do have a future, though it may be tragic and hard. This is more than just day-to-day survival.

I had show more very mixed feelings about the ending but it fit. (view spoiler) And truly that ending was emblematic of the new world. This wasn't a happy series, and there really is no happy ending that could have ended the series. The characters endure, create bonds, and continue on and survive as best they can. show less

THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN fails on pretty much every level, and also nearly manages to quash any goodwill I still have for book one of the series LIFE AS WE KNEW IT.

I think the root of the problem is that the diary format just doesn’t work for this installment. In book one, it was interesting enough to follow Miranda’s personal journey via her written thoughts. She goes from a girl who has the whole world open to her to a girl trapped in a dark, cold room with only her starving family (and, yes, the family cat). However, this time around, Miranda’s character arc is so scant that it can’t sustain 256 pages of her whining.

The diary format also makes the creation of three-dimensional supporting characters difficult. I do recall caring show more about the fate of Miranda’s family in the first book, but here all we see through Miranda’s eyes is mom being an agoraphobic shrew, older brother Matt being a selfish jerk, and everyone else being boring beyond belief.

Speaking of boring, the romance between Miranda and Alex (the “hero” of book 2) is dead in the water. These two have so little chemistry together, I cringed when they touched. And c’mon Miranda – I know you don’t have a lot of options for romance, but Alex is NOT boyfriend material. He wants to be monk. He’s super controlling and stubborn. And he’s obsessed with his sister. (Good at finding food though. I’ll give him that.)

And what’s up with everyone just moping around the entire novel until a tragic event (in the last 20 pages) forces them into action? Why couldn’t we have gotten more exploration of the “safe town” idea – the one really intriguing element of the whole sorry affair?

My advice? Read LIFE AS WE KNEW IT and stop there (unless you are just totally in love with it and would read anything with the same characters, no matter what). Try to forget this one was ever conceived. That’s what I plan to do. show less

I spent the first few chapters excited to see Alex show back up.

And then he did.

And then I spent most of the book hoping he would die.

Dear god is he an irredeemably obnoxious and useless character. I'm just glad Miranda's family recognized this even if she couldn't.