Life As We Knew It

Susan Beth Pfeffer

Published 2006

352 Pages

Rating: B+

When Miranda first hears the warnings that a meteor is headed on a collision path with the moon, they just sound like an excuse for extra homework assignments. But her disbelief turns to fear in a split second as the entire world witnesses a lunar impact that knocks the moon closer in orbit, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate.

Everything else in Miranda’s life fades away as supermarkets run out of food, gas goes up to more than ten dollars a gallon, and school is closed indefinitely. But what Miranda and her family don’t realize is that the worst is yet to come.

Told in Miranda’s diary entries, this is a heart-pounding account of her struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all–hope–in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar time.

(taken from inside book flap)

If I had to describe this book in one word I think it would have to be: Freaky! I cant explain how scared I was reading this book..not scared like 'Ohmygosh, something is going to come out of the bushes' scary but more like 'Ohmygosh, what if this happened for real!' scary. I read this book while I was at my dads and every once in a while I would go make sure the faucet worked, or the thermostat was still at its warm 69F. This book will have you wishing you are prepared for the next natural disaster, it will make you value everything you have.

Miranda is a sophomore in high school when the entire world is effected by the Moon/asteroid disaster. Every scientist thought the asteroid that was bound to hit the Earth's moon was just another asteroid, nothing that could do any possible damage. But they are wrong, so very wrong. The moon gets knocked off course, is pushed closer to Earth and is tilted slightly. This changes everything, not just in Miranda's world, but the entire world. There is flooding along the coasts because the tides are effected by the moon's new place. There are earthquakes, volcanoes, intense thunderstorms, and a huge difference in climates. The summer turns to be very, very hot and once word gets out that this isn’t a little something, but a huge something, people start going crazy. Gas goes up, people start buying loads of food, and Miranda, her mom and younger brother, Jon, (and their neighbor Mrs. Nesbitt) start preparing for the worst, and thank God they did.

With all the changes that have taken place because of the moon disaster there are so many scary things happening. Life becomes to difficult, and some of the weak just cant survive. The drastic change in temperatures ruins crops, kills people and animals, and life becomes 'survival of the fittest.' When you add Miranda's older brother, Matt, her dad and his wife into the mix everything becomes even more suspenseful. They don't know if they are going to survive the winter, they'll either die from freezing to death or kill each other first.

I was really on the edge of my seat the entire time it took me to read this book. I couldn’t put it down, even when I was watching one of my favorite movies. It is a great book, and has a great story even if it does get 'scary' at times. I recommend this to everyone that loves a good suspense book, there's very little romance in here, its a good break from the 'everyday-love story' book out there.

-Arielle