I just finished reading the fourth book in the Life as We Knew It series. So this review will refer to all four books. More or less.
The main character in this novel, Jon (Jonathan) Evans, is the biggest asshole of a protagonist that I have ever encountered in a book and/or movie. He lived his full life as a spoiled child. So when the moon was hit by a meteor, his life changed for the worst. He and his family survived on nothing. One would expect that when he was able to live I'm comfort again, he would cherish it.
Back to the beggining of the series. In the first and third books, we were told the story from Miranda's point of view. In the second one, Alex told his story. Alex and his two sisters and brother were from NYC and Miranda and her family are from Pennsylvania. People died and food became scarce. The family did what they did to survive. Eventually, the characters in book one met the characters of book two in book three.
I liked the Miranda and Alex. The author planned to pair them together from the start. Which I agree with. They have given up a lot to become lowly bus drivers and a greenhouse gardener instead of a chance to live in the town of Sexton. With that said, they aren't perfect characters. Alex has stolen from his neighbors to feed his sisters. Miranda had her selfish moment when she ate a whole bag of chocolate. Mind you, in a world where they don't make chocolate anymore, indulging like that is terrible. Anyways, they have a baby girl that was kidnapped by the rich people of the "enclave" of Sexton. Fortunately, asshole Jon with the help of Sarah, his girlfriend, was able to rescue his sister's baby. Miranda had some issues with her mother, Laura, at the beginning of the series, but the whole natural disaster struggle mended their bonds. Miranda suffocated Julie, Alex's sister, to prevent Julie from suffering in pain after being paralyzed by a tornado. Alex ran away after hearing what she did.
There's so much of the story to tell. Laura, by far is the most selfless person. She gives up her meals so that her children can eat. Seriously, she'll go days on end without eating if Miranda and her other son, Matt let her. These two have sense. Jon may have let her starve. After the family relocated to Sexton and the outside "grub" town/ shanty town of White Birch, she became a high school teacher. This lady fought the guards from letting them take her students to become house servants. They killed her. I don't think Jon felt as bad as pregnant Miranda did. She's pregnant! She could have had a miscarriage... Despite being divorced, she had no hatred towards her ex-husband's new spouse. Laura would do anything in her power to help people she cared about. This lady deserves a long moment of silence.
Lisa, is the wife of Harold (Hal). Hal died of exhaustion en route to the settlement. She has been portayed as a nice and caring lady. But, she is a stepmother, so at first, I didn't trust her. In this fourth book, we see that she also will do everything to help her family survive, even if they are her step family. She did have a son named Gabriel (Gabe) with Hal. She, Gabe and Jon went into the town of Sexton to become "Clavers" because Alex had given up his passes that were for him and his two sisters. So with these passes, they became akin to people in the Second Estate of Pre-Revolutionary France. Lisa first works as a low class clerk in the Administration offices, later being promoted to the Head of the Domestics. She deals with house servant issues. So, she has Gabe in the first book. Lisa doesn't like having Domestics in her house, but she has no choice since she can't work ten hours a day, six days a week and be able to clean and cook. So, knowing Miranda is pregnant, she arranges for Miranda to become a Domestic in their house. I understand this, at least the baby can be looked after and Miranda can be guaranteed decent food that can not be procured in the "Grub" town. But who would want to be a slave for their own family? Fortunately, she never does because the living members of the family move to a new settlement that doesn't have the oppressive Enclaves.
There is a riot between the Grubs and the Clavers and many laborers are killed. So, the children of the highschool are needed to be the new workers. And Laura gets killed. Lisa feels really bad about this, but is torn between her job and indirectly killing her dead Husband's ex-wife. Who wouldn't? Eventually, this guilt gets to her and she commits suicide. Partially, the suicide is a cover up for Jon, Gabe, Alex and Miranda's escape. She was a good woman. A standing ovation goes to her.
Jon should be greatful of having a mother and a stepmother who killed themsleves to let an ungrateful son live as close to a normal life as possible in this dystopia.
No comments:
Post a Comment