Monday, August 4, 2014

Book Review: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff


This novel is set in an a slightly alternate and futuristic world. This world has been on the brink of World War Three for at least the last 5 years. In this book we follow Daisy, whose father sends her away to go stay with her Aunt and cousins from her mothers side. Daisy has never met this family because of issues she has had between her and her stepmother

Fifteen-year-old Daisy travels from upsate New York to the Engligh country side, where her phone can hardly get any reception. She's greeted at the airpot by Edmond, one of four new cousins, and he also later develops into her love interest. When I first read the synopsis it was very obvious to me that this would happen between them. If that sort of thing (romance between cousins) bothers you then you probably don't want to read this book. Although the author doesn’t put too much emphasis on the romance, there is a whole family for the reader to meet and fall in love with.

There is Edmond twin Issac who doesn’t speak to anyone, and is really good with animals. He is so passionate about animals that their surrounding neighbours will bring their animals to him to take care of. There is also the youngest of her cousins, Piper, who has a personality mix between Edmund and Issac. She is also very good with animals, but lacks in the way of being able to connect the same way to people.

Then there is Osbert, who is the oldest brother. He has an attitude that portrays him as one who is “all high and mighty”. This is a guy who feels as though he is too old to hang around with his younger siblings and cousin, but also feels he has the duty as the older brother to take care of them. Finally, there is Edmond and when I think of him the word mysterious comes to mind. He seems to have a strong sense of what is going on and what everyone seems to be thinking.

Daisy, is a little lost at the start which can be understandable going fron New York to England and to go from being a single child to now living with a big family. Then the war that had been threatening to start for years finally happened, and the children end up being left alone in their house. They were mostly cutoff from the outside world, that is until the war lands right on the front steps and they can no longer ignore it.

I liked Daisy because she was sarcastic, witty and strong no matter what happened. Yeah, she breaks down every now and then, but being in a war it is to be expected. She was always able to pick herself back up and keep going, which I liked. This novel started off kind of weird but interesting, and went on to completely capture me. That is all I am going to leave you with because it is so short and anything else might lead to spoilers.

I gave it a 5/5 stars and I’m hoping to see the movie soon because I heard good things about it. Just from watching the trailer I can see that there are going to be some changes made between the book and the movie, although with any adaptation I have learned to expect it.

Let me know if you have read this book and how you felt it about it, or if you plan on getting it. You can also let me know if you've seen the movie, what you thought, and if you now plan to read the book.

Trailer To "How I Live Now":