How I Live Now - Softcover

Rosoff, Meg

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0449819604 ISBN 13: 9780449819609

Publisher: Ember, 2013

Synopsis

This award winning novel will soon be released as a movie starring Saoirse Ronan as Daisy.

Fifteen-year-old New Yorker Daisy is sent to live in the English countryside with cousins she's never even met. When England is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy, the cousins find themselves on their own. Power fails, system fail. As they grow more isolated, the farm becomes a kind of Eden, with no rules. Until the war arrives in their midst.
Daisy's is a war story, a survival story, a love story--all told in the voice of a subversive and witty teenager. This book crackles with anxiety and with lust. It's a stunning and unforgettable first novel that captures the essence of the age of terrorism: how we live now.

About this title

Review:

Possibly one of the most talked about books of the year, Meg Rosoff’s novel for young adults is the winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2004. Heralded by some as the next best adult crossover novel since Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, who himself has given the book a thunderously good quote, this author’s debut is undoubtedly stylish, readable and fascinating.

Rosoff’s story begins in modern day London, slightly in the future, and as its heroine has a 15-year-old Manhattanite called Daisy. She’s picked up at the airport by Edmond, her English cousin, a boy in whose life she is destined to become intricately entwined. Daisy is staying for the summer in her Aunt Penn’s country farmhouse with Edmond and her other cousins. They spend some idyllic weeks together--often alone with Aunt Penn away travelling in Norway. Daisy’s cousins seem to have an almost telepathic bond, and Daisy is mesmerised by Edmond and soon falls in love with him.

But their world changes forever when an unnamed aggressor invades England and begins a years-long occupation. Daisy is parted from Edmond when soldiers take over their home, and Daisy and Piper, her younger cousin, must travel to another place to work. Their experiences of occupation are never kind and always hard. Daisy’s pain, living without Edmond, is tangible.

Rosoff’s writing style is both brilliant and frustrating. Her descriptions and ability to portray the emotions of her characters are wonderful. Her long sentences and total lack of speech marks for dialogue is, however, exhausting. Her narrative is deeply engaging and yet a bit unbelievable. The end of the book is dramatic, but too sudden. The book has a raw, unfinished feel about it, yet that somehow adds to the experience of reading it. It’s flawed but unmissable. (Age 14 and over) --John McLay

Review:

"A daring, wise, and sensitive look at the complexities of being young in a world teetering on chaos, Rosoff's poignant exploration of perseverance in the face of the unknown is a timely lesson for us all." - People Magazine

"This riveting first novel paints a frighteningly realistic picture of a world war breaking out in the 21st century . . . Readers will emerge from the rubble much shaken, a little wiser, and with perhaps a greater sense of humanity." - Publishers Weekly, Starred

"That rare, rare thing, a first novel with a sustained, magical and utterly faultless voice. After five pages, I knew she could persuade me to believe anything." --Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

"Readers will remain absorbed to the very end by this unforgettable and original story."--The Bulletin, Starred

"A winning combination of acerbic commentary, innocence, and sober vision. . . . Hilarious, lyrical, and compassionate."--The Horn Book, Starred

"A fantastic treat . . . Daisy is an unforgettable heroine."--Kliatt, Starred

"Powerful and engaging . . . a likely future classic."--The Observer (U.K.)

"A crunchily perfect knock-out of a debut novel."--The Guardian (U.K.)

About this edition

• Publisher: Ember
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0449819604
• ISBN 13: 9780449819609
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208