Life as We Knew It

by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Hennepin County Library, paperback, 337 pages

A large meteor hits the moon and knocks it off course, causing devastating tides, flooding, hurricanes, and worldwide devastation. Told from Miranda's perspective, including some journaling, this is a very unusual book. For part of it, I was bored and it seemed to drag too much. Just past midway, I realized that I didn't know how it was going to end (rare with young adolescent books - they're usually pretty predictable). By the time I finished it, I was completely engrossed and thinking of re-reading the last dozen pages just to experience it again. I will probably read the companion novel, The Dead and the Gone, told from the perspective of a teenager in NYC.

The thing that bothered me was the stereotypical pastor who's a big, fat, nasty hypocrite and Miranda's friend Megan who starves herself to death in a religious frenzy, causing her mom to commit suicide. Sometimes I wonder if all YA authors have had negative experiences with religion. It's discouraging to know that organized religion has had such a negative impact on so many people. Jesus isn't about the religious hypocrisy at all!