Published in 2006, Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer combines the awesomeness of postapocalypse AND natural disaster/asteroid movies! Holla at me, Armageddon (and Ben Affleck). An asteroid knocks the moon closer to earth, setting off tsunamis, earthquakes and arctic winter (permawinter ALONE qualifies it as my worst nightmare).
Check out the discussion questions below! (Spoilers ahead.)
First Half (P. 1-166)
Alright book clubbers, here’s a summary of the first half of the book to jump start your memory in case you read it a while ago and/or possibly blocked all traces of it from your brain because the thought of wearing thermal underwear in September is too damn terrifying:
So, there’s this asteroid heading for the moon, and instead of NASA taking the appropriate precaution, i.e. hiring a ragtag team of oil drillers, everyone treats it as a big excuse for a block party. but then the asteroid totally NAILS the moon and pushes it closer to earth, which causes tsunamis and exploding volcanoes and basically the world is fucked (sorry, but if there’s every a time to use the f bomb, this is it). Miranda records all of this in her diary as her family prepares for the worst. By the end of the first half, the following has happened:
- Miranda’s dad and his wife Lisa have come to visit and then proceeded south.
- Miranda has said good-bye to Dan, her almost bf; Megan, a Saved Mandy Moore wannabe; and Sammi, the girl who always liked older guys but WHAT HE’S 40!
- All of the main characters, including Horton the kitty, are still alive. For now. GAH I CANNOT HANDLE THIS.
Questions
- Who would you invite to sit with you in the caf?
- Who do you most want to face punch?
- On scale of 1-100%, how much cooler is Miranda’s mom than Miranda?
- Who do you think will die first?
- What was your top OMG/WTF moment in this section?
- Does the plot so far seem realistic to you? Why or why not?
- Compare yourself to Miranda:
- Would you be more or less afraid?
- Would you be more or less likely to accept how bad things really are?
- How would you react to your (Miranda’s) mom?
- How would you react to Megan and/or Sammi?
- Would you have a plan for how to deal/survive? What would it be?
Second Half (P. 167-End)
Okay book clubbers, here’s your summary of the second half of the book to refresh your memory in case you finished it a long ago and/or possibly blocked all traces of it from your brain due to feeling that a world without clean air and sun and water and seasons and cocktails is not a world you want to live in.
Everybody’s dying. Food is running out. Volcanos are erupting, so there’s an ash cloud blocking out the sun. Thought the first half was bad? It got worse.
- Miranda and company don’t know if her dad and his wife Lisa ever made it to Colorado.
- Megan is dead.
- Mrs. Nesbitt is dead.
- Peter is dead.
- The whole family almost died of the flu.
- Miranda went into town to check the mail one last time before dying, only to find that the government is now issuing food. They just might live.
Questions
- Who would you invite to sit with you in the caf now?
- Who do you still most want to face punch?
- Do you like Miranda better at the end of the book?
- Did your predictions of who was going to die first come true, or were you surprised?
- Do you think that whole thing with Brandon actually happened, or was it Miranda’s imagination?
- What was your top OMG/WTF moment in this section?
- Now that it’s concluded, did the plot seem realistic to you? Why or why not?
- Did the family seem fleshed out or flat?
- Did you cry? If so, at what point? (coughChristmascough)
- Who would you be most like in this situation: Miranda, Mom, Jonny, Matt, Dad, Mrs. Nesbitt, Peter?
- Would you do whatever it took to stay alive, and at what point would you draw the line?
- Would you stay in the (relative) comfort of home, or strike out in search of something better?
- How would you react to Megan’s wish to (achieved) die, under the guise of sacrifice?
- Would you hang on to hope, no matter what, or give up?
