Barbara M. reviewed on + 6 more book reviews
Cut to the chase: yes, this is an interesting book, worth reading. I would recommend it to a friend.
There are some caveats, however. First, this is not a happy story. Like much YA fiction (think Hunger Games), the future the writer imagines is bleak. And, given the drum beat of news this summer from Syria, Kenya, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc., that future is not unimaginable. From the perspective of the 15 year old narrator, terrorists have taken over England by guerilla means: a few well placed bombs in big cities, poison in the water supply, destruction of electricity-generating facilities. The people are forced to live by their own resources, mostly in the countryside, scrabbling for food. The narrator says she has no idea who the terrorists are, what they represent, or why they have done what they have done. And that sounds depressingly familiar.
Some have objected to the sexual love affair between the two cousins. Pshaw. Yes, they fall in love and have sex. But the author refrains from anything remotely explicit. It is very tame stuff, and not beyond the bounds of believability. After all, these cousins, one British, one American, have never met before the beginning of the book, and have no history together that might make their relationship smarmy.
Others have noted the limitations of a limited first person narrator. Yes, that's true. Sometimes the reader wishes for more detail, or more insight--neither of which Daisy, the American, has--not for herself, and not for us. This is especially clear in the ending of the book where the characters are left in a somewhat unsatisfactory limbo. No spoilers, here.
Anyway--this is a quick read, worth the time, and strangely unsettling given the state of the world today.
There are some caveats, however. First, this is not a happy story. Like much YA fiction (think Hunger Games), the future the writer imagines is bleak. And, given the drum beat of news this summer from Syria, Kenya, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc., that future is not unimaginable. From the perspective of the 15 year old narrator, terrorists have taken over England by guerilla means: a few well placed bombs in big cities, poison in the water supply, destruction of electricity-generating facilities. The people are forced to live by their own resources, mostly in the countryside, scrabbling for food. The narrator says she has no idea who the terrorists are, what they represent, or why they have done what they have done. And that sounds depressingly familiar.
Some have objected to the sexual love affair between the two cousins. Pshaw. Yes, they fall in love and have sex. But the author refrains from anything remotely explicit. It is very tame stuff, and not beyond the bounds of believability. After all, these cousins, one British, one American, have never met before the beginning of the book, and have no history together that might make their relationship smarmy.
Others have noted the limitations of a limited first person narrator. Yes, that's true. Sometimes the reader wishes for more detail, or more insight--neither of which Daisy, the American, has--not for herself, and not for us. This is especially clear in the ending of the book where the characters are left in a somewhat unsatisfactory limbo. No spoilers, here.
Anyway--this is a quick read, worth the time, and strangely unsettling given the state of the world today.
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