“Life as We Knew It”, is the first book to a trilogy written by Susan Pfeffer. This wonderfully drama filled sci-fi novel takes place in a modest suburban town in Pennsylvania. The story is told through journal entries written by the main character Miranda. Miranda’s world is completely shaken, as she and her family find themselves in an unfamiliar and seemingly hopeless situation.
Miranda and her family struggle to hold themselves together after the moon is knocked out of place by a meteor, causing more problems than anyone could’ve predicted. Several drastic changes occur causing Miranda and her family’s way of living to be completely changed. Gas prices sky rocket to $35 for every three gallons, coastal cities are destroyed, food amounts are miniscule and many people become ill, some even die.
Miranda comes to understand that the only thing she must stay focused on is herself and her family surviving. With a rise in fatalities and disaster hitting close, the family realizes that the situation they are stuck in is life, or death. The author uses an immense amount of highly descriptive wording to really get readers visualizing the story. The book takes you on a journey with the family, as if your part of their struggle for survival and sanity.
Throughout the book Pfeffer reals you into these characters lives, by choosing to have written the book in the first person point of view. “Miranda’s” raw journal entries gives you the most information about everything the family is going through. The book does a great job of showing that people should be thankful for everything they have, because it could easily be taken away. The author represents perseverance through the family’s constant fight to hold on to hope no matter what struggles they may be facing.