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acline's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
polywogqueen's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
dontstopreadin's review
3.0
This is why you don't watch the movie/adaptation first. Lots of great moments/parts, but I think I liked the film better (blasphemy, I know).
goodyeargoodbooks's review
2.0
2 stars. This book didn't just annoy me, or irritate me. It outright infuriates me. I've seen this advertised as 12+, but it glorifies underage (incestuous) sex, eating disorders and disgusting, selfish and offensive behaviour. I've rarely found so many issues in one solitary 210-page book. Full review here --> https://emdoesbookreviews.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/how-i-live-now-by-meg-rosoff/
trin's review
2.0
In this novel, teenager Daisy escapes her "evil" stepmother to live with her cousins in England; embarks on a semi-incestuous relationship with her cousin Edmond, with whom she shares some sort of psychic connection; and must fend for herself and protect her young cousin Piper when England is invaded by some unnamed foreign power. Plus she's got to confront her anorexia. Or something.
I still have no idea was Rosoff was going for in this book. There are so many different elements, but they seem more like random plot ideas plucked from a hat than parts of a cohesive whole. The details of the war were left almost entirely up to the imagination, but not in the sense that there were just enough hints dropped to make everything seem very creepy. Instead, everything's vague to the point of who cares. I never believed in it. Also, I think I've reached my limit with prose that mimics the style of the opening chapters of [b: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|7588|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|James Joyce|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554800429l/7588._SY75_.jpg|3298883]. Youthful first-person narrators don't ALL need to use run-on sentences and sporadic punctuation. Can we make an official ruling that that device has gotten old? Thanks.
I still have no idea was Rosoff was going for in this book. There are so many different elements, but they seem more like random plot ideas plucked from a hat than parts of a cohesive whole. The details of the war were left almost entirely up to the imagination, but not in the sense that there were just enough hints dropped to make everything seem very creepy. Instead, everything's vague to the point of who cares. I never believed in it. Also, I think I've reached my limit with prose that mimics the style of the opening chapters of [b: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|7588|A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man|James Joyce|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554800429l/7588._SY75_.jpg|3298883]. Youthful first-person narrators don't ALL need to use run-on sentences and sporadic punctuation. Can we make an official ruling that that device has gotten old? Thanks.
rgoodhart's review against another edition
4.0
I’m not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this!
I was pretty sure I’d read this somewhere years ago… but I didn’t remember ANY of it, so I must have been wrong about that.
I knew this was some kind of love story: but I had no idea about the war element.
This was published in 2004, yet much of what is described felt reminiscent of the pandemic. The deserted roads, the most beautiful May weather, nature taking over, birdsong being heard.
I was about half way through before I even noticed the lack of punctuation for speech: possibly because there’s not much dialogue, it’s all just memories.
I’d be hard pushed to describe what ‘happens’… I wonder how someone from Ukraine would feel reading this?
I wasn’t expecting the anorexia theme, or in fact, just about anything that happened. Intrigued to watch the film now.
I was pretty sure I’d read this somewhere years ago… but I didn’t remember ANY of it, so I must have been wrong about that.
I knew this was some kind of love story: but I had no idea about the war element.
This was published in 2004, yet much of what is described felt reminiscent of the pandemic. The deserted roads, the most beautiful May weather, nature taking over, birdsong being heard.
I was about half way through before I even noticed the lack of punctuation for speech: possibly because there’s not much dialogue, it’s all just memories.
I’d be hard pushed to describe what ‘happens’… I wonder how someone from Ukraine would feel reading this?
I wasn’t expecting the anorexia theme, or in fact, just about anything that happened. Intrigued to watch the film now.
allisonschoneschmetterling's review
3.0
*EDIT AFTER WRITING REVIEW*: damn I just read all the crazy shit the author wrote about the movement of inclusion in YA literature and a growing market for books featuring marginalized characters.
leaflover's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
“Pollen drunk bees” “so there we are carrying on our happy little life of under age sex, child labour and espionage” “well what do you know, every war has a silver lining”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Deportation, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Murder, Violence, Blood, Child death, Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, and War