Life as We Knew it = fascinating premise + terrifying and eye opening details + a remainder of the virtues we take for granted + developed characters and wonderful character relationships + hopeful and realistic ending.

This book = the most unbelievable and infuriating main character ever who seems to live under a rock and I didn’t care if he lived or not + such a boring and negative tone that I couldn’t feel any sympathy, sadness, excitement, etc., just annoyance and tediousness + random ending.

See the difference?

Life as We Knew it >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The Dead and the Gone

This book is practically unreadable. I understand that Susan Beth Pfeffer wrote this book because she wanted to portray how the near-apocalyptic disaster was experienced by different characters in a different setting (New York in this book while it was a Pennsylvania town in LAWKI). This companion book doesn’t explore new plot from the first book; it’s the same earthquakes, tides, flu, etc. all over again. And I might have still liked it if it wasn’t for the characters and the voice of the story.

First of all: Alex. Like I said, he lives under rock. All kinds of tragedies are occurring around him, and he just goes on praying, studying for his finals, and ordering his sisters to do the household work. Okay, so he is Hispanic, but that doesn’t mean that he has to be stereotyped as a Catholic and a believer of strict gender roles.

Also, this book is “darker,” but I didn’t feel a thing. There were riots and “body shopping” scenes, and there was no intensity at all. No feelings were steaming up off the pages. It like a dull monotone voice dictating a long shopping list and I was wondering just when it was going to end.

And when it did end, it ended in the middle of nowhere. One good thing though: the book ENDED. Yay.

So supposedly, the third book is going to have Miranda from LAWKI and Alex (hate, hate, hate) from this book fall in love with each other. Blehhh. We’ll see how THAT goes.