The Living by Matt de la Peña | Teen Ink

The Living by Matt de la Peña

September 22, 2017
By JuanSensei BRONZE, Arlington, Texas
JuanSensei BRONZE, Arlington, Texas
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

This book was just simply amazing. It was about a guy named Shy who got a summer job at a cruise ship to help out his mom. Everything changes for him when he sees a man commit suicide. A week later an agent, who worked in the same company as the guy who jumped off the ship, starts asking him questions. Then across the ocean the Big One hits creating a big storm in the ocean.The storm caused a tsunami and made the ship go through a lot of bad things. Overall it had a creative story and great characters. I really loved the fact that Matt De La Peña described the events creatively and clearly. Another thing that I loved was the characterization. For example, when Addie, one of the protagonists, said“‘It’ll be perfect. I’ll post a bunch of pictures online--’Cassie and her pool boy’ Can you imagine everyone back home?”( Peña 74). Addie is portrayed as a rich and spoiled girl. She was pretty mean to Shy and made fun of him because he was the towel boy and because he and to clean the pool area. But near the end she said: “‘Just so you know,’ she whispered, ‘I think I was going to love you, Shy’” (Peña 230). This quote showed me that Addie had a change of heart once all the bad things started happening. This book  has some pretty mature words in it. I would recommend this to students above 14 years of age and who love action and suspense. I guarantee that this book will really get you hooked on once it gets to the good part of the story.



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