Written by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Written by Susan Beth Pfeffer, Life As We Knew It explores the theme of survival, love, and cataclysmic disasters. The story sets in rural Pennsylvania, where a large meteor knocked the moon closer to the earth, drastically changing the earth’s environmental controls. Everyone is completely unprepared and vulnerable, making them susceptible to the lurking dangers encompassing them. Tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun. Summer turns to arctic winter, and electricity is on the verge of running out. Their food supply is dwindling, and those left alive are starving and dying from deadly diseases. Stockpiled food, limited water, and warmth from the wood-burning stove are all that’s left to subsist on.

Pfeffer allows the reader to get a sense of the devastation in the midst of Evan’s family, by writing in the perspective of the protagonist, Miranda, a high school sophomore. She enables us to envision how life would be like in an abrupt natural disaster. In addition, the use of the story told in brief journal entries contributes to making it a heart-pounding, gripping novel, by infusing the reader with honest emotions that gradually builds up the intensity and tension. Each page of the novel is filled with authenticity and immediacy, with wearying and petrifying events. Families vanish, and the whole village turns dark and silent. The Evan’s family must realize that whatever obstacles and circumstances they face and despite the limited time they have left, determination, love, and hope for each other is all that’s left to cling on. Life As We Knew It is a thrilling, harrowing, action packed novel, highlighting Miranda’s struggle and determination to live, despite the drastic changes in her life - the loss of friends, severe epidemics, and famine.