How I Live Now

by Meg Rosoff

book data

2,054 ratings, 3.78 average rating, 455 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		28%
4		36%
3		21%
2		8%
1		3%

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published

April 11th 2006 (first published 2004) by Wendy Lamb Books

binding

Paperback

literary awards

2005 Michael L. Printz Award

isbn

0553376055 (isbn13: 9780553376050)

description

To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she ins...more

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Best Young Adult Novels

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2,821)

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05/21/07

Kate rated it:

(review of isbn 0385746776)

bookshelves: a-little-romance, armchair-travels, award-winners, epic-odysseys, grief, intrigue, library-school, ls583, orphans, social-commentary, ya-fic

Read in June, 2007

how i live now has been called a modern-day Jane Eyre – which I can dig, had Bronte’s novel been set during a terrorist occupation and featured incestuous teenage romance. (St John Rivers doesn't count.) Fleeing a disinterested father, a wicked stepmother, and an eating disorder, 15-year-old Daisy moves to England to live with her cousins on a farm. Their idyllic adventures are interrupted by a war with an unnamed, unseen enemy, and the children are forced to go on the run as food, water, an...more

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01/02/08

Kelsey rated it:

This book was really different from anything I've read in a long time. A fifteen-year-old girl from New York City is sent to live with her close-like-telepathy-close cousins on a rural, country farm in England when her father and step-mother find her attitude and eating issues too trying to deal with any longer. The entire novel is a fast-paced first person narrative, with little dialogue but a lot of voice.

The book opens with Daisy's arrival in England, and then you pretty much neve...more This book was really different from anything I've read in a long time. A fifteen-year-old girl from New York City is sent to live with her close-like-telepathy-close cousins on a rural, country farm in England when her father and step-mother find her attitude and eating issues too trying to deal with any longer. The entire novel is a fast-paced first person narrative, with little dialogue but a lot of voice.

The book opens with Daisy's arrival in England, and then you pretty much never hear anything else about her life before. The entire country is on the verge of a war that everyone is pretty sure will never happen, but no one is sure. The morning after Daisy arrives, her aunt leaves on a business trip, leaving Daisy and her four cousins to themselves for a few days. They fall into a kind of dreamy, sleepy, summery haze, because they're all "homeschooled" (aka free to roam) and the farm doesn't have internet or cell phone reception - there's no supervision, no bedtime, no obligations.. they just kind of lay around together all day and soak up how peaceful life can be. She (Daisy) also starts sleeping with one of her cousins, which is much less shocking or gross than it seems. Really, I promise!

Anyway, soon, the war nobody thought would happen, happens. An invasion by The Enemy keeps Daisy's aunt far from home, because all the airlines have shut down. Next, the Enemy disables electricity. It's kind of bizarre for the kids' to comprehend what's going on outside their little safe haven, because they're not really being affected by it - until the British army decides to quarter soldiers at the farm house, and the kid's are split up and sent away. The story chronicles Daisy and her youngest cousins journey, largely on foot, fending for themselves and trying to reunite with their cousins under nearly impossible circumstances. Like I said before, even though they are fifteen and it's her cousin, it's not distasteful in the least, and by the end you just reallyreallyreally want he and Daisy to be reunited.

If you had asked me immediately after finishing this book what rating I would give it, I probably would have said like 3.5 or 3.75. I liked it, other than the fact that the first-person narrative started out waytoofasttoenjoyorunderstand, but I felt like a lot of detail was often skimmed over, and I hated not hearing the rest of the characters' stories while the group was separated. But then - I couldn't stop thinking about it! I thought about it all day after I finished it, went to bed thinking about it, and woke up still thinking about it the next morning. I went back and sifted through parts I was curious about, re-read chapters, etc. It's a very haunting story.. The more I thought about it, the higher my rating got. I'd give it more like a 4.5-5.

Overall, I loved it. Highly recommended.(less)

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

2 comments

08/29/07

Punk rated it:

(review of isbn 038590908X)

bookshelves: ya

Read in November, 2004

YA. This is almost one of those staples of children's literature where the unwanted child gets sent off to live with strange relatives in the English countryside, then the cousins all have precious adventures together and learn a little something about family. It's almost like that, except a war breaks out and their precious adventures turn into gritty survivalism instead. Even in the middle of rations and artillery, our narrator has a kind of implicit eating disorder, and I still can't tell if ...more

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05/18/07

Emma rated it:

Read in June, 2006

At first I was hesitant to put this book in my CLW line up because it is not, actually, a book I love. However, after giving the matter some thought I've decided that even though I don't adore it, this novel does fit my basic "chick lit" guideline (strong female character in a book written by a female author) so it gets to stay.

"How I Live Now" is Meg Rosoff's first novel. It is a Printz Award winner (an award for excellence in young adult literature), the Branfor...more

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10/27/07

victoria.p rated it:

Read in October, 2007

I really loved this book. Daisy is a vivid, compelling narrator - she reminds me of Cassandra Mortmain from I Capture the Castle in some ways - indomitable will and dry wit and the ability to be clear-eyed even when it hurts or is at her own expense - and her story is heartbreaking and utterly engaging. I was in tears by the end. The writing is sharp and insightful and funny, and it carries the story forward inexorably, and I couldn't look away even when I was afraid of what was going to happen...more

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09/06/07

Eileen rated it:

bookshelves: war, ya

Read in September, 2007

I started reading this book at the store, got to chapter 26, and realized it was the end of my lunch break. Today I got it from the library, finished it, and immediately started again.

Possibly this is all because of my general obsession with social history and behavior around/during particular contemporary wars, but still I think it's good enough to induce compulsion. I find the arc of the story quick, violent (literally/metaphorically), and extremely believable. The character deve...more

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01/23/09

Sarah rated it:

bookshelves: 2006, fiction, post-apocalyptic

Read in November, 2006

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

we all know i love the post-apocalyptic, what-do-we-do-when-everything-changes kinda books. and this was one of ‘em.
it’s a young adult book, set in the present, primarily set in britain. there’s a war looming. the main character, a 15 year old girl from nyc, gets sent to live with her cousins in rural england. then war breaks out and the army sequesters itself in their home, and the kids are broken up and sent away to different homes (the aunt is mia). they (the main character and on...more we all know i love the post-apocalyptic, what-do-we-do-when-everything-changes kinda books. and this was one of ‘em.
it’s a young adult book, set in the present, primarily set in britain. there’s a war looming. the main character, a 15 year old girl from nyc, gets sent to live with her cousins in rural england. then war breaks out and the army sequesters itself in their home, and the kids are broken up and sent away to different homes (the aunt is mia). they (the main character and one of her younger female cousins) live with a nice family, but then the father gets murdered. so they go along with the army to a barn where they all set up camp.
eventually the camp is attacked, so the two girls set out to find the rest of their family (three brothers). they trek across the country-side by themselves, eventually finding the camp where the boys were, but it had been massacred. they decide to go home. no one is there, but they make due living off the land, as they did while they walked in search of the others.
eventually, the main character’s father calls, and she gets sent home to the us. later, the war ends, and she returns to england.
what really struck me, more than anything, about story is how it barely seems like it’s set in the present. i don’t think that’s a flaw of authorship or writing style, i think it’s just accurate. it seems like its set during WWII. partly because it’s set in europe, but also because of how they have to survive. the modern conveniences (electricity, fuel burning engines, non-hand pumped or carried water, etc.) fail them. there’s no mention of the internet (it is a rural setting, but still), no mention of cell phones, nothing like that. it’s not all gone, but it is all dysfunctional because of both the rural setting and the war.
i thought it was pretty realistic though. the girl, having been raised in manhattan, didn’t know compass directions besides ‘uptown was north’. that’s pretty realistic for most kids that are 15 these days. i’m glad the author didn’t write them as just knowing how to bivouac or follow the moss growing on the side of the tree or whatever. she gave them the modern shortcomings that modern kids would have in a situation like the one they were in. i appreciated that.
there wasn’t anything on the war (why, who, what), but that wasn’t the point of the story. the point was there was a war, people died, things failed, but you’re still alive and you have to stay alive.
two blogs i read often talk about how it’s important to know things about how to grow food, make clothes, kill animals, etc. in case we ever need to. i agree.
i have this foolish thought that because i had a lot of outdoor activities as a kid (biking, hiking, canoeing all in the hardcore outdoors) that i know some stuff about how to survive without all the conveniences of 21st century life. i don’t. maybe i used to, but i don’t anymore. i don’t know which side of the tree moss grows on. i don’t know which wild berries are safe to eat. i don’t know how to kill, skin, and gut anything. i don’t know how to start a fire without matches. it would be nice to have at least a few of the basics down.
i don’t know that society will come to that in my lifetime (a return to the days of living off the land completely and individually/independently) but i think that it will eventually. and i’m not sure that people (here i’m talking about people living in industrialized/westernized/computerized nations) will be able to deal with it. some people will of course, but i don’t think a lot will.
anyway. i liked the book. it made me think. at times i got a little annoyed with the first person narrative, but i don’t think it could have been told in another manner.
5/5
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11/09/08

Sophia rated it:

(review of isbn 0141318015)

Read in November, 2008

recommends it for: Gaby

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

"You never know what life is going to give you". That’s kind of my motto, and its right because it never occurred to me that this book would cross my way; I found this book buried in a small book shelf with 10 books maximum, maybe forgotten by time, and since the first chapter I’m still in awe by...more

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03/07/08

Trin rated it:

bookshelves: apocafic, english-lit, fiction, ya

Read in March, 2008

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 ele...more

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11/15/07

Ginny rated it:

Read in December, 2007

Fifteen-year-old Daisy, unhappy and anorexic, is bundled off to live with her aunt and cousins in rural England in this slightly-futuristic young adult novel. In a refreshing change of pace for the "unwanted-girl-is-sent-to-live-with-relatives" genre, Daisy's relations welcome and embrace her. They are a strange little group, and Daisy fits right in, sharing their psychic talents for one thing.

When the country is invaded, Daisy must travel through war-torn England with her...more

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09/22/07

Littlespy rated it:

Read in April, 2007

recommends it for: teens, adults

It's a 'teen fiction' but I think that kind of label sometimes does a disservice to some amazing literature that's out there. I'm in a book group and it's this months book. I picked it up today planning to skim read it ready for Wednesday but was so engrossed that I read the whole thing in about two hours.

It's written in a first person narrative and the narrator is a 15 year old annorexic from New York who's sent to live with her English cousins. That would probably be enough to put ...more

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06/26/07

Melinda rated it:

Every once in a while, I like to read a book written for teens--to recapture that sense of youth and hopefulness mixed with aching torment--revisiting the emotions of first-loves and the horror of high-school. I think it is important for adults, especially parents, to identify with what teenagers today are reading and going through. Set in the very near future, the novel tells the story of a 15-year old American named Daisy who is sent to visit her cousins on a farm in Britain. A war breaks ou...more

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06/26/07

Megan rated it:

bookshelves: adultfiction, youngadultnovels

recommends it for: Not for the faint of heart

This book is considered young adult, but I would not hesitate to shelve it as an adult book. It's a quick read and it is almost impossible to put down. Daisy is an american teen sent to live with extended family over in England. The time is present day, though it could be the future, and at the beginning of the book the ominous presence of war looms in the background. When Daisy reaches her cousins, I can't remember why their mother is away but she is, war breaks out and literally arrives in...more

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09/06/07

rebekah rated it:

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: anyone

I am a big fan of YA fiction and this little book did not disappoint. I couldn´t sleep last night and reading this book did not help since once I started I had to finish it in one reading. As soon as I was done I wanted to read it again...Daisy´s coming of age tale was well written, captivating and engaging. The author did an excellent job of writing in the teen voice and capturing the horror of war. I am a big fan of apopylitic stories and survival tales, even though they feed my own paranoid...more

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02/19/08

Shannon rated it:

(review of isbn 0141318015)

bookshelves: own, ya-books

Read in February, 2008

Good. It still kind of annoys me when authors decide to forgo the usage of quotes when indicating speaking. But it worked okay in this one. Also, they kept doing Random Capital Words like this when something was meant to be emphasized. Like. It was a Very Big Deal. I don't know, that also annoys the crap out of me. Another thing. STOP MAKING ANOREXIA SEEM SEXY, YA AUTHORS. I don't understand the trend. Though in this book, the main chick pretty much gets over her "it's so cool to be skinny...more

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02/01/08

Jessica rated it:

bookshelves: young-adult

Read in July, 2007

I was looking foward to reading this book, but I have to confess it was a bit of a disappointment. I was hoping for another post-apocalyptic teenage-survivor novel after finishing John Marsden's Tomorrow series, but Daisy is no Ellie. The writing style in the book is atrocious (it's meant to sound like you're listening to Daisy talking out loud - lots of sentence fragments and run-ons) and, while I got used to that eventually, I had a hard time swallowing the telepathic bond among the family me...more

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05/25/07

Jordan rated it:

(review of isbn 038590908X)

Read in May, 2007

It usually takes me a little while to adjust to a book. There was none of that here. The voice and the feelings, I recognized them immediately and followed them without skepticism or any other baggage into I guess a parallel present that seemed a lot more real than most books I read (which is pretty impressive considering what’s happening in that parallel present). I’m still so stuck in the story that I keep catching myself feeling disoriented in my apartment, wondering vaguely what I’m do...more

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04/10/08

Zen rated it:

bookshelves: kidslit, magicalrealism

Read in April, 2008

Readable and pretty, though just a little too, hm -- precious is not quite the word. Let's just say that I shall henceforth approach books told in the first person by teenagers from New York City with caution, because they have a too-cool-for-you air which just seems a bit too made to appeal to teenagers. Though not any teenagers I ever knew or was -- just the idea people have of teenagers.

Still, quite good on English countryside and horrors of war, despite eccentric lack of punctuatio...more

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01/25/08

Rachel rated it:

bookshelves: teen-and-children

An end of the world dooms day story about fifteen year old Daisy who gets sent to England to live with her Aunt and cousins by her evil stepmother. When in England, a war breaks out and Daisy must learn how to survive without electricity, water, and regular food. The story is even more complex then that because on top of the war Daisy falls in love with her cousin and struggles with her eating disorder. There are some really sad and frightening moments in the book that give the reader a realisti...more

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02/22/09

Rebecca rated it:

bookshelves: middle-school-book-group

Read in February, 2009

One of my favorite books in the world. Re-read for book group. After we picked this (out of a bunch of titles I laid out) I started to worry -- had I added the title selfishly?--was it totally inappropriate for middle school? was I blinded by love of the book and wanting to re-read it and discuss it...were the students going to be terrified. end of the world / cousin-sex / etc...
I'm so glad we read it--the group totally impressed me. They read it so well, so fully--they were moved, but n...more

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quotes from this book

"On the warm stone walls, climbing roses were just coming into bloom and great twisted branches of honeysuckle and clematis wrestled each other as they tumbled up and over the top of the wall. Against another wall were white apple blossoms on branches cut into sharp crucifixes and forced to lie flat against the stone. Below, the huge frilled lips of giant tulips in shades of white and cream nodded in their beds. They were almost finished now, spread open too far, splayed, exposing obscene black centers. I've never had my own garden but I suddenly recognized something in the tangle of this one that wasn't beauty. Passion, maybe. And something else. Rage. " More quotes...