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Empty

3.17 of 5 stars 3.17 · rating details · 1,708 ratings · 362 reviews

A dystopic look at what happens to one American town when all the fossil fuels run out...

It's the near future - the very near future - and the fossil fuels are running out. No gas. No oil. Which means no driving. No heat. Supermarkets are empty. Malls have shut down. Life has just become more local than we ever knew it could be.

Nobody expected the end to come this fast. A

...more

Hardcover, 192 pages

Published October 1st 2010 by Scholastic Press

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Feb 28, 2011 Claire rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: families, middle and high school classes.

Shelves: a-7th-and-8th-grade-middle-school-t, adults-reading-ya-lit, faves, guys-read, high-school-and-beyond, summer-reading, high-school-fairs, book-fairs-spring-2013

The writing is quite straightforward, the characters are consistent, what sings in this novel is the theme. Wake up! We are, for all intents and purposes, out of oil- it is non-renewable!
When the near east, Canada and Alaska run out of oil- the US declares war on Argentina to force opening of new oil fields for our use. Bolivia, holder of lithium, joins Argentina against the US.
At home, 17 year old Gwen is living under the radar, her mom split years ago and she and her older brother Luke are t...more

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Aug 15, 2010 Abby Johnson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: blogged

As oil reserves run out and oil prices skyrocket, resulting in shortages of everything, three teens in a small town in New York will have to figure out how to survive. I had such high hopes for this book and I think the premise is really interesting, but stock characters and unrealistic dialog made this one a miss. I think that kids who read it may learn some things about how oil is used that they might not have realized before, so it might have classroom applications. Aside from the cover (whic...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Lani H rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: enriched-reading-semester-2-2013

Plot Summary-
"Empty" by Suzanne Weyn is a story about a community called Spring Valley that has to live without oil. When we think of things we can't live without, we think of food, water, and shelter, but no one really realizes the importance of oil. In this world where people had to live their daily lives without oil, they couldn't get to work anymore so many were fired or laid off which left them with no money. Heat and electricity were very hard to get without oil. Lelia is worried about sur...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, science-fiction, ya-fiction, survival

So...what if the world's supply of fossil fuel is depleted and this non-renewable energy source is not available to make our plastic, transport our food to market, to power our vehicles? Empty paints a picture in which the world as we know it has ended and a new world, one in which we must find renewable sources of energy, begins.

High schools acquaintances, Tom, Niki, Brock, Gwen, Luke, and Hector, struggle with just this problem and to make matters worse, super-hurricane, OscPearl has dessicat...more

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Dec 17, 2012 Jan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia, teenbooks

This book is part dystopia and part rallying cry on the need for sustainable living and less dependence upon oil for energy. The novel begins in a not so distant future where severe gas shortages have caused disruption to everyone's daily life. But things get worse as global warming causes super hurricanes that devastate Sage Valley, where the novel is set. Gwen and Tom are Sage Valley neighbors who barely know each other, although Gwen is sweet on Tom. When the hurricane hits, Gwen is homeless...more

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Nov 12, 2012 Erika rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm a HUGE fan of apocalyptic and/or dystopian novels. The novel sets the scene very well, introducing a totally plausible scenario. However, the novel tends to gloss over the negatives and emphasize a positive aspect to human nature that didn't ring true in a disaster situation. Coming from the epicenter of Hurricane Sandy mess, a comparison to the real-life gas and power situation was unavoidable. While the novel included a few negative scenes, the positive aspects of humanity emerged far, far...more

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Oct 27, 2012 Jesse Daro rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was one of the worst YA novels with one of the best premises I have ever read. Here's a snippet: "It had happened quicker than anybody thought it could - country by country, well by well, the oil had started to dry up. It was right in front of everybody's faces, but they pretended it wasn't happening. They still tried to drive everywhere. They still cranked their heat in winter and air-conditioning in summer." Flinching yet?

The lackluster story-line, which seems to jump at random between na...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 23, 2012 Seth rated it 1 of 5 stars

Are you an aspiring author who lacks confidence that your manuscript can cut the mustard with a publisher?

Read "Empty" and feel your confidence in your work become FULL.

If this can get published, then surely you can!

I've always lived under the assumption that an author submits a manuscript and then the editor reads it and suggests revisions. I get the impression that in this case, they ran spell check and decided it was good to go.

Our local Borders went belly and so they had a several-weeks clea...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Gretchen rated it 3 of 5 stars

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

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Jul 15, 2012 Barakiel rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Teens

The writing annoyed me to no end.

Here's why:

1. The news articles were not believable. Too many vague "facts". Terms like "a little", "some believe" destroy the credibility of the articles. Where are the dates and facts? Who, what, when, why and how?

2. The time-line was confusing. I thought we were still in the same week when in the middle of a chapter I hear it announced that it's actually 2 months later.

3. The way the people talk is annoying. For instance, when (view spoiler)...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Aleeshas2 rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: bleh, orginal-idea, a-teacher, yawn

Empty by Suzzane Weyn was a book that I had to force myself to finish. The overall story bored me to the point that I was skipping many pages at once to get it over with. From the blurb I was expecting a fast moving dystopian sci-fi novel filled with suspense , action and adventure but instead I found a teenage romance novel with yet another love triangle! Don't get me wrong, I do like a good romance novel but the romance was anything but good. It was practically dead and well… plain boring. The...more Empty by Suzzane Weyn was a book that I had to force myself to finish. The overall story bored me to the point that I was skipping many pages at once to get it over with. From the blurb I was expecting a fast moving dystopian sci-fi novel filled with suspense , action and adventure but instead I found a teenage romance novel with yet another love triangle! Don't get me wrong, I do like a good romance novel but the romance was anything but good. It was practically dead and well… plain boring. The story was poorly developed with barely anything interesting happening. The idea for the dystopian world was obviously plausible but lacked enough detail to give readers the sense that the author gave the idea enough thought. The time in which scenes occurred was vague, along with details of what exactly happening in the world around them . The story seemed 'meddled up' , being anything but smooth.
I also noticed that Empty was written using the technique of 3rd person omniscient(not to be mistaken with 3rd person) , which allows the author to write in 3rd person not concentrating on merely one character but all the characters. This technique , when well used , can be very effective but Suzzanne Weyn did NOT use it well. Instead she create a story that seemed stilted in pace , slightly confusing and annoying to read.
Frankly, at the beginning of the book nothing happened besides the characters going on with their daily lives , I kept reading in hopes that eventually something would happen.
I didn't enjoy the characters in the book, they were bland and their dialogue was awkward. The author didn't work with the setting that she created . For a majority of the novel more focus was given to the personal lives of the characters. Which as a consequence overshadowed the one message that I liked about the book - how dependent we are on things such as oil and gas.
Also, the story ended in a way that seemed unrealistic and almost to easy...
Despite everything I still managed to finish the book so it might not have been as bad as I made it out to be.

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Jun 01, 2012 Katy Jane rated it 2 of 5 stars

It took me about 2 weeks to read this. Why?
-The writing style was forced and confusing. One chapter would be in July and then the next would say, "Saturday Gwen got up." But you wouldn't realize it was 2 months later until halfway through the chapter. The very beginning of the book said 10 years from now. Ten years from what date? Not until the middle of the book do we find out that it is 2003. Time references were awful.
-The story was too easy and forced. Gwen went into a mine. She stored a fl...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Sarah Beth rated it 2 of 5 stars

I picked away at this book a few months back, just reading a few pages here and there. Finally I figured there was no excuse for me not to finish it, so I did.

I feel mean giving this book two stars. But I have to be honest- the more I read it, the more the reading felt like a chore, which is why it took me months to get through (because I was more focused on reading more captivating novels). I just never felt like I could find it in me to care about what happened next... The characters were dist...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Kribu rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult

I had high hopes when I picked up this book. The plot/scenario sounded interesting - no matter what side of the "green" debate one stands on, I don't think anyone can deny that oil will run out some day, whether it's in the near future or a few generations from now - and I've grown used to young adult books dealing with dystopian, apocalyptic or just plain disaster plots in an intelligent and decently written way.

So, yes, "Empty" held a lot of promise for me. Unfortunately what it turned out to...more

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Apr 07, 2012 Rebecca Weimert added it

Rebecca Weimert
Science Fiction

Empty follows three teens, Gwen, Nicki, and Tom as they struggle to survive after a super hurricane, and virtually no oil for gas. Gas has risen to $40-100 a gallon and is nearly impossible to find and now the U.S. is in a war with Venezuela over oil. After the hurricane hits Nicki and Tom fight to save their family and themselves from a massive flood, and Gwen is alone in the forest struggling to find a warm dry place to stay, until she discovers a model green home...more

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Mar 28, 2012 Joanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, dystopian

Being a fan of The Barcode Tattoo by Suzanne Weyn, I was happy to pick up is ok from the library. With current gas prices predicted to rise, the book seemed timely. Set in the not too distant future, the gas is running out and the world as we know it is starting to end. With out electricity what would people do without their cell phones, mp3 players, tables, ereaders, even the Internet?

What makes this book unnerving is the fact that oil will run out and we need to start using more alternative en...more

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Jan 17, 2012 Amy Jacobs rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own

For such a short read, this book pulls out all the punches! When it first arrived in my mailbox, I wasn't too sure I wanted to start reading another Dystopia right now. I seemed to be leaning toward dystopia lately and I didn't want to get burnt out on them just yet. When I saw that it was a short read though I went ahead and gave it a go!

Imagine ten years from now the price of gasoline being $20 a gallon. Not hard to imagine with the way gas prices have been climbing the last few years. Now ima...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Carolyn rated it 2 of 5 stars

The idea of this book really reeled me in. The cover was cool, the blurb about the book seemed promising, but once I actually opened the book it went downhill. Maybe it was because I had such high hopes for this book. What I couldn't get over was how obvious the moral and theme of the story was and all the information Mr. and Mrs. Curtin provided sounded like it was right out of a textbook. If I wanted instructions on how to save the planet, I would've opened up my Science textbook. I was lookin...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 04, 2011 Joe rated it 3 of 5 stars

It is 2021. Gas climbs to $40 a gallon, then to $80 a gallon, and then runs out completely. The U.S. has invaded Venezuela in a fruitless bid to corner the last drops of the petro-economy. Not only are people not driving, people are unable to buy any petroleum products including cosmetics, pens, crayons, and a thousand other everyday items. More chillingly, the grocery stores are empty, children are hungry, and America is sinking into anarchy.

Empty follows the experience of some high school stu...more

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Mar 18, 2011 Jennifer Lavoie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-would-teach, dystopia, future, classroom-library

This was really an incredible book. Incredibly terrifying and hopefully not accurate. In the not so distant future this book portrays, the world's supply of oil has been depleted and chaos reigns. The story itself is told from three alternating points of view of teens living during the crises. They all come from very different walks of life, and it's fascinating watching them come together, get over their differences, and learn to accept each other and work together.

The book ends on a hopeful n...more

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Mar 09, 2011 Avery rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is such an eyeopener and I actually found myself freaking out more and more while reading it. Imagine that gas becomes scarcer and more expensive than it already is (seriously, within the last couple of days in Southern Ontario gas has increased by 8 cents a liter- great). I never knew to what extent we relied on gas an if it were to become non-existent how it would affect everyday life (seriously, no TV! How would I watch my darling Damon on "The Vampire Diaries"?!? No fresh food/ pro...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Elena rated it 4 of 5 stars

Empty:
The End of the World
How do you imagine the world ending? Does everybody die? Does the human race start all over again? In Empty, a science fiction novel by Suzanne Weyn, three normal teens are not prepared for what’s happening around them. Tom, Gwen, and Niki all dwell in present day Sage Valley, New York when global warming finally hits. The world’s oil has run out, and the weather is cooking up some major storms. Along with these problems, they still have to contend with everyday teen i...more Empty:
The End of the World
How do you imagine the world ending? Does everybody die? Does the human race start all over again? In Empty, a science fiction novel by Suzanne Weyn, three normal teens are not prepared for what’s happening around them. Tom, Gwen, and Niki all dwell in present day Sage Valley, New York when global warming finally hits. The world’s oil has run out, and the weather is cooking up some major storms. Along with these problems, they still have to contend with everyday teen issues. Will the town be able to pull out of this struggle? One theme in Empty is that the world needs to change its ways because people need to trust each other, vital resources will run out, and global warming will begin to strike.
One reason why the world needs to change its ways is because people need to trust each other. This is shown a lot in the book by the conflicts between the characters. In times of trouble, people become desperate; they’d do anything to stay alive. A scene that describes this takes place at a grocery store, “‘What’s going on?’ […] ‘They’re fighting over the food. The store is nearly out and closing down. Those who haven’t been able to get any are attacking people as they come out with their bags” (127). If everybody had worked together, they wouldn’t be in this situation. The store could have evenly allocated the food, and there would be no fighting. We need to learn how to cope with each other, so that we can all subsist.
Another reason why the world needs to change its ways is because vital resources are running out. The earth’s natural reserves aren’t endless. Even now, the world is finding out that some supplies are less accessible, and is trying to find alternate energy sources. In the novel, oil had reached a dangerously low point, and was extremely expensive, even a war had started over it! Most towns lost their power. Tom has to deal with it like everyone else, “[He] thought that school might be canceled because of all the blackouts and the hard time people were having finding fuel. Most kids hadn’t been able to charge their tablets, and teachers were being discouraged from using the electric boards” (33). At this point, most of the oil left was fueling the army in Venezuela to try and acquire their oil. That left towns living off of one gas station that they all shared, first come, first serve style.
Lastly, the world needs to change its ways because global warming will begin to strike. The weather will heat up like it did in the book and create disasters. Apparently, there are such things as super hurricanes, which are two separate ones that coalesce together. Unfortunately, Sage Valley was hit pretty critically by one. The town was flooded and people had to travel by boat. Tom witnessed firsthand the tragedy: “Neighbors instantly noticed him and opened their windows. ‘Hey Tom, can you take me to the doctor?’ ‘I have money for food. Can you buy me some?’ ‘Tom, the mold is making my sister sick. She needs to get out of the house’” (118). People were receiving illnesses from the water that was flooding their basements, and keeping them jammed inside. Unless they had a boat, there was no way for them to go anywhere. One guy’s trailer had blown away and he was left homeless. The book shows that we need to stop pollution and global warming before it gets too late.
One theme in Empty is that the world needs to change its ways because people need to trust each other, vital resources will run out, and global warming will begin to strike. I would rate this book four stars because it was excellently written, but it gave me anxiety about the world ending. While reading this book, I noticed that it was very similar to Life As We Knew It. The main characters had to fight to stay alive and not starve when they all ran out of food. Also, in both books the kids had to start to take charge because sometimes the adults didn’t know what to do. After reading this book, I realized that everyone needs to take part in saving the planet. You can’t just say you’re going green, but never actually do anything to help. That’s just being a hypocrite. Buy a hybrid, shorten your showers, walk to school, etc. This topic is a serious matter; don’t ignore the truth before it’s too late.
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Feb 13, 2011 Karen Ball rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-challenge

Ten years from now, the world's oil reserves are nearly gone, and the U.S. declares war on Venezuela for withholding strategic fuel. That crisis, and a super-hurricane (from two huge ones that merged) hitting the East Coast create a catastrophic disaster, where the now permanent lack of fuel and destroyed roads and bridges prevent food, supplies and assistance from getting to communities like Sage Valley in upstate New York. Gwen, Tom and Nicki live there. Gwen and her brother were abandoned by...more

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Feb 11, 2011 Shannon rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, scifi

I put this book on hold at the library, intrigued by the plot summary. I love a good apocalyptic-esque novel. I had high hopes and sadly, I was disappointed. This book was not very interesting and the apocalypse was just kind of lame. Overall, I would have to say it wasn’t that great of a book, although I did manage to finish it. (It was wicked short).

Basically, it’s about a group of teens in a small town dealing with vaguely apocalyptic things, like power and gas shortages. There is a war going...more

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Dec 04, 2010 Melanie Goodman added it

It’s ten years from now and the United States is running out of gas and oil. It costs too much to make most products, and shipping food and other items is expensive, so the stores are quickly going empty, while the black market is going strong. Few people can afford to drive or fly anywhere. What little oil is left is being diverted to the military troops in Venezuela fighting a war for more non-renewable resources, though other countries are running dry as well. Teens like Gwen, Tom, Niki, and...more

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Oct 09, 2010 P.M. rated it 4 of 5 stars

17 year old Gwen Jones worries most about the fact that her mother left her in the care of her older brother Luke and ran off with her boyfriend. If anyone finds out, she knows that she will be put into foster care. That worry becomes lost in the chaos of the US going to war with Venezuela over oil. When that happens, the small town of Sage Valley undergoes major trauma with violence over the availability of gas and the cost. When global warming fuels a superhurricane that devastates the country...more

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Aug 30, 2012 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, teen

This is a great book not just for teens. It is about the world coming to grasp with the end of oil and all oil by-products. Set in the very near future is follows three teens and how they deal and cope with the situation at hand. Niki comes from a rich family and has everything when everyone else has nothing, however, her world gets turned upside down when her father loses his job and then looses it. Niki soon realizes that she can only depend on herself and Tom. Tom is what would be considered...more This is a great book not just for teens. It is about the world coming to grasp with the end of oil and all oil by-products. Set in the very near future is follows three teens and how they deal and cope with the situation at hand. Niki comes from a rich family and has everything when everyone else has nothing, however, her world gets turned upside down when her father loses his job and then looses it. Niki soon realizes that she can only depend on herself and Tom. Tom is what would be considered middleclass. He recently lost his father and is dealing with not only that, but taking care of his mother as well. When the super hurricane wreaks havoc on their small town Tom realizes he must do whatever it takes to take care of not only his mom but those around him as well, including Niki. Gwen is the girl from the wrong side of the tracks or in this case the fence. Gwen ends up having what most others would covet at this time due to her brother’s black-market activities. She doesn’t ask questions nor does he offer. However, when her house catches on fire and burns to the ground she knows she needs to disappear due to her brother’s illegal activities and her mother had also abandoned then a couple years earlier as well so she fears child services and the police. Gwen runs into the forest knowing and remembering from her childhood the mineshafts in the rocks. She soon finds one and climbs in only to be blocked in during the storm, knowing she needs to find another way out she goes deeper into the rock only to come upon a metal door. She opens the door and a new world takes her in. She has accidentally stumbled upon a self-sustaining house that was built before its time and left abandoned. Tom soon finds Gwen with the help of a mutual friend. Tom ends up bringing Niki there as well with another person, soon they all decide the instead of hording all of the organic food growing in the greenhouse they should bring it to those in need in town. Other towns soon find out and riots begin again, this all happening while Gwen and Tom leave the rest to find other food, but especially to get prescriptions filled for those in need. Gwen’s brother Luke returns to set the rioters straight and the man and company who built the self-sustaining house to put the town back together with the help of a teacher and his wife. The plan is to make this small town self-sustaining so that fuel, oil, gas or not they will be fine and not be affected by the non-renewable resources again.

I found this to be a very interesting book which could very likely happen to the world as we know it at any time. Living in Alberta Canada I see how rich oil and gas can make people and the province as well, but it can also be quiet harmful which can be seen here as well. However, I am very happy to see the steps that are being made to ensure that once the oil and gas is gone all around the world we will still be able to live. I can imagine the world would go to war over oil and gas again, like in the early 90’s with the war in Kuwait, but it doesn’t have to be this way. I am a very avid believer of recycling, and try my hardest to use what I have and to not throw things away if I don’t use it or want it anymore, but can still be used then I try to give it to those who want or need the item. Why not? I think that using wind and solar power and energy is a great idea and should be used more. Using ethanol from corn instead of gas is a great idea as well and so are all the other ideas. Oil and gas have made very many people rich, but as this books so clearly points out we will run out one day and that one day may be very soon, so it is time now to really push for renewable resources to be in place and to replace these non-renewable ones to make the world more sustainable for future generations.
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Apr 21, 2012 Julia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: shelf-o-meh

The cover and summary of this book were very promising, but sadly I couldn't have been more disappointed.

The writing was very simplistic and seemed to be aimed at a very low reading level, yet the main characters were all love-obsessed teenagers. The dialogue and thought processes of the teen characters felt outdated, making it hard to accept that they were living in the near future rather than the fifties or sixties. The characters were also not as developed as I would have liked, and their lov...more The cover and summary of this book were very promising, but sadly I couldn't have been more disappointed.

The writing was very simplistic and seemed to be aimed at a very low reading level, yet the main characters were all love-obsessed teenagers. The dialogue and thought processes of the teen characters felt outdated, making it hard to accept that they were living in the near future rather than the fifties or sixties. The characters were also not as developed as I would have liked, and their love stories fell a bit flat.

I liked the way the details of the oil crisis were told between character perspectives and news articles, but the information was very heavy-handed and read more like a pamphlet at times than a story. There was also far too much coincidence and convenient timing/events to be believable.

I think the biggest disappointment for me was that the oil crisis took an eventual backseat to a weather crisis. There was a lot of back-and-forth between "the oil has run out" and "there will be oil again soon". The flooding seemed to be the greater of the two problems, and in the end I was left feeling like life would more-or-less return to normal except with a greater emphasis on green living.

One thing I really did like, though, was that the two female main characters were very strong without being unrealistic. Both girls stand on their own two feet without help from a boy, and both take the initiative to make things better without influence of a boy. That's not to say they don't eventually partner up with boys, but they aren't just doing nothing when the boys aren't around. But, they're still thinking about boys--and that's ok. I hate it when people think that strong female characters should reject boys altogether. I thought the author struck a great and believable balance here.

I do think this is a great read for the 12-14 age range because it is very informational as far as the reality of our future where oil is concerned, and also has a lot of information about green living alternatives. The author clearly did her research. :)

If you're an older teen or adult, though, looking for a post-apocalyptic exploration of people, love, and the domestic, you may want to skip this one. (less)

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Jun 14, 2011 Josiah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Author Suzanne Weyn paints a dismal view of the future of our world if our extreme dependence on oil, both domestic and foreign, continues to be the dominating force in world relations. Oil reserves all over the world are a finite resource, she warns, non-renewable by nature, and inevitably it will all be consumed in catering to our energy needs. If we as a nation and a world haven't weaned ourselves off of our dependence on oil-based products by the time that the stores hidden within the earth...more Author Suzanne Weyn paints a dismal view of the future of our world if our extreme dependence on oil, both domestic and foreign, continues to be the dominating force in world relations. Oil reserves all over the world are a finite resource, she warns, non-renewable by nature, and inevitably it will all be consumed in catering to our energy needs. If we as a nation and a world haven't weaned ourselves off of our dependence on oil-based products by the time that the stores hidden within the earth are depleted, then where will we be when the bubbling founts of black gold permanently cease to flow?

I certainly don't know everything about the issue, but the urgent warnings expounded upon by Suzanne Weyn in Empty seem logical enough that it should give us pause, at the very least. I don't know whether or not it's conceivable that the world's stores of oil could actually be completely exhausted just ten years from now as the premise of the novel suggests, but even if it doesn't happen for fifty years, or a hundred, there seem to be a number of serious, clear issues regarding our energy consumption that need to be acknowledged and addressed by society at large, not just the intellectual giants who have dedicated their lives to researching new methods of developing energy. If the common man doesn't take the problem seriously and agree to try hard at adapting to the introduction of alternative energy sources, then the transition away from oil, when it inevitably comes, could be a dangerously rocky road for most of our citizens.

Even aside from the hot-button issues that this book stirs up, Empty really is a very good novel. The action is paced well and the characters have dimension, which allows us to feel their fear as they enter the brave new world of the twenty-first century and do their best not to panic as their lives as they know them begin to crumble. Suzanne Weyn knows when to press the accelerator on scenes of suspense and when to ease up a little bit to give us a few moments to breathe and just observe in wonder the storylines that she has created. This approach works well throughout the book. Empty isn't just a dystopian look at the near future, either; there are several complicated relationships introduced and a few scenes of budding romance, and the relationships aren't always simple or easy to figure. Suzanne Weyn really covered all of her bases in this book.

The main characters in the story are Gwen and her boyfriend Hector, both fringe players in the social order at their high school with little in common with the popular crowd, and Tom and Niki, both members of that popular crowd at the high school but not really self-absorbed because of their high status. Gwen in particular has big problems in her life even before the oil shortage; her father and mother are both gone, so she has lived alone with her older brother, Luke, for several years now, hoping that social services won't find out and disrupt their lives. When the nation of Venezuela begins ratcheting up the price of its foreign oil exports to crazy, untenable levels and insists that any country doing business with them pay the price as given, the United States declares war on the audacious South American nation. At this point in history, ten years into the future (so, most likely 2020, considering that Empty was first published in 2010), Venezuela is one of the few countries still actively producing oil in the world, and the United States has no real choice but to buy from them or actually go to war over price gouging. The latter option is reluctantly selected by the government, and with most U.S. oil being diverted to the battle front in South America, supplies back in the U.S. suddenly plummet to a frightening all-time low. The cost for a single gallon of gasoline leaps to between seventy and ninety dollars, and most service stations quickly go out of business when their chains of supply dry up and are no longer available. Driving any kind of gas powered vehicle is now a privilege only affordable to the mega rich, and as the cost of driving soars, food and other vital commodities are unable to be imported to local grocery stores, and people in middle-class American cities begin to face the real possibility of starvation. To make things worse, two giant hurricanes on a collision course with the lower U.S. coast at the exact same time run right into each other and form, for the first time in history, what can only be termed a "superhurricane", a storm with the power to cross the entire body of the United States and wreak the kind of physical destruction that our people have never known. Tom, Gwen and Hector in their normal neighborhood, and Niki in her wealthy one, are now all equally terrified. Could this be the end of the world? Can civilization survive the devastating blows being heaped on its head without cease?

There's a lot to figure out and work through if the United States is going to pull through this crisis and emerge in viable form on the other side, and Gwen inadvertently helps lead the way for her town to move in that direction when she makes an important discovery while taking shelter from the superhurricane in an abandoned mine in the woods. But how can she help a town and a world in trouble when she, herself, faces such uncertainty about the direction of her own personal life? In spite of that, Gwen may prove to be the partial instigator of a local movement that could have a positive ripple effect on surrounding communities, and even gain influence far-reaching enough to affect the wider global network.

Every nation in the world, not just the U.S., is going to have to change its ways if we want to put our dependence on oil behind us and embrace the future with cleaner ways of producing energy that have no definite end point as is the case with oil. In my opinion, Empty does a really good job of pointing out the problems coming quickly coming toward us without being overly dramatic or propagating unproven doomsday theories; the loss of oil as a provider of energy is a serious issue, sure, but it doesn't set off any series of events in this book that will eventually destroy the world, and there are definite ways back to normal even after the crisis point has been hit. This book gives hope for the future as well as a warning, and that's a good starting point for discussion on the story's permeating themes, and what they may mean for us in our own real lives ten years (or more) from now. Empty is also just a generally good book, with moments of compelling suspense and marked throughout by good writing, and I think that it's definitely a novel worth experiencing. I recommend it even for those who aren't particularly interested in reading about environmental issues. (less)

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Apr 22, 2011 Chelsea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, dystopian

Empty by Suzanne Weyn focuses on the depletion of fossil fuels ten years in the future. The main characters, Niki, Tom, and Gwen must sort through their love lives while trying to shake off their old ways of living in order to survive the future.

For me, this novel had two great selling points.

1) It was on sale. Borders is closing shop all around so it was a bargain at a location in Tennessee.

2) It serves as a great warning.

We will run out of fossil fuels and, despite knowing this, we have done...more

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About Suzanne Weyn

Suzanne Weyn grew up in Williston Park, Long Island, New York. She has three sisters and a brother. As a girl she was very interested in theater and in reading. Louisa May Alcott was her favorite author, but she also read every Sherlock Holmes story. Suzanne lived pretty close to the ocean and going to Jones Beach was one of her favorite activities Even today, if she goes too long without seeing t...more

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