Matt and Syl

[Megan]

Wtf?! Matt spends a couple of days on the road and finds himself a drifter that he marries on the spot? And forever after he becomes a whiney childish jerk off, where before he was a responsible reasonable adult? So now this stranger is in the house eating their food and making decisions about how Horton should die (that pissed me off, f#%k Syl). Matt's ready to fight with and abandon his family for her sake, and there isn't much of an indication that she feels this overwhelming love for him that he does for her. He was just a nicer younger guy she could sponge off of, like she had been doing all along with other guys. I wish something drastic had happened to her, like a big reveal of what she's really all about followed by a forcible excommunication.

Bottom line: Syl totally sucks. And Matt turned into a major asshole after meeting her.

[Irene]

I agree. This book ended up with a lot of random stuff in it. And you could probably count on one hand how many times Syl speaks in the book (not "Matt said that Syl said"), so why did Pfeffer even include Syl at all? It totally goes against anything that Matt would ever have done in book one. I hated Syl, and I stopped respecting Matt.

Out of the whole series, this book made the least sense; I don't know how the editor could restrain him or herself from cutting out Syl as a whole. Then there was the question of convenience: they conveniently remember that there will be a bunch of fish in the river RIGHT BEFORE the unexpected visitors arrive; they just happen to find a food hoarder who ***shot himself*** (Why? What are the chances of that if he spent so much time saving himself from starvation?) right as they're running out of food; etc., etc. I didn't like that at all. I think Life as We Knew It was the best in the series.

[Diana]

I agree. She ruined Matt and he was my favorite character besides Miranda. The mom is still a witch.

[Ilana]

i agree with you guys who think that syl just sux. i'm really happy that he was able to find something to make his life that much better since he was so depressed doing the same thing - taking care of his family, but he seemed like he'd be the responsible one, and to go on a fishing trip and just fall in love on the spot? that didn't make sense to me at all.

i spent the rest of the book waiting for the other shoe to drop with her - that she was sketchy or something. glad that didn't happen but i didn't like her regardless. she seemed like she thought she was better than everyone, and i was kind of thinking that she was lying about the safe town, of which we'll never know i guess.

[Ana]

Yes Syl was always way to mysterius and just appeared out of nowhere, I dont think that she really loved Matt she was just alone and in trouble so she took advantage of him, I never really liked her.

[[deleted user]]

Irene said: ...I think Life as We Knew It was the best in the series...
definitely true!!

[Savannah]

Megster wrote: "Wtf?! Matt spends a couple of days on the road and finds himself a drifter that he marries on the spot? And forever after he becomes a whiney childish jerk off, where before he was a responsible re..."
I agree with this so, so much, Syl and Matt getting married after a few measly days at the river together just annoyed me so much after reading. I don't like how Matt refused to listen to his Mom's thoughts about it... he was acting like a big baby after he met Syl. Though I do agree with someone else on this thread who said Pefeffer added her to show how desperate times can get in a situation like this... I just think Matt was a terrible character to show that. All of his character development just went backward with that decision.