How I Live Now

The book is interesting and entertaining the whole way through. One thing that was a challenge to get used to was the fact that there was no dialogue. There were conversations within characters, however no distinctive quotations. It read's as if Daisy, the main character, were sitting in front of you to tell the story. Overall very good, easy read to pass time!

No, I'm not going to pearlclutch about the incest. Believe me, that's the least of this novel's flaws.

I'd looked at this because it was garnering a lot of buzz and I was looking for a new novel to teach and had high hopes because the premise seems so very interesting.

Somehow, she took an amazing premise and managed to make it shallow and stupid. I was actually intrigued to have a female progatonist with a unique voice, but honestly her whole backstory was bad Movie of the Week stepmonster jealousy, and even her eating disorder was thinly handled, which was a real shame, because it could have been amazing.

In fact, that's what my basic response to this book was: It could have, it should have, been so much better than it was. It had no depth, nothing to really relate to or connect with. Disappointing.

The lack of grammar, punctuation, strange capitalisation and resulting long tedious sentences made the book difficult to immerse myself in.
The way in which it was written didn't make sense until the end when it's revealed she was journaling- while it is told from Daisy's POV I assumed for of a narrative rather than a written account/journal if you catch my meaning. The pacing was entirely off and it was hard to know exactly where time sat in certain scenes which was probably a deliberate technique. Main character was arrogant and entirely immature even though she had aged, and the individual attention paid to each character mentioned apart from the main was entirely flawed and fuzzy. I disliked the themes within such as the romanticising of the eating disorder or the sexual/romantic affair.
It disturbed me when very few of the other characters minded or even acknowledged the relationship that was happening.
Overall a decent plot just not particularly happy with character motivations in some parts. Wouldn't recommend to a child or youth as an appropriate book to read, while some of the descriptions of events didn't go into detail I do not understand how this work could be a recommended young persons novel.
A short story that took longer to read than other pieces 3x it's size.

With the current generation of teenagers being the most spoiled and entitled brats to have ever been excreted into existence (yes, I truly loathe children) I often wonder how they would have coped with life a mere 70 years ago when there were no cell phones, computers, internet, social media, or even much of television. It was only one generation ago that I was a teenager myself yet teen culture now is a million miles from what I experienced.

This novel deals with the journey of Elizabeth (or Daisy) as she is sent to live with her cousins in the English countryside just as war breaks out. Used to her pampered life in New York, Daisy suddenly fits in remarkably well and bonds with her new family, including her cousin Edmond who she falls in love with. The war seems to be a million miles away at first but it soon tears them apart and Daisy is whisked away by the army with her young cousin Piper. Over the course of weeks and months they sneak through a battle-ravaged country to return to the place they call home and restore some semblance of an ordinary life.

Told all in first person with hardly any real dialogue How I Live Now is less a harrowing account of war and more like the secret thoughts of a realistic, insecure teenage girl dealing as best as she can with impossible uncertainty. It's never pretentious, never preachy, and never feels unrealistic in any way. Half of it feels like a surreal, cozy dream while the other half is cold and shellshocked. Daisy's transition from comfort to desperation is believable and the inner strength she finds to cope with it keeps you turning the pages.

I highly recommend this novel to everyone who like a good read, there's a lot to study and draw from How I Live Now and it deserves to be regarded as a classic.

Sadly I purchased this book expecting some sort of Jack Womack-esque, pre-apocalyptic, "breakdown of society", fin-de-siecle science fiction. What I got was a book written for 10 year old girls, and written badly at that. This is no Hunger Games. Do not buy this book.

This summer I started doing more fitnessy activities not in an attempt to lose weight or clear my prematurely blocked arteries but in response to the plethora of Young Adult Dystopian Novels that led me to question whether I could a) win the Hunger Games b) jump from a moving train with my Dauntless buddies c) take out an alien with a swift kick to the face and then evade their hot spaceship pursuit. The answers to these questions are a) no b) no c) no.

Young Adult Dystopian Novels forced me to stare fate straight in the eye: if removed from my cushy existence by a twist of apocalyptic fate, I would die. I would die every single time.

Refusing to accept this, I began a workout regimen to guarantee my survival. But then I read How I Live Now and my resolve is weakening. Because Daisy, who charmingly narrates her experiences during a world war, is no Teen Action Hero. She reacts how the vast majority of us would in dire circumstances: not by staging a coup or leading the resistance, but by surviving as best as she can. Now I'm left wondering if my pushups and jogs are even worth anything--if the world fell apart, I'd probably just stay in my basement trying to stop my towering piles of canned goods from toppling over. And face it: so would you.

So that's what's so refreshing about this novel. It's about normal people. The people that most of us would be during all out world war. The people simply trying to survive. That's Daisy's story. It's a story of survival in extreme circumstances and then learning to accept those circumstances as her life forevermore. After finishing the novel, I can't help but wonder whether humankind's immense adaptability is a strength or a weakness. It's wonderful how Daisy and so many others find new ways to live after catastrophe, but isn't it sad how quickly we humans adapt to a less than perfect world? How easily content we become with nothing?

Meg Rosoff is an excellent writer and demonstrates her skill most readily with Daisy's voice. The novel is first person with Daisy recounting her experiences after the fact. The most incredible thing? Daisy actually sounds like a teenager. Aside from one too many SAT words, How I Live Now truly reads like a teenager talks. Daisy's narration is witty (suggesting that we can find humor even in the darkest moments) and her experiences are recorded in the same way she might have submitted an essay to her English teacher on the first day of school titled "What I Did During Summer Vacation [When Bombs Hit Britain and This Manhattanite Was Stuck On the Wrong Side of the Atlantic During World War Three With Her Very Hot Cousin]."

I've seen many reviewers object to the novel's incestuous relationship. The incest is quite secondary and it's included in the plotline to show how something scandalous in normal times is entirely irrelevant--even laughably unimportant--in times where people care more about 1. dying in a nuclear attack 2. dying by gunfire 3. dying from starvation 4. dying from infection 5. DYING.

"I guess there was a war going on somewhere in the world that night but it wasn't one that could touch us."

How I Live Now may have destroyed any motivation I had to go running tomorrow, but I'm glad I read it. I want to read more books--especially in YA--about the people who aren't overtly special, who aren't the Chosen Ones. Daisy is a normal teenage girl facing an extraordinary situation. She is a reminder that life persists even in epochs of death.

Honestly, it's like trying to articulate why you love your child reviewing some of these books. I don't know how anyone can be expected to do them justice. But I am going to press on foolhardily, if only because this is one of the ones I never stop talking about, never stop thinking about. Originally published in 2004, HOW I LIVE NOW is Meg Rosoff's debut novel and winner of the Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature. I've loved many a Printz Award winner, but this one is truly the best of the best. I remember it came in the mail, on loan from a friend who somehow knew how much it would mean to me. I slid it out of the envelope and wondered at how slim it was and at the dark cover and the quiet English village. I started it that night and my eyes did not leave the page until it was finished. I'm pretty sure I slept with it clasped to my chest. Then I woke up and read it again in one long swallow, knowing I would have to send it back and afraid to let it out of my grasp for fear it would all turn out to be just a beautiful dream. I remember pressing it into my sister's hands, incoherent in my need to share it with someone else. And I remember deciding that very morning that if I ever had a daughter her name would be Piper. Piper, after a little girl with blond hair and a gift for happiness, shining like a light in so much darkness. It's been almost a decade, and yet those visceral emotions are as close to the surface now as they were then. And, of course, now I have a little girl named Piper, with blond hair and a gift for happiness, and . . . well, I did say it was like trying to articulate why you love your child, didn't I?

Daisy has been packed off to England. At the insistence of her evil stepmother Davina, her distant-at-best father has agreed to send her to live with her cousins in the BACK OF BEYOND somewhere deep in the English countryside. And so against her express wishes, she finds herself stepping off the plane and into another world. It turns out that her cousins don't so much exist under anything so prosaic as adult supervision. Their mother, her Aunt Penn, is frequently off protesting The War, and so her four offspring (Osbert, Isaac, Edmond, and Piper) are pretty much left to their own odd devices. Odd being the key word as far as Daisy is concerned. Osbert is nominally in charge, but rarely can be bothered to take notice of his younger siblings. Isaac doesn't speak at all, except perhaps to the goats and dogs he tends, and even then they're not telling. Edmond (Isaac's twin) constantly puts Daisy on the wrong foot with his cigarette smoking and underage driving and ability to respond to things she's thought but not spoken. And Piper . . . well, Piper is lovely in every way and, as such, cannot possibly be real. But she is real. They all are. And before she realizes it, Daisy has become one of them. Somehow, with a war raging, and everything she's ever known thousands of miles away, Daisy finds a place to belong. It's not as though she really thought it might last. It's just that she never understood just how hard it would be to let go when the world creeps inside their Eden and rips it all to shreds.

There's no use trying to sugarcoat this one. It is absolutely brutal. From the stark lack of punctuation and intermittent use of capitals to the way Daisy embraces her eating disorder to the questionable shenanigans the five of them get up to with their utter lack of supervision. To say nothing of the war itself which hangs over the whole gorgeous thing just waiting for its moment to strike. And strike it does.

"I was pretty far gone, but not so far gone that I thought anyone with half a toehold in reality would think what we were doing was a good idea."

Daisy's unflagging humor is what reeled me in on the very first page. Her humor saves her--it saves us--when things become unbearable. And that humor translates into barest survival when she comes to the end of her rope. I so admired Daisy. I adored Piper, loved Edmond and Isaac unreservedly, and was casually indifferent to Osbert. But my hat was off to Daisy for scraping together every bit of defiance she could in the face of certain annihilation. Her voice matures as her experience grows and Rosoff insinuates it so naturally that this evolution creates not even a ripple across the surface of the narrative.

***

I was dying, of course, but then we all are. Every day, in perfect increments, I was dying of loss. The only help for my condition, then as now, is that I refused to let go of what I loved. I wrote everything down, at first in choppy fragments; a sentence here, a few words there, it was the most I could handle at the time. Later I wrote more, my grief muffled but not eased by the passage of time.

When I go back over my writing now I can barely read it. The happiness is the worst. Some days I can't bring myself to remember. But I will not relinquish a single detail of the past. What remains of my life depends on what happened six years ago.

In my brain, in my limbs, in my dreams, it is still happening.

***

My word, how she grows. Her dogged persistence in the face of horrific obstacles left me a huddled mess of emotions, the chiefest of these being a fierce loyalty and determination to see her claim what was hers--what was left of it (or them). And to know that it would be enough, that she would hold all the jagged pieces together until they felt (or she made them) whole. Rosoff's writing matches the brutality of her story step for step, but it also manages to counter it with interludes of breathtaking beauty. These handful of scenes remain among the choicest of my reading life, and I pull them out whenever I need them, much as I imagine Daisy does. Still. And always.

This book features a main character who is transplanted from the States to live with her cousins in England during wartime. Because she's uprooted and replanted and the world goes mad pretty much around the same time, the feeling of surreality that floats around all these characters is very appropriate. In the center of the "surreal" quality is an unexpected reality--the momentary truth of how the world is despite its being very different from anything the main character has experienced in her life. Daisy is easily assimilated as one of the group amongst her cousins, but not only because she shares their blood; she is indisputably on their wavelength in more ways than one. She just goes with the flow when her extended family turns out to consist of people who understand the world (and each other) on a different (often deeper) level than most consider normal, and occasionally Daisy as the narrator points out that her cousins' various manifestations of unusual sensitivity might have seemed weird in another time and place, but ordinarily it's just shown to be everyday life for them. There is an awful lot of understanding-without-saying going on, and I think that effect is increased by the author's choice of almost never using traditional quotation marks to indicate speech, so you're never sure if someone actually said something or maybe the message got through without talking. I loved their interaction, especially (of course) Daisy with Edmond, though I'm kinda disappointed that I didn't get to know him very well except in the context of her. I also loved Daisy's relationship with her littlest cousin Piper. Daisy's narrative voice was also unusual enough to be refreshing without acting like it was TRYING to be. I liked how little we as the reader needed to know about the big picture to understand how Daisy and her cousins fit into it, and the picture of how modern war might affect isolated civilians was very, very convincing.

Meg Rosoff brings an entirely new voice to apocalyptic fiction. This is the story of Daisy, the sassiest New York teen since Holden Caulfield, who eye-rolls her way through the atrocities of an imagined war-torn England. Daisy arrives in England with a hard and prickly shell after the death of her mother put her on a roller coaster of self-destruction. Her demons run deep -- the story includes a poignant depiction of teen eating disorders and life with a "wicked stepmother." In the beautiful English countryside, Daisy quickly finds a curious but nurturing love. But before her frozen, cynical heart can melt, war breaks out -- and the world falls down around her. Daisy describes this with a haunting realism: overhearing the first whispers of a terrorist attack; the creeping spread of disease; the chaos of military occupations both domestic and hostile.

Rosoff treats the war with broad strokes - there's little detail about the bad guys and not much hidden political commentary. This isn't a story about the mechanics of society's downfall and its survivors; this is the story of Daisy's inner downfall, and Daisy is the survivor. How does a person with such fragile self-esteem fare, when she's suddenly stronger than the crumbling world around her? This is a bleak story, but there's also joy in Daisy's small victories as she learns to care for a young child and survive on the run. Rosoff achieves this without sentimentality -- Daisy is a true teenager, through and through -- and it's amazing to be inside her head.

I watched the movie recently on Netflix, and though I liked it a lot, it felt a little shallow in the same way a lot of novel-turned-movies are. This only excited me, because that meant I had a great book to look forward to! Glad I got the sample first, though — I can't do the writing style. It's written as though Daisy is telling the story... And not in an endearing way. It reminded me of those run-on Tumblr posts I'll see around the internet sometimes, with very little punctuation (not even quotation marks). Also, because it's written this way, things seemed to skip through time rather quickly. Kind of sad, cuz I was really looking forward to it.

First Sentence: My name is Elizabeth but no one's ever called me that.

A Quick Synopsis: Imagine this: Your name is Daisy and you live in Manhattan. But then your father unexpectedly sends you to live with your cousins in England. And it's England where you meet people like Edmond, Piper, and Osbert--the former of which you fall in love with. Good things can't last forever, though. England is invaded by forces and massive war soon breaks out. You and Edmond are separated. How do you survive without him? How do you /live/?

This is the premise for How I Live Now, and you'd better believe it's a darn good one.

The Review: I went into How I Live Now knowing much less than the summary I gave you above--I only knew it had something to do with a post-apocalyptic war, and that it had won the 2005 Printz Award. I was pretty confused when I learned How I Live Now was about a war, since the e-book edition I read was incredibly short, at under 200 pages. But the Printz Award was what led me, ultimately, to read the book, and set some very high expectations for it. Not only that, but I went into the book with the question of whether it deserved the Printz Award. Well, after reading it, I can safely tell you that How I live Now, in my opinion, certainly deserved to win the Printz.

One thing that readers will notice almost instantly when they flip open How I Live Now is the style of the prose. The book is narrated in first-person, from the view of Daisy, aka our protagonist. I've never read anything quite like Daisy's voice. Perhaps the best way I can describe her is a cross between Hazel from John Green's Fault in Our Stars and Verity from Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity. Grammar-wise, there are tons and tons of run-on sentences, as well as no italics (capitals are used for emphasis) or quotation marks. This is the best imitation that I can do of Daisy's voice but it is a very bad imitation as no reader should really try to imitate an author but I REALLY wanted to try to show some possible readers of How I Live Now how Daisy's voice could potentially sound like to them and no, this is not a parody and I am not trying to insult the author. Style-wise, Daisy's voice is sharp and begs for your attention. Even though the language is simple in How I Live Now, I found myself reading EVERY. SINGLE. WORD. on every single page. I did attempt to speed-read what I thought was a boring part. Turns out I learned my lesson the hard way. You can't speed-read How I Live Now. It took me three days to read all 170 pages or so of it. I believe Daisy's voice and the prose in How I Live Now is truly a love-or-hate matter. I loved it, but I can see why others wouldn't. I think the author took a very brave route in writing Daisy's voice, and that is one of the factors that contributed to this book winning the Printz.

Another factor that I believe helped this book to win it was the plot. From page one, Meg Rosoff gets us interested in Daisy, and once she has our attention, Ms. Rosoff launches into the brilliant plot on page two. How could this book's plot not be great with a war looming in the background? I will admit that this book's focus is not on action and adventure or anything of the like. It is not a thriller, and there are not deaths on every page, if you were expecting that. Don't pick this book up looking for suspense. But do pick it up expecting things to happen. This is a very simple fact, and I'll repeat it and clarify it: lots of things happen in How I Live Now. The book is well-paced. There is no filler. For most readers, that will be enough. However, if you need a ton of action in your reading material, this book is not for you. Close this review and move on to another book.

Finally, what I believe contributed the most to this book winning the Printz is its literary value. If I remember correctly, the Printz committee awards prizes to books based on their literary merit. This is why books like Maximum Ride, no matter how thrilling and interesting they may be, won't win Printz prizes. They don't contribute much to the literary world. I could say the total opposite for How I Live Now, though. As if Daisy's stunning voice weren't enough, the surrounding characters helped the book stay emotionally charged throughout. The backdrop of a massive war just tops it all off. There are loads of great quotes in the book.

How I Live Now is not a book for everyone. Some may not agree with the Printz Award it got. But I find myself whole-heartedly agreeing with their decision, and I'll happily try to convince others to do the same.

Some Memorable Quotes: (there were a TON in the book, so I selected the two that were the least spoilery)
1. "It's a shame, starting out your first day on the planet as a murderer, but there you go, I didn't have much choice at the time."
2. "Every war has turning points, and every person too."

Inappropriate Content Notifiers:
-It is explicitly stated that there is a sexual relationship between two characters in the book, but it is not shown. There are some kissing scenes throughout though.
-Daisy's voice is sprinkled throughout with such curse words as "bast*rds" and "godd*mn".
-There are scenes of violence throughout. (SPOILERS) Two men are shot, and Daisy, at one point, sees a whole lot of dead people.
-Overall, I'd say the "inappropriateness" of this book lies between a PG-13 and R rating.

This Printz Award winning novel from Rosoff is a stunner. It's rare in that I think it would appeal to teens and adults just about equally, and here's why:

The style: Its stream-of-consciousness style, which is going to be challenging for some (though make others, especially perhaps those who don't read as much, feel right at home), is a brilliant choice. Though I like S-O-C, I am always a bit hesitant to read it. It's tricky to pull off, as it can seem confusing or indulgent, and the voice has to be just so, but for this, it works perfectly. Daisy's voice is fantastic, and there are all of these little gems, things that she says that you have to read over again and write down so that you can refer back to them. Her thoughts are funny and unusual and thought-provoking, and I enjoyed being in her head.

The S-O-C style also worked well in another way: Daisy has issues -- big ones -- which are hinted at and slowly revealed through out the book, and she is in a pretty bad place when she arrives in England. Being immersed in her head and just plunged into the swirly craziness is captivating, but what makes it more so is that, as the world falls apart into chaos around her, Daisy's narration becomes more and more simple and sane. There's this great subtle contrast that you don't realize is happening until it hits you; it builds slowly and with a great deal of restraint, and it works.

The relationships: The relationships in this book are very interesting. As we learn of Daisy's issues, we also learn of the abilities of her cousins, each of whom seem a bit something, prescient, telepathic, a little something that is never really named, but treated as a given. Since we are in Daisy's mind, and they are a part of her mind, we get these great interactions between them, especially with Edmond and Piper, both of which are fabulous relationships to read. I may make people angry for that opinion, though...Daisy and Edmond develop a relationship that is a bit more than familial, which is going to be controversial for some people, since they are cousins and underage. But I have to say, don't let it put you off reading this book. It just works for the story, and I don't know how else to convince you than to say, by the end, you won't give a damn that they're related. Really. I was dubious at first, but very quickly on, I was in love with them both. Though Isaac and Osbert are throwaway characters, both Edmond and Piper are great for what they do for Daisy and for their own sakes, and you grow to care about them.

The topics: There's a lot to digest in this slim little powerhouse of a book. The war, which we don't know all that much about, is like a character itself, making brutal appearances in our characters lives. There are a lot of war books that take a lot of time and page-space to make us feel the desolation of war and the horrible dehumanizing effects. In How I Live Now, this is sort of always on the periphery, and you kind of forget about it until suddenly you realize just how quickly things can get really, really bad. Rosoff doesn't need 500 pages of brutality to make you understand just how bad war can be. The dystopic, post-apocalyptic elements and some of the harsh realities are going to make for very thought-provoking and captivating reading for those who are interested, but it's not so overwhelmingly a part of the story that those who avoid serious books for being "downers" will be put off. Also, again the relationship between Daisy and Edmond is another topic that's really going to stick with people and make for great discussion, teen and adult alike.

My 1 drawback? Of course there is one, you should know me well enough by now...I was a little let down by the ending. Not completely, because I did actually like the way the story ended (though I think it will piss some people off); my gripe is more with the way the ending was written. There's so much power packed into the rest of the story that the end seemed a little underdone to me. It lacked that oomph. It wasn't quite a brush-off, but it was enough to keep me from being 100% satisfied with the book as a whole. I almost wish that there was no 3rd part at all, even though it would mean I'd always wonder... But it's such a slim book that it's not like Rosoff needed to limit her word-count; she could have done the characters a little more justice by just oomphing up the end. Just a bit.

Still though. It's more challenging than the general YA, which will appeal to adults, but it's got a great relatable voice for teens; there are things going on that are going to keep people thinking about it, that are going to worm their way into reader's brains in the best way. Pick it up, and when you're done, give it to your mother and/or your daughter, and then discuss it when you're all done. It could be a really rewarding experience.

Wow. You know those books where you start reading it expecting one thing, and then you finish it an it's completely different than what you thought? This is totally one of those books.

Absolutely incredible. I have nothing but good things to say about this book. The story? Riveting. The characters? Well-developed and very real. The writing style? There was clearly a lot of thought put into this unique writing, and while the unsuspecting reader may think it's sloppy and confusing, there is a reason for every choice the author made while writing this book. If you're not expecting it, the writing can take a little bit of getting used to, but it truly is the most artistic form of writing I've seen in awhile.

While some might find issues in this book, I personally thought that the romance, while not as "acceptable" as it should be, was very true and very well thought out. I also found the imagery in this book to be spectacular and incredibly cinematic.

I'd HIGHLY recommend this book to all young adults and adults looking for a well-written imaginative read.

This book is told in the smartmouthed voice of an American teenager named Daisy who is stranded in England with her cousins (three teen boys and a younger girl named Piper) when the Bad Thing happens. There is a bomb, there are more bombs, there is an occupation by unnamed foreigners, there is a resistance, but what there is, mostly, is a huge radio silence. Little tv, no cell phones, no internet, and finally, no electricity.

Daisy is bleak and funny. Daisy's cousins are homeschooled, self-sufficient and psychic, and they get on with the business of survival. There is love and sex, but nothing graphic, and Daisy wrestles with the morality of what she's doing, which I think is a refreshing aspect to bring to a YA book.

As a work of fiction, this book is beautifully characterized, with an odd, beautiful family at its center. Even in hard wartime conditions, the humanity of the characters remains. Soldiers kill out of fear, not hatred. Mothers grieve, fathers try to fix things, there are kind soldiers who treasure the innocence of children rather than brutalizing it. There are good dogs. None of it is as treacle as I make it sound. It's a difficult story and Daisy, the narrating character, is one tough, messed-up girl. But like Children of Men, this book offers recognizable humanity, and some hope.

I'm not sure how 12 year-old would respond to a story this bleak, but I love it, all my kids love it (17 and up) and I recommend it highly.

Shipped off to England from her Manhattan home by her father and his brand new wife, who is most certainly the spawn of the devil, Daisy isn't sure what to expect of her aunt and cousins, with whom she'll be staying with indefinitely. She is surprised to find that her cousins Osbert, Isaac, Edmond and Piper live a mostly independent life while her aunt works long hours, and feels a special connection with her Edmond, who is her own age.

But then the war comes, and Daisy's aunt is stuck in another town, far away from them. They must learn to survive on their own. It all seems surreal as they live nestled in the country, away from rules or adults or expectations. Daisy and Edmond fall in love, despite what others may think. But it is all destroyed when the soldiers come. Daisy and Piper are sent away, and the cousins' separation is almost more than anyone can bear. Although torn apart, they must find away to come together.

How I Live Now is a remarkable novel of survival, loss, pain, love and hope. The story is told from Daisy's sharp and sarcastic perspective ("I don't get nearly enough credit in life for the things I manage not to say," she says on page seventy-seven), and as her narrative progresses we come to find that although strong in her own way, she also has a vulnerable side. The book takes a momentary foray towards more spiritual ground when Daisy insists that she can communicate with Edmond at certain times even though they are miles apart. But besides that, the book is full of thought provoking ponderings, human observations, and musings on true love that will leave the reader with much to think about. The story focuses less on the actual war that is being waged around characters, and more on their individual struggles for survival, which give it a more philosophical air that is intriguing, but some readers may feel the urge to know more about the politics of the unknown war. How I Live Now, while heart breaking, through its strange style, conveys a sense hope and unconditional faith, and is a powerful reminder of the strength of love.

I liked the general premise, and I really enjoyed Piper and Daisy's journey but other than that, this book fell extremely flat to me. So many things were never really fleshed out- like the telepathy or details about the war. It just seems completely unrealistic for Daisy and Piper (who is arguably more aware and intelligent than Daisy) to have no idea who the "enemy" were. I also didn't like the view of Daisy's eating disorder, and that she used it for manipulation. I hated how eventually she was just cured because she was in the middle of a war and realized how "silly" it was. Many people with eating disorders are constantly demonized or made to feel like they're horrible/vain/selfish people because of the mental illness they suffer from ("they're too obsessed with their body image", "there are starving people and they don't eat how dare they", etc). It is not a choice and it is certainly not selfish to suffer from an ILLNESS.

I also was extremely disappointed with the ending, which was abrupt, difficult to comprehend, and didn't really make a lot of sense. I've never heard of an instance where you could have your daughter committed for an eating disorder when she is living overseas and you are at the end of a war. Furthermore, most in-patient facilities dealing with eating disorders are for stabilization in terms of weight/mental state, so it's unlikely if she had not been refusing food that she would have needed to stay there for several months...maybe I'm getting too into it lol!

I read some of the reviews from the more conservative readers who did not enjoy the book or the issues it tackles, or doesn't. Anorexia, terrorism, crushes, absent parents, divorce are all issues most of us have to deal with either growing up or as adults. I think the way Rosoff tackles them is realistic, i.e. they are part of one's way of life and something you just deal with. I understand Daisy's anorexia is not a shining example of what a healthy teenage girl should be like, but this is what happens in the real world. As for loving her cousin, well stuff happens and that's just the way it is. I think this book might be too "advanced" for some young teens, but let's give them some credit, most of what is in the book is nothing they wouldn't have heard of anyway. I think Daisy is a witty, strong, challenging heroine. The story and the tone is incredible and very well written. This is by far one of the best books I've ever read. If you liked I capture the Castle or the Go-Between you will love this.

This books is written from the perspective of a teenager who definitely needed more counselling prior to being shipped off to England by her recently remarried father and her pregnant stepmother. She has a full-blown eating disorder and clear issues with her family, and she is plopped in the middle of England just prior to a war breaking out and the country becoming occupied by an unnamed enemy. Oh, and she has sex with her first cousin who can read her mind (and travel out of body). Meanwhile, details of life under an enemy occupation are peppered into the book - rationing, displacement and separation from family (and lack of communication), checkpoints and violence are all treated with the same "it's no big deal" attitude as her eating disorder.

Clearly I never connected with the protagonist. It might be written in a specific narrative voice, but the vague and detached attitude does nothing to make the character likable or interesting. Realistic? Perhaps - but not interesting. Additionally, I found the narrative difficult to follow due to the lax attitude towards punctuation.

The only reason I give this book 3 stars instead of 1, is because the author did seem to work hard to provide a realistic war zone backdrop. Most of the young people reading this book have never experienced a war with water shortages, food shortages, and military presence, but if it helps them identify with many of the people around the world that live in these conditions then it has had a positive impact.

“How I Live Now” is about the physical and emotional disruption of war. It is about change, survival, family, and love.

Fifteen-year-old Daisy tells the story of the summer that forever altered her life when she went to the English countryside to stay with an aunt and four cousins she had never met. As the story begins she is dealing with the rejection of her father, her own anorexia, and the impending possibility of war. World War breaks out when her aunt is out of the country, and England is occupied by The Enemy. Daisy and her cousins fend for themselves, and Daisy falls in love with her cousin Edmund. Daisy and her younger cousin Piper are split from the others when girls and boys are evacuated to separate parts of the country, and they spend the next few months trying to survive in a brutal world.

The writing style is unusual, but it works in this case. Daisy’s voice is a mixture of nonchalance, anger, pain, and self-absorption. She uses run-on sentences that reflect the confusion she feels. The conclusion takes place six years after the main story, and the writing style becomes more conventional. The ending is satisfying and powerful.

Rosoff paints a realistic picture of the toll war takes on children there can be no arguing that. It is ugly and violent and at some points gruesome but it is also what one would imagine the ravages of war would be those so young. It was not difficult to read these circumstances, however, as the author was careful to craft scenes with just enough detail to allow the reader to imagine some of the children's surroundings.

What the reader might find most compelling is the portrayal of the children's fight for survival. How they manage everything from food and water to home security. Though young, they are shown as keenly intelligent and creative, cautious to navigate their precarious circumstances wisely and with great care. Moreover, it is in the end result, the "where are they now" element that the most satisfaction can be drawn. Without giving away that ending it can be said that it was painted a most believable and emotional way.

While there were passages and elements of the story I thought were too drawn out, the pacing a bit slow, I thought this quietly honest depiction was worthy of reading. It certainly puts a face on how children manage the diversity of war without being over the top in violence and gore. If a parent is looking for a book to educate their child of such real-life circumstances I'd certainly recommend How I Live Now.

I enjoyed this book as it tackled some tough issues of wartime, survival, coming of age, eating disorders, depression,
love, companionship, hope and commitment. Other reviewers complained about the lack of punctuation by the narrator.
I found that it read just like an adolescent would talk and it was not distracting at all. I can see why this book would be
popular with Young Adult audiences because it did not shy away from very real and sometimes uncomfortable circumstance
and feelings. I recommend this book to YA and to anyone who interacts with them.

Motherless Daisy is 15 years old when she is sent by her re-married father from New York to rural England to live with her 4 cousins, whose mother is mainly working or absent, so the children have to fend for themselves. Even though it takes the girl from the Big Apple some time to get used to live in the countryside of another country, she soon discovers that she has not only found new friends, but also a soulmate and lover in her cousin Edmond. But then disaster strikes: war breaks out and slowly but surely the children get dragged into the conflict and the family falls apart. All through the ordeal Daisy is accompanied by her younger cousin Piper and she definitely feels the presence of Edmond, who they are trying to find during a long, harrowing hike through the countryside in which they try to stay away from the enemy. When Daisy finally finds Edmond back it is too little, too late...

A beautiful book, very much written from the perspective of Daisy. The book starts out light and funny iwith the observations of an American town girl on English life and customs, but it gets more and more grim when the war with the (unidentified) enemy breaks out and things go from bad to worse. A book for adolescents with a light and a dark side.

I really enjoyed the Bride's Farewell by the same author so have now decided to pick up her other books as well. This one couldn't be anymore different (except for the setting of the English countryside) but is just as good.

Written for a mature teen audience, I would recommend this to at at least 13 years old and up. The plot and characters are complicated and need a more sophisticated reader to really appreciate and understand them. Plus, the revelation of a somewhat incestuous relationship as well as a slight case of anorexia in the main character may also need to be discussed with an adult for younger readers.

A 15 year old New Yorker named Daisy is transplanted to England to live with her extended family while her father establishes and new life with his new wife and child. She fully embraces her cousins and her new life, despite their almost other worldly behavior. This is a post 9-11 world, and soon, a world war breaks out. The children are all on their own, and how they deal with the war and it effects becomes the main plot. Frightening and beautiful at the same time, this reminded me a little bit of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. I really enjoyed Rosoff's writing in this one.

I picked up this book knowing next to nothing about it and I have to say that the synopsis on the back cover is totally misleading, making it sound like a coming of age romance. There were elements that I found a little annoying or let's be frank, downright icky, but overall I was struck by the original story and wowed by the vivid writing.

The book is set in the present/near future and our heroine is Daisy, aged 15 and suffering from an eating disorder, who is sent from New York to live with her cousins in the English countryside. Her mother died when she was born and she has never met this side of her family before. When her aunt travels to Norway on business, she is alone with her cousins and then war breaks out. Exactly who is at war is never really specified, but the fabric of society quickly breaks down with no communications, no electricity, no petrol etc.

Initially Daisy and her cousins think that they can keep their heads down and go on living happily in their idyllic corner of the world but eventually events catch up with them and they are separated and taken away from the farm. At this point the book changes and becomes much darker. The book's title refers neatly to the way that Daisy has to keep adjusting her framework of life and the way that she lives at this point in time.

The story is absorbing but the shining light is the writing which is so fresh and real. The author has a way of slowing down moments so you really feel you are inside Daisy's head and experiencing each particular event with her, yet at the same time keeping the overall pace up. Daisy is so frank and real and funny and I loved spending this time inside her head.

The part I didn't like was her relationship with her cousin Edmond which felt unnecessary and confronting. I know it's not necessarily illegal for cousins to be romantically involved (and not in the UK) but it still had an ick factor which wasn't necessary and which ultimately is only a small part of the overall story.

I have a little trouble digesting the fact that this book is marketed for 12 and up. The fact that the primary relationship in the book is incestuous is certain to make many parents and readers uncomfortable. There are aspects of the book that I like, but these aspects were spoiled by the negatives.

I realize the book is a journal written from the perspective of a 15 year old girl, but I do not believe a little structure grammar is too much to ask. At times, it is hard to tell where one thought ends and the other begins. The story of an American teenager trapped in English while it is under a terrorist occupation is an interesting premise. Living as a refugee with her cousins, Daisy's story is a comming of age story. Amid the teenage angst and self-loathing, a spoiled and annoying adolescent develops maturity. While her choices are not always easy to accept, the book does make an interesting read.

If you are thinking of giving this book to a younger young adult, I would suggest that you reconsider. Themes of this book are more adult oriented. Removed that perspective, the book is complex and entertaining.

I got this book because the cover was intriguing, and because I found myself killing time in the YA section, so there's some serendipity for you. It's barely a YA novel. I found this story of a fictional war-torn England incredibly poignant and touching, and just as relevant to my adult self as anything else. It hurt my heart.

Some suspension of disbelief is required in terms of a few characters' perfection, but that's easy to chalk up to the young age of the narrator during the first chunk of the book (she ages abruptly towards the end, as does her narrative voice -- this could have been more smoothly done, actually, but that's a quibble). She's 15, so her exaggeration is not out-of character.

Some topics touched on may be too much for sensitive readers. I have no moral problems with it myself; war makes people do weird things. Everything is handled sensitively and pretty discreetly.

It's not perfect, but it's so endearing I happily give it 5 stars instead of 4. Hope to see more from Meg Rosoff.

I found myself sucked into this novel. Reading it, I flashed back on my memories of that age. Those strong, gut wrenching feelings of love and happiness, and the bittersweet aftermath when the world makes you come back to earth. Daisy experiences the wonder of being alive as a teenager, and does it so convincingly , and then her world comes crashing down. The aftermath, and her strenght, leave you wanting to know more about her. It made me want to go to England. It made me want to start a garden. This was very well done, and the characterization was brilliant. This felt based in reality rather than the other way around. Loved this book, and now am searching for more like this. This is the first book I've read by this author.

This book was about a fifteen year old girl, named Daisy living in England with her cousins she has never met. As the war moves closer to them, the cousins grow closer to one another, and Daisy realizes how she loves her cousin, Edmond. When they are forced to leave, Daisy and Edmond are split apart. Daisy and her nine year old cousin, Piper, journey back home through all of the bad conditions of war: starvation, no shelter, and the thought of being seen and killed. When Daisy and Piper finally arrive home, they do not see Edmond or Issac. This book is full of suspense and worry about losing the people you love. Overall, I liked this book, but some parts about the war were written with a lot of detail that was upsetting. I would recommend this book.

what can I say? This book great.
The mane charector, Dasiy goes to her Aunts house. There she meets Piper, Edmond, Issac and Osbert. She spens a great time there untill sudenly she finds herslef in a middle of the war she didn't think that had anything to do with her.
I found myself traveling with Dasiy as she struggles to find herf way back home with Piper. This story is full of exitment, wonder and is highlymoveing too. I highly recomend this book.

In the not-too-distant future, Daisy, a Manhattan resident, is sent to live with her cousins on the English countryside. At first, the English countryside is something of a paradise. Daisy forms an instant bond with her cousin Edmond, and she spends her days gallivanting with her cousins. Until the war comes. A nameless enemy invades England. At first, Daisy and her cousins live in a sort of untouched paradise, separated from the war by the countryside. But then the war finds them, and Daisy and her cousin Piper are separated from the boys.

This book is clever and engaging and it draws you in and then it breaks your heart. I didn't expect the direction the book took. It shocked me. I kept thinking that something would change, that the direction would turn back, but it didn't, and that is the brilliance of this book. It is a war story, and in war, things often start out kind of okay and then move to awful. It feels true. It hurts. Daisy's voice is incredibly vivid - I can almost hear it in my head even now, a week after reading it. Daisy, her family, her world - they all stand out in stark colors in my head. This is one of those great books that lingers in your heart after you've finished reading.

From the moment I started this book I was thinking and through out it I came to conclusions. Definately not one of those books you can skip passages in so you can get to the action. The ending, although not a running through the fields sort of happy ending, did end on a positive note.

There are a few things in this book that could have been explained: is it set in the future? If so how far? They have cell phones and computers, but they are in a WWII style war.

Is this a magical world? It's never really said whether what goes on with Edmond is telepathy or just being really intuitive.

But, once you get over these unanswered questions (and you can just decide for yourself since they don't really affect the outcome of the book) it's a great read.

This is an incredible story that meets the high standards for 21st CE YA literature set by M.T. Anderson's "FEED." The story deals with first love, first trust, consequent abandonment, and dealing with decisions made both good and bad. The protagonist, Daisy, is a narcisistic teen with emotional problems that never really go away, but rather change from selfish to primitive as the story progresses. She is not an entirely admirable character, but this is perhaps her greatest strength. It allows for her to make careless and what may seem like sociopathic decisions, but we forgive her because she is really just a product of her environment and not much more. All of the characters are well rounded and dynamic. I recommend this book for highschool reading. I think discussion amongst teens about the incidents and characters featured in this novel will say alot about where our next generation is heading.

This book is a 2005 Michael L. Printz Award Winner & 2005 ALA Best Books for Young Adults Winner. The story is narrated by fifteen-year-old Daisy as she arrives in London after her father and pregnant stepmother send her away from their Manhattan home to live with an aunt and four cousins she's never met. Soon after Daisy's arrival, her aunt leaves, surprising relationships form, and war breaks out. This look at a 21st century war and how it affects relationships and society reminds us of the changes brought about after September 11th. The author's intentional lack of punctuation takes some getting used to. But once you do, you realize its style perfectly fits the novel and the witty narrator's voice. Note to parents: incest (sexual relationship between first cousins) is a subject within the text. --Reviewed by Jodi Wayne

What a weird little book! Granted, I am into weird, but "How I Live Now" just wasn't my kind of weird I guess.

There were many things I liked about the story - the fact that it didn't fit in any genre (it started as a story of an anorexic girl, then morphed into some kind of dystopia and then became a survival story), I liked Daisy's voice - snarky and witty with a healthy dose of unreasonableness and selfishness, the portrayal of war was gritty, and Daisy's personal struggle with weight was fairly compelling in spite of the fact that she obviously used anorexia as a means to divert her father's attention from her stepmom to herself.

But there was a lot of stuff that I questioned, especially glorification of underage incestuous sex. I see this very often in YA these days and always wonder what is the purpose of such a creative choice? I am pretty sure that "How I Live Now" would have been just as good without these add-ons. But mainly, I finished reading the book with "so what" kind of feeling and a complete disinterest in exploring Rosoff's other works, and it is always a sign for me that the book was not too great or memorable.

How I Live Now is a sweet, simple part dystopian, part Gothic romance, part realistic fiction story of an emotionally fragile 15 year old named Daisy. It is written in the style of a Gothic romance - very slowed paced, first person narration, beautiful descriptions of the new setting the protagonist is thrust into against her will. Daisy's struggle to survive and protect her young cousin are very realistic. And the brutal war with an unnamed enemy determined to destroy England is dystopian. After trying to sabotage her father's new marriage and refusing to get help for her eating disorder, Daisy's father ships her off to live out in the middle of nowhere in England with cousins she has never met. The family and lifestyle Daisy encounters are the exact opposite of her own. Her cousins are self-reliant, independent, and not at all wired in to pop culture or the social media culture. The family is very close, respectful and protective of each other. NYC born and raised Daisy is at first anxious over living without TV, her cell phone and her computer. They were the center of her life in NYC. On top of the electronics withdrawal, she doesn't know how to relate to a family that enjoys being together. Shortly after her arrival, her aunt travels to Europe on business. The next day, England is invaded, overwhelmed by terrorist attacks and drawn into massive war. Daisy's aunt is unable to return home. At first the children are untouched by the war. They know how to go about their lives without their mother and how to survive with few resources. Eventually, the army takes over the farm and ships the kids off to foster homes. Daisy and her younger cousin, Piper run away from their foster home and go in search of Piper's brothers. The story evolves from a realistic story of a family to a violent story of survival as the countryside becomes the center of battle between the army and the enemy. As with most Gothic romances there is a somewhat happy ending. Although beautifully written, the audience for How I Live Now is small. Its slow pace will not appeal to reluctant readers. The romance will not appeal to many. But Daisy's strong voice will endear her to readers who can relate to her emotional turmoil.

Very different story told from a child's perspective about moving to a different country and barely existing through a war. She is able to use many skills in order to survive and has a maturity to help others in adjusting to the horrors they experienced.

This untraditional book is the story of Daisy. She's narcissistic and manipulative making her a believable teenager. She has to grow up when the world falls apart.
This is a well written book that makes you want to read on. All in all it is a great alternative to the typical dystopian futuristic book.

This book is a beautiful coming of age story, intertwined with love, self realisation, and escaping a war. Set in rural England, fifteen year old Daisy is sent off to live with her four cousins for summer, and at first skeptical, she soon discovers what real love is, when she falls for her cousin Edmond.

To distrupt her fairy tale love story, the war starts after a train station in London is blown up. Daisy and her younger cousin Piper are separated from the boys, and are forced to survive the horrors of war, all the while hoping to be reunited with their family.

Scary but unbelievably gripping, this account of a war is an amazingly realistic and moving story. I could not stop thinking about it for days. Highly reccomended for anyone over thirteen.

I know that some of this book might seem distasteful, like Daisy's love for her cousin, and her anorexia, but that doesn't shadow the fact that this is a brilliantly written book. I'm as much a prude as anyone, believe me, and yet I found nothing offensive about this book. It was so real, so visceral, so raw without being gratuitous, that I couldn't put it down. Imagine if you were a self-absorbed fifteen-year-old girl ejected from your privileged Manhattan existence and sent to a farm in England on the eve of a world war? How would you react? How would you feel? Daisy's realization that she was a fool for starving herself just to be thin, when she and her nine-year-old cousin are now starving in actuality is a huge breakthrough for her as well as the reader. And the ending? Heart-breaking, harrowing, gorgeous.

imagine your only parent sending you off with family you’ve never met in another country exactly right when the war is about to happen. you need to look past some things to make the book better. all you need to survive is love and honestly eating whatever you can, and doing what you can.