The following review is in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for LS5603.20, Genre 6—fantasy, fiction and young adult.
1. Bibliography
Rosoff, Meg. 2004. How I Live Now. New York: Wendy Lamb Books.
ISBN 0-385-74677-6
2. Plot Summary
Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth (Daisy) is sent from New York to live
with her aunt and cousins in England when her stepmother is
pregnant. While Daisy is in England, a global terrorist war breaks
out and her aunt is sent out of the country as part of the war
effort. Daisy and her cousins must try to survive on their own
when faced with war, starvation and separation from each other.
3. Critical Analysis
How I Live Now is Meg Rosoff’s first novel. It is a Junior Library
Guild Selection and Michael L. Printz award winner, which would
indicate that it is a well-written, quality book, and it is. In a
post-9/11 world, a global terror war is very believable, and
getting trapped on the wrong side of a border during war-time
has happened many times in the past. That Daisy and her cousins
would be left on their own and largely ignored by adults in the
area is not hard to imagine, since everyone would be busy taking
care of himself or herself. There is nothing that happens in the
story that would not happen in real life.
The style of writing that Rosoff uses is appropriate for the story.
It is written the way a young person speaks—sometimes in long,
run-on sentences and sometimes in brief phrases. This adds to
the authenticity and appeal of the book.
The story is revealed exclusively through Daisy’s eyes. Most of
the book is Daisy’s recollection of the events. There is not even
any conversation until the third chapter of the epilogue. Because
it is Daisy’s story, she is the character who is most fully developed.
At the beginning of the book, she is totally self-absorbed and her
biggest concern is having no signal on her cell phone. She is so
unaware of the world that when she talks about a bomb going off
in London, she says “something like seven or seventy thousand
people got killed”—hardly a reliable witness. By the end of the
story, she has become caretaker of her young cousin and has
walked across the country, living in the wild for weeks, to get
back the cousin back to her home.
The story takes place in the not-too-distant future in a small
English village and the surrounding countryside. It is important
to the story that the setting be somewhat isolated, since that is
how the cousins escape the notice of adults for a time. If the
setting were in a city, there would be more people around and
the cousins would not have been able to be on their own for as
long as they were. Daisy and Piper would not have had to make
their cross-country journey, which is when Daisy did a lot of
maturing.
Although it is set during war-time, How I Live Now is not really
about war. It is about courage and growing up and doing more
than one thinks is possible. Readers of any age group would be
able to relate to that aspect of the story. The author does not
tell the reader, “You need to grow up and quit thinking so much
about yourself and your little problems.” She lets the reader
learn that lesson through Daisy’s eyes.
When asked what she hoped readers would take away from How
I Live Now, Rosoff answered, “I'd particularly hope that my
teenage readers come away with a sense of the importance
and redemptive power of love, friendship, emotional connections
and loyalty, and the horror of war.” She has undoubtedly
succeeded.
4. Review Excerpts
Booklist: “the opportunity it provides for teens to imagine
themselves, like Daisy, exhibiting courage and resilience in
roles traditionally occupied by earlier generations.”
Publishers Weekly: “Teens may feel that they have experienced
a war themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's worst night-
mares. Like the heroine, readers will emerge from the rubble
much shaken, a little wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of
humanity.”
Amazon.co.uk: “Rosoff's writing style is both brilliant and
frustrating. Her descriptions are wonderful, as is her ability to
portray the emotions of her characters. However, her long
sentences and total lack of punctuation for dialogue can be
exhausting. Her narrative is deeply engaging and yet a bit
unbelievable. The end of the book is dramatic, but too sudden.
The book has a raw, unfinished feel about it, yet that somehow
adds to the experience of reading it.”--John McLay
“That rare, rare thing, a first novel with a sustained, magical
and utterly faultless voice. After five pages I knew that she
could persuade me to believe almost anything.”
--Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time
Horn Book: This first novel is intelligent, funny, serious, and
sweet; a winning combination of acerbic commentary, innocence,
and sober vision... Hilarious, lyrical, and compassionate, this is,
literarily and emotionally, deeply satisfying.
5. Connections
Because How I Live Now is such a multifaceted story, there are
many curriculum connections that could be made and many
discussions that could be started after reading it—discussions
about step-families, eating disorders, terrorism, survival
techniques, and the effects of war on civilians, just to name a few.
It might be interesting to have students rewrite a chapter of the
book from someone else’s point of view—Edmond’s or Piper’s, for
example.
Other books about young people whose lives are disrupted by war:
● The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. ISBN 978-0-553-29698-3
● Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipovic. ISBN 978-0-143-03687-6
● Stolen Voices: Young People’s War Diaries from World War I
to Iraq edited by Zlata Filipovic. ISBN 978-0-143-03871-9
● Thura’s Diary: My Life in Wartime Iraq by Thura al-Windawi
ISBN 978-0-670-05886-0
● The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. ISBN
978-0-553-21011-8
● The Fighting Ground by Avi. ISBN 978-0-064-40185-2
● Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. ISBN 978-0-425-18278-9
● My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and
Christopher Collier. ISBN 978-0-590-42792-0
for LS5603.20, Genre 6—fantasy, fiction and young adult.
1. Bibliography
Rosoff, Meg. 2004. How I Live Now. New York: Wendy Lamb Books.
ISBN 0-385-74677-6
2. Plot Summary
Fifteen-year-old Elizabeth (Daisy) is sent from New York to live
with her aunt and cousins in England when her stepmother is
pregnant. While Daisy is in England, a global terrorist war breaks
out and her aunt is sent out of the country as part of the war
effort. Daisy and her cousins must try to survive on their own
when faced with war, starvation and separation from each other.
3. Critical Analysis
How I Live Now is Meg Rosoff’s first novel. It is a Junior Library
Guild Selection and Michael L. Printz award winner, which would
indicate that it is a well-written, quality book, and it is. In a
post-9/11 world, a global terror war is very believable, and
getting trapped on the wrong side of a border during war-time
has happened many times in the past. That Daisy and her cousins
would be left on their own and largely ignored by adults in the
area is not hard to imagine, since everyone would be busy taking
care of himself or herself. There is nothing that happens in the
story that would not happen in real life.
The style of writing that Rosoff uses is appropriate for the story.
It is written the way a young person speaks—sometimes in long,
run-on sentences and sometimes in brief phrases. This adds to
the authenticity and appeal of the book.
The story is revealed exclusively through Daisy’s eyes. Most of
the book is Daisy’s recollection of the events. There is not even
any conversation until the third chapter of the epilogue. Because
it is Daisy’s story, she is the character who is most fully developed.
At the beginning of the book, she is totally self-absorbed and her
biggest concern is having no signal on her cell phone. She is so
unaware of the world that when she talks about a bomb going off
in London, she says “something like seven or seventy thousand
people got killed”—hardly a reliable witness. By the end of the
story, she has become caretaker of her young cousin and has
walked across the country, living in the wild for weeks, to get
back the cousin back to her home.
The story takes place in the not-too-distant future in a small
English village and the surrounding countryside. It is important
to the story that the setting be somewhat isolated, since that is
how the cousins escape the notice of adults for a time. If the
setting were in a city, there would be more people around and
the cousins would not have been able to be on their own for as
long as they were. Daisy and Piper would not have had to make
their cross-country journey, which is when Daisy did a lot of
maturing.
Although it is set during war-time, How I Live Now is not really
about war. It is about courage and growing up and doing more
than one thinks is possible. Readers of any age group would be
able to relate to that aspect of the story. The author does not
tell the reader, “You need to grow up and quit thinking so much
about yourself and your little problems.” She lets the reader
learn that lesson through Daisy’s eyes.
When asked what she hoped readers would take away from How
I Live Now, Rosoff answered, “I'd particularly hope that my
teenage readers come away with a sense of the importance
and redemptive power of love, friendship, emotional connections
and loyalty, and the horror of war.” She has undoubtedly
succeeded.
4. Review Excerpts
Booklist: “the opportunity it provides for teens to imagine
themselves, like Daisy, exhibiting courage and resilience in
roles traditionally occupied by earlier generations.”
Publishers Weekly: “Teens may feel that they have experienced
a war themselves as they vicariously witness Daisy's worst night-
mares. Like the heroine, readers will emerge from the rubble
much shaken, a little wiser and with perhaps a greater sense of
humanity.”
Amazon.co.uk: “Rosoff's writing style is both brilliant and
frustrating. Her descriptions are wonderful, as is her ability to
portray the emotions of her characters. However, her long
sentences and total lack of punctuation for dialogue can be
exhausting. Her narrative is deeply engaging and yet a bit
unbelievable. The end of the book is dramatic, but too sudden.
The book has a raw, unfinished feel about it, yet that somehow
adds to the experience of reading it.”--John McLay
“That rare, rare thing, a first novel with a sustained, magical
and utterly faultless voice. After five pages I knew that she
could persuade me to believe almost anything.”
--Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time
Horn Book: This first novel is intelligent, funny, serious, and
sweet; a winning combination of acerbic commentary, innocence,
and sober vision... Hilarious, lyrical, and compassionate, this is,
literarily and emotionally, deeply satisfying.
5. Connections
Because How I Live Now is such a multifaceted story, there are
many curriculum connections that could be made and many
discussions that could be started after reading it—discussions
about step-families, eating disorders, terrorism, survival
techniques, and the effects of war on civilians, just to name a few.
It might be interesting to have students rewrite a chapter of the
book from someone else’s point of view—Edmond’s or Piper’s, for
example.
Other books about young people whose lives are disrupted by war:
● The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. ISBN 978-0-553-29698-3
● Zlata’s Diary by Zlata Filipovic. ISBN 978-0-143-03687-6
● Stolen Voices: Young People’s War Diaries from World War I
to Iraq edited by Zlata Filipovic. ISBN 978-0-143-03871-9
● Thura’s Diary: My Life in Wartime Iraq by Thura al-Windawi
ISBN 978-0-670-05886-0
● The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. ISBN
978-0-553-21011-8
● The Fighting Ground by Avi. ISBN 978-0-064-40185-2
● Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt. ISBN 978-0-425-18278-9
● My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and
Christopher Collier. ISBN 978-0-590-42792-0
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