This just make me hate them for not having more than a half days worth of food in there home. Like fully saying they are starving less than a week after the moon is struck.
Ok, I'm not a doomsday prepper by any means but these people are destitute in a matter of days after the cataclysm of the story. I found myself caring for the characters.all of whom are a little flawed.which I loved. Overall, I was pretty invested in the story. I don't think the author was making a judgement call on ALL Christians.just those her character came in contact with. I didn't mind the religious references at all. Without more explanation, the anger seemed displaced. However, I do wish the mother had expressed herself a bit more than just saying "jerk" or "idiot". I myself have mumbled gripes during certain presidential addresses. I didn't mind the references to the president. I liked that the author took her time showing us what a typical family might endure if something like this were ever to happen. Once the story gets going, the narration is much better.
I think she is trying to make the character sound like your average "not a real care in the world before the disaster" teenager, but it grated on my nerves. I have to agree that the beginning of this recording is hard to sit through. All in all - a very G-rated apocalyptic tale. That being said, the author does an good job building on the tension of isolation and the claustrophobia that would grow as communication with the outside world is severed. Apparently in this part of Pennsylvania looters and bandits do not exist, so the breakdown of civilization is downright Norman-Rockwellian.
As far as end of the world survival - the family relies on a coincidence of good fortune that removes them from the true life or death struggle that the story attempts to portray. Oh how much better it could have been if the author had decided to give our young heroine some maturity, spunk, and/or intelligence from the get-go. Her focus throughout the story (until the last 2 hours) is so vapid, whiny and self-obsessed that I had a hard time cheering for her survival. The protagonist is supposedly 16 years old, but she sounds very much like she is 12. But a bit more than halfway though, I realized that it was not how the words were read that was the problem - its the words themselves. For a good portion of the book I blamed the narrator - Emily Bauer - for the childish, whiny protagonist. The teen narrator will grate on your last nerve. That was my reason for picking this book - and if you have kids ages 9-14 and a long road trip, this may be a good pick for your family too - sure to lead to some interesting conversations. It is far more family-friendly is every way.
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