Synopsis from Goodreads:
Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event--an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales.
When Alex's parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle.
With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful new novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.
Review:
I really enjoyed Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer, so I was looking forward to reading The Dead and The Gone, the second in the trilogy. It follows a male protagonist living in New York when the asteroid hits. Not knowing whether his parents and older brother are alive or not, Alex has to make sure he and his sisters survive.
I was hoping for something more than a repeat of the first book and though it isn't the same, it pretty much follows the same pattern of the first book. I even felt that some of the characters from this book were identical from the previous book, such as Alex's sister Briana and Miranda's friend Megan. They were both religious, they both ate less than their share of food and... the third point is a spoiler.
What I liked was seeing survivors in a different setting; a city. New York felt like a ghost town, a city of the dead. There were many shocking points which I still remember, such as when a baby is trampled in a riot and when a man commits suicide by jumping off a building right in front of Alex and his sister Julie. The suicide isn't the shocking thing. The man hadn't even died and Alex was already 'body shopping' him.
Body shopping; stripping possessions from dead/dying bodies, really shocked me, even though it seems like a foregone conclusion in apocalyptic situations. Alex has a moral and religious dilemma throughout the book. Should he body shop? Should he steal from others' apartments? Was he really doing the right thing for Briana and Julie?
Though the style of the book is still dated entries, it is in third person, which is a big change from the first book and I didn't like this change at all. I didn't feel as if I knew Alex as much as I wanted. I really wanted to get into his thoughts more. His sisters felt 2D and we don't get to see the other characters for that long. I would have liked to have seen flashbacks of family moments and Alex's life before the asteroid.
Also, I wished Alex had learnt to cook something. No point in being smart if you can't feed yourself. I wondered what he'd have done if both his sisters (the cooks) had to leave.
This book felt so much darker and colder than the first one which I think was the aim. Unfortunately, the ending felt rushed and set up and I felt let down. There should have been more of a build up and a few more chapters after the 'end'. Overall, The Dead and The Gone was a good sequel, however, the characters weren't memorable and it didn't explore much more new ground than Life As We Knew It. There were some scenes which made the book worthwhile but I'm not sure I'll read the third book in any hurry.
Book Rating: 3.5/5
Cover Rating: 5/5
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
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