by Susan Beth Pfeffer
reviewed by Margaret Kalaw
Life as We Knew It, a Bildungsroman written by award-winning author Susan Beth Pfeffer, revolves around young Miranda, who learns to truly love her family, make sacrifices, and appreciate each day of life after tragedy strikes the world. The novel opens as Miranda nears the end of her sophomore year in high school, worrying about her upcoming final exams, separating friendships, impossible love life, and divorced parents. She hears from her mother’s new boyfriend that the largest asteroid to ever impact the moon will soon strike. However, when Miranda, her younger brother, Jonny, and their mother sit outside to watch the large asteroid hit the moon, the unthinkable happens: the moon is knocked closer to the earth, making it brighter and much larger. Immediately, worldwide calamity befalls, starting with massive tsunamis that devastate entire coastal cities. Matt, Miranda’s older brother, quickly returns from college to be with his family, and soon, the entire world endures disastrous earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flu epidemics, electricity shortages, and famine. Life as We Knew It proceeds as Miranda and her family adapt to these lethal conditions and hope to survive this catastrophe together.
In her novel, Pfeffer expertly portrays the reality of being stuck in an unpredicted, horrifying situation. By choosing to relate Miranda’s life and thoughts during the tragedy via her constant journal entries, the reader more easily understands the loneliness, terror, and uncertainty, which are present throughout the book. When Miranda learns about the worldwide natural disasters caused by the moon’s close proximity, she suffers anguish, writing “I didn’t start this diary for it to be a record of death” (Pfeffer 71). Miranda’s fear of losing her life or her family becomes clear, and both she and the reader question whether fighting for survival is crucial when death seems so inevitable. Additionally, the protagonist’s desire for more freedom as living conditions worsen draws attention to less noticeable, yet perfectly relatable feelings. Though the reader would typically empathize with Miranda’s distress relating to the ongoing catastrophe, one may not also realize that a lack of social life would also affect her emotional well-being. Still, Pfeffer highlights this when Miranda, unable to see her few friends, narrates, “It’s so unfair . . . I can’t have friends anymore, like family is the only thing that matters from now on” (102). Being told through diary entries, Miranda’s story connects with the reader on a personal level, effectively depicting the traumatizing truth of an international cataclysm.
With the abundance of novels about young protagonists who save their nation, Pfeffer’s novel stands out as a story that inspires individuals to value mundane belongings and treasure their families. I would recommend Life as We Knew It to any readers searching for a thought-provoking novel about a relatable adolescent who faces a lifetime’s worth of adversity in her own home.
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