My name is Elizabeth but no one’s ever called me that.

I originally got this book for Christmas, as part of a set of 15 all re-printed in the traditional Penguin style as part of their celebration range, and I have to say they look fantastic on my shelves! It was also one of the books I books I wanted to read for the Dewey’s Books Reading Challenge and I have to say I loved the book, and it is one of my favourites so far this year, in fact.

My only problem came in re-reading, Dewey’s original review before starting to write mine, it brought a lump to my throat and more than ever before I realised how much we miss her contribution to our community.

How I Live Now, follows the story of fifteen-year-old Manhattanite Daisy, as she is shipped off to England, to spend some time with her aunt’s family.

She’s not getting on with her new step-mother, won’t acknowledge her new sister, and her frequent and expensive  therapy sessions are having little effect. You get the feeling That None of this Is Daisy’s Fault, and that this is the desperate attempt from her father to do something to help his daughter, and is not just a means to get her out of the way.

Upon arriving in England, Daisy quickly falls in love with her new life and quirky family, but that idyll is shattered when a long threatened war breaks out, and Daisy and her new family are left on their own as her Aunt is trapped overseas on what was intended to be a short business trip.

For months, they are left alone and survive very well, the War does little to touch them, other that the supply of food being rationed. The rumours of people dying from relatively simple illnesses due to lack of proper medical care, are really just that rumours. They know in their hearts it is true, but in their isolation, it doens’t impinge on their lives.

During this time, they draw closer together, so close in fact that Daisy falls in love with her cousin, Edmund, and their hidden relationship soon develops in to a sexual one, as they seek comfort in one another.

It would be much easier to tell this story if it were all about a chaste and perfect love between Two Children Against the World at an Extreme Time in History but let’s face it that would be a load of crap. The real truth is that the war didn’t have much to do with it except that it provided a perfect limbo in which two people who were too young and too related could start kissing without anything or anyone making us stop. There were no parents, no teachers, no schedules. There was nowhere to go and nothing to do that would remind us that this sort of thing didn’t happen in the Real World.

There no longer was a Real World.

They can’t hide from the world forever though, and when the Army decide that their isolated farm house would be a perfect base of operations, the group are torn apart, and the reality of war begins to hit.

The story here begins to take a darker tone, and there are moments when your emotions are hit with proper sucker-punches, as Daisy (and Rosoff) capture the horror of events she witnesses.

Daisy, now finds herself responsible for her nine-year old cousin, Piper (who is just great) and has to grow up quite quickly if they are going to survive long enough to re-unite with Edmund and the rest of the family.

As anyone who has read about this book will be aware, the first section is filled with breathless, run-on-sentences, Much Use if Capitals for Emphasis, and a distinct lack of comma’s, now you will either hate this technique or love it, for me, I liked it, it perfectly suited Daisy and her personality, and when in the final third, when normal punctuation resumes, it helps to highlight her new maturity.

Without spoiling the ending, I really liked it, we got nice closure, without ever forgetting the consequences of the war and how it effected them all.

A really memorable read.

[rating:4.5/5]

Awards and Honours

ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2005) Booktrust Teenage Prize Shortlist (2005 A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book (2004) Whitbread Shortlist (Children’s Book, 2004) (show all 7 items)

Printz Award (2005) Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize (2004) Branford Boase Award (2005)

Other Reviews to Consider

The Hidden Side of a Leaf A Striped Armchair The Written Word Leafing Through Life Some Reads Miss Print “Fiddle-de-dee’s not English” Valentina’s Room Jenny’s Books The Compulsive Reader

Out of the Blue In the Spring it is Dawn Things mean a lot Bold Blue Adventure Presenting Lenore The Compulsive Reader Adventures in Multiplicity Ink and Paper In Search of Giants Becky’s Book Reviews

Buy, How I Live Now, from Amazon.

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