How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff

-->“Some of the things that made the biggest impression were the things that were almost normal but not quite” (Rosoff 72).

I chose this quote from Meg Rosoff's novel, How I Live Now as an entry point into my review of this text because it gives insight to the themes of the text. Rosoff writes in a way that I have never experienced before and it is fascinating. She does not use quotation marks in her text at all so the thoughts of one character become the words of the next in a very Woolfian stream-of-consciousness style of writing. The story is written from a first person perspective, but because of the style it feels as though you are in the minds of more than one character at a time. Throughout the novel we follow Daisy, a hip 15 year old New Yorker who is visiting her family on the English countryside to escape from her new evil stepmother, whom she so kindly refers to as Davina the Diabolical. However when she arrives in England she discovers a war has broken out and soon she finds herself alone with her four cousins and no adult supervision. A kid's dream come true right? Well, yes for a while, but after a time Daisy finds herself on the run and the story becomes an adventure tale with only her wit to keep her and her cousins alive. Throughout the story she questions why survival wasn't taught in school in place of literature and asks her reader to do the same. This is the first story we've read from a female perspective and it was great. Her sarcastic tone and hilarious titles for places, events and people made the book enjoyable to read and I kept finding myself reading bits aloud to get the full effect. I would love to read this book with other people out loud to see how different people interpret her language. It is incredible insight into the mind of someone who has been forced to grow up too quickly and becomes the caretaker for others at the ripe old age of 15. There were parts in the novel where I had no idea what I would have done and I admired our protagonist—or heroine, for her determination and strength of spirit. We also get a taste of the experience of being in a foreign land, although Daisy speaks the same language as her cousins, she still finds herself in an unknown land with none of the comforts of home. This book is all about disequilibrium and finding a way through the changes. Just as the characters are getting to know their way of life, it drastically changes and they have no choice but to change with it. I appreciate Rosoff's willingness to go beyond an innocent adolescent experience and show us what some young adults actually go through on a daily basis: struggling for survival and taking care of each other when there is no one else. Happy reading!