How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Nothing has struck me more so than Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now. Nothing has felt so personal, so real. Daisy’s thoughts sounded like mine, and often I lapsed into thinking that SHE was ME, or I was HER. She did things which sounded like I would do, felt things which I would feel, and the only four strikingly different things from me and her is that 1: She is an American, 2: Her mother died giving birth to her and therefore she has a stepmother, 3: She is romantically involved with her cousin and 4: The Third World War has begun.

Also, the scenery is so similar to where I live. I’ve walked in woodland, down country lanes, swam in rivers. I know which plants are what and which birds are which. This makes the story even more personal for me, despite not living in a war zone, I felt like I knew the surroundings. This is what made me fearful. It made the story more realistic. It made survival and the war and everything seem like it could happen on MY BACK DOORSTEP, which is utterly terrifying, especially when you leave yourself to dwell on that matter.

After the end of Part Two, I couldn’t start to read any other book. I couldn’t write a review. I had to collect myself, and not cry in a crowded room. The ending broke my heart. I had literally no idea what to do with myself. (So I doodled aimlessly. That’s what I did with myself)

Meg Rosoff’s novel is one of the most powerful novels that I’ve read in quite a while. It is completely unmissable.

N.B: By the way, I don’t understand the issue with the incest. I felt that the book was more to do with survival, war, horror, hope, family, love, fear, anger, being scared, scared, scared and trying to fight your way through it than Daisy having sex with her cousin.


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