Comments on: FYABC: life as we knew it, pg 1-166 (semantics)

By: Miss K

Miss K — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:33:30 +0000

I thought it was realistic that Miranda never mentioned what was going on in the world. I’ve looked back at my high school diaries and they are very self-centered!

By: KSScott

KSScott — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 12:36:08 +0000

I, too, found myself looking into my pantry, wondering how many days we could survive on the pasta, soup and canned peaches sitting on the shelves! And I agree with the other comments about violence, although I sort of figured it was because they were in a small town and also lived pretty far outside of town. If this had taken place in LA or NYC, it would have been different. (The next one in the series in set in NYC…)

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:04:20 +0000

My book club read this and we thought it was the nicest post-apocalyptic world ever! So gentle and safe!

By: samantha

samantha — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:49:35 +0000

Yeah, I kept wondering to myself, why aren’t we finding out more about what’s going on in the world-at-large? I know TV was knocked out for most of the time, but they had radios, and you’d think Miranda would comment at least once on “the death toll worldwide has now reached 50 million” or something. I mean, if it was me, I would certainly consider that to be worth a mention in the ‘ol diary!!

By: Poshdeluxe

Poshdeluxe — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:25:15 +0000

i completely agree that the lack of violence is pretty unrealistic. i mean, at the v. least, someone should’ve tried to break into their house by now and steal their supplies. sure, it’s the suburbs, but as tom hanks taught us, that’s where the REAL evil lies.

By: Poshdeluxe

Poshdeluxe — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:14:04 +0000

i know my sex ed teacher (WHAT UP COACH W!) would probably fail me for saying this but… are condoms really necessary in a post-A society? i mean, isn’t the whole point to make babies?!

not that i’d want to be pregnant after the apocalypse cos WHERE MY EPIDURALS AT?

By: erin

erin — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:05:18 +0000

OM NOM NOM.

Sigh, looks like I’ll be baking this weekend!

By: Splendibird

Splendibird — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:25:30 +0000

I put on about 10 lbs while reading this. I ate constantly and then found myself reaching the checkout with far more canned goods than usual. Clearly the apocalypse is already upon my subconscious mind. And my stomach. Gar.

By: shabbygeek

shabbygeek — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:51:28 +0000

1) My WTF moments all revolved around this Dan kid. Where did he come from? They were on swim team and all of the sudden they’re kissing at the pond? What?!

2) Talky-talk: When I first started reading this novel, I had to really put things into perspective. Teen girl + diary = prepare for angst. I thought she was believable protag, whether I liked her or not. The extremely shallow commentary on not going to prom to the Big Quotes like “If God’s looking for sacrifices, all He has to do is look at Mom,” was pretty legit. Miranda had a few of those one-line zingers for sure, and her sarcasm could be funny at times.

3) Bonus factors: Crazy Shopping Day! I would have LOVED to partake in that madness. Food shopping strategery on steroids!

4) I really had to think about whether this plot was realistic or not, simply because of who I’m being forced to listen to in all of this. I have a really clipped perspective on what’s going on in Miranda’s world, because a) Miranda doesn’t care about much outside of her city as far as I can see and b) She’s extremely introverted/introspective. I think it’s realistic as far as the information she chooses to present to us, but I feel like things would be more in disarray in their town and WHAT IS GOING ON OUTSIDE THEIR HOUSE? Deets, please!

By: Samantha

Samantha — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:05:44 +0000

Sara, that is a brilliant idea and I can’t believe the losebag teachers/school board didn’t think of it, like AT ALL. WTF, educators?? Maybe instead of teaching these poor kids algebraic formulas (formulae?) you could, I don’t know, teach them something useful like SURVIVAL SKILLS??