How I Live Now - Genre 6

Bibliography

Rosoff, Meg. 2004. How I Live Now. New York: Wendy Lamb Books. ISBN 0-553-37605-5.

Plot Summary

Fifteen-year-old Daisy leaves her home and life in New York to live with her Aunt Penn and cousins that she has only seen in photographs. She is battling anorexia and her stepmother. Her mother has died and her father has remarried. She is sent to England to live with her mother's sister on their farm while her father and stepmother are expecting a baby. She meets her cousins Osbert (16), Isaac and Edmond (14 year old twins) and Piper (9). She falls in love with Edmond and has her first sexual relationship with him. This is written very subtly. While her aunt is out of the country war breaks out in England. Daisy is forced to leave their home and she takes Piper with her. She learns to survive on her own and take care of Piper. She is separated from her other cousins, but can have conversations with Edmond in her head. Daisy and Piper make it back to their farm, but animals and people are all dead. Her cousins were nowhere to be found. Her father brings her back to the states. Six years later, when the war is ending, Daisy goes back to England. Edmond is angry with her for leaving him, and has shut the world out. She keeps talking to him to make him understand that she loves him. It ends with her deciding she belongs with Edmond.

Critical Analysis

This story is told in first person by Daisy. Teenagers can identify with Daisy. It is written like a teenager would think or talk. It is fast paced. At times she is talking to herself outloud. There is a balance of narration and dialogue. She is a fifteen-year-old who can not live with her father and stepmother any more in New York. Her father sends her to England to live with her deceased mother's sister and her family on a farm. While she was in New York she was suffering from anorexia. She would starve herself to be in control of her life at home. While living on the farm Daisy falls in love emotionally and sexually with her cousin Edmond. Her aunt has to leave England for a short time and the children are on the farm by themselves. Soldiers invade the farm while war breaks out and England is in the war. Daisy finds herself in the middle of a war. The soldiers separate Daisy and Piper from Edmond and Isaac. Daisy finds herself having to keep Piper and herself alive in a country she is not familiar with. She also discovers that she no longer wants to starve herself. She has to deal with finding food to survive. The reader experiences the horrible attrocities of war through a teenagers eyes. Daisy learns to love and survive in this story. The end of the story takes us six years in the future. The story ends on a feeling of hope.

Review Excerpt(s)

Best Books for Young Adults (2005)

Michael L Printz Award (2005)

Booklist (Jennifer Mattson): "the ominous prognostication of what a third world war might look like, and the opportunity it provides for teens to imagine themselves, like Daisy, exhibiting courage and resilience in roles traditionally occupied by earlier generations."

CCBC (2005): "They endure some horrific wartime episodes, including checkpoints, murders, massacres, and starvation. The hunger they experience is used both literally and as a metaphor for longing, and Daisy’s physical and emotional hungers become enmeshed in this sophisticated, gripping novel. "

Kirkus 2004: "The story of Daisy and her three exceptional cousins, one of whom becomes her first lover, offers a keen perspective on human courage and resilience."

Timnah Card 2004: "Throughout, the paradisiacal setting of the English countryside and the wretched, sometimes horrifyingly violent lives of the embattled people who live there are presented with such luxurious, terrible realism that readers will remain absorbed to the very end by this unforgettable and original story."

VOYA (Ruth Cox): "the emotional bond between Daisy and Edmond is so strong that Daisy can sense him lying beside her at night although they are apart."

Connections (for junior high or high school students)

-Research about eating disorders.

-Daisy has an eating disorder. Write about how this contributes to the novel?

- Write about which character changed the most in the novel?

- Discuss what would happen if war broke out in our country?