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How I Live Now
254 pages
A breathless, fever-dream of a survival story where a sun-drenched, rule-free summer abruptly descends into the brutal chaos of an unnamed war.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like being caught in a sudden, violent storm after a perfectly still summer afternoon. The narrative is entirely driven by a raw, breathless voice that pulls you directly into the protagonist's racing mind, discarding standard punctuation to create a propulsive, stream-of-consciousness flow. You are first immersed in a hazy, sun-drenched Eden of unsupervised youth and intoxicating, forbidden first love, only to have the ground ripped out from under you as an unnamed war shatters the idyll. The mood shifts from surreal and dreamy to stark, tense, and desperately bleak. It is a haunting, visceral experience designed for readers who want to feel the psychological weight of survival and the fierce, scarring power of human connection.
- Mood
- surreal
- idyllic
- tense
- haunting
- bleak
- Tone
- urgent
- intimate
- cynical
- raw
- feverish
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- loss of innocence · psychological toll of war · forbidden love · survival and resilience · illusion of control
- The writing
- Breathless and unconventional, the narrative flows in a stream-of-consciousness rush that eschews standard punctuation to mirror the protagonist's racing, unfiltered thoughts.
- The arc
- The journey moves from cynical detachment to a brief, intoxicating awakening, before plunging into desperate survival and culminating in a scarred, quiet resilience.
- Who it's for
- Readers who crave intense, voice-driven survival stories that explore the messy, traumatic realities of war and the fierce bonds of unconventional love.
Content notes
- eating disorders
- war violence
- incestuous romance
- starvation
- trauma and PTSD
- death of a child
About the book
"Every war has turning points and every person too."Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she's never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it's a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy's uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.A riveting and astonishing story.From the Hardcover edition.
Description from Open Library.
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