Review: The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Dead and the Gone was recommended to me by my little sister.  She read it years ago in middle school, and I think it's safe to say that this book was probably targeted for that age group.  Alex and his family live in NYC and life seems pretty dull and normal, until suddenly the moon is a lot closer to the earth and the tides start coming in.  Alex's father is in Puerto Rico for a funeral, and his mother is working at her hospital, so Alex is left in charge of his sisters.  As time passes and things in the city become more dire, with food shortages, crimes, and extreme weather, Alex realizes that his parents aren't coming back and he has to decide how to protect his younger sisters.

I never ever ever would have picked this book up if my little sister hadn't asked me to read it.  I was pretty skeptical.  But then I started and I couldn't put it down.  It is a very easy book to read, writing wise.  It's written in Alex's point of view, and I felt while reading it that the author did a great job writing like a 17 year old boy would talk.  While reading the book, I grew really attached to Alex and his youngest sister Julie.  I felt Alex's frustration with dealing with a 13 year old sister without his parents around, and I could feel the dread and then acceptance that they felt when they slowly began to realize that their parents weren't coming back.

It was a pretty scary book to read, especially if you're reading it at the age of 12 or 13 like my sister was when she read it.  Alex and his family are just normal people living normal lives and then all of a sudden everything changes and no one knows what's going on. 

Apparently there is another book by this author called Life As We Knew It which is about how a small town in the country is affected.  I'll probably eventually give that one a try.

Have you ever read outside of your comfort zone because someone you trust told you to?  I have to say, the last 2 books I've read that were recommended to me by my little sis turned out to be great!

Title: The Dead and the Gone
Author: Suan Beth Pfeffer
Date of Publication: 2010
Number of Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction
Source: Lent to me by my little sister!