HOW I LIVE NOW by Meg Rosoff

Bibliography
Rosoff, Meg. 2004. How I Live Now. New York: Wendy Lamb Books.

Summary
Daisy who lives with her dad and step mom in New York goes to live with her aunt and cousins in England. There she meets Aunt Penn, Osbert, Isaac, Edmond and Piper. They live on a farm in the English countryside. Aunt Penn leaves to go on a business trip and the kids are left to care for themselves. Daisy is drawn to her cousin Edmond. The two end up having an emotional and sexual relationship. A World War III of sorts starts and England is taken over by The Occupation. Eventually Occupation soldiers come to the farm and take over the house. The children are split up and sent to different farms. The farms seem to be more like worker camps. Things continue to heat up and the farm that the girls are at go into hiding in a barn. Daisy finds out where the boys are staying at and her and Piper set off on their own to find them. When they get to the boys farm they see what is left after a massacre. Men, women, children and animals have all been killed. Daisy and Piper search everyone to see if Edmond and Isaac are there. They do not find them and decide to make their way back home. The house seems to be deserted but they hid in a lambing barn just to be safe. They make trips to the house to check for the boys and to get food and supplies. One day the phone rings and Daisy answers it. It is her father. He has arranged for her to get out of the country. Six years pass and Daisy is living in New York. When they reopen the borders between the US and England Daisy returns to England. There she finds out that Aunt Penn was shot trying to get back home. Piper, Isaac and Edmond are all living at the house. Osbert lives with his girlfriend and Piper has met the man she is going to marry. Isaac has become a veterinarian of sorts. Edmond is deeply scarred on the inside and outside. He has taken up gardening and does it with a great passion. He hardly speaks at all anymore. Daisy learns that Isaac arrived at the house two days after she left. She also learns that Edmond saw the massacre and was then taken hostage by the Occupation soldiers. Daisy understands why he is how he is now because of everything he has been through. It takes awhile but Edmond finally forgives Daisy for leaving him. And now she lives in England with Edmond and her other cousins.

Analysis
Rosoff does a great job with the character of Daisy. You learn about Daisy through her self description, her description of others and her descriptions of the things around her. You also learn about the other characters through Daisy's description and depiction of their actions and events. You know that Edmond is someone that she feels she connects with and that he can read her thoughts. She describes Isaac as being quite and somewhat omniscient. She talks about how he always seems to know where Edmond is. Daisy describes Piper as, "...pure and good..." You get to see daisy go from a girl that starved herself to annoy other people and to feel in control to a girl who fell in love with her cousin. You get to see her become a protector of Piper on their journey back to the house. You get to go through all of these growths, and the emotions that go with them, with her.

One of the main parts of the book that helps us to understand what the setting at the time of the war was like is in the middle of the book. When the workers were riding back home after working in the field and of the workers, Joe, decided to get, "....show-offy" at one of the checkpoints. Daisy explains, "And then in an almost lazy kind of way the checkpoint guy who'd been looking at him raised his gun and pulled the trigger and there was a loud crack and part of Joe's face exploded..." "...I watched the guard go right back to chatting with his friend..." When Major McEvoy got out to help Joe he was also shot. This entire scene explains what the times were like. It is a stark contrast to the beginning of the book when Daisy describes the countryside, "...about 100,000 white roses all over the front of the house are blooming like mad, and vegetables grow about six inches a day, and the flower gardens all around the house are so full of color that you couldn't help feeling ecstatic and dizzy just looking at them." Rosoff does a great job setting up the time before the war and after and showing us the difference.

The themes that I see running through this story are survival and acceptance. Daisy has spent her whole life looking for acceptance and a place to fit in. She finally finds this in England with relatives she has never met before. After two days she said, "...and so far I was finding Life With My Cousins more than ok and huge improvement over my so-called life at home on Eigthy-Sixth street." She also finds this in a relationship with Edmond. You can feel this when Daisy says, "The only thing I knew for certain was that all around me was more life than I'd ever experienced in all the years I'd been on earth and as long as no one shut me in the barn away from Edmond at night I was safe." You can understand the theme of survival through many different instances. The main one is Piper and Daisy's trip alone through the English countryside during a war. You can also see it in Isaac and Edmond's journeys. Although you don't hear much about their story until the end it is still profound. When Isaac had to leave Edmond behind you know that it was the only way he thought he would survive.

Rosoff tells the story in a blunt and honest way that only a young adult can. The fact that the story is told form Daisy's perspective will help young adult readers to understand and connect with the story better. I love how the story ends , "And that's how I live now." That sounds just like a teenager, they tell you this long story about war and an unacceptable love and end with that's how it is. It is in such a way that you don't question it you just accept it.

Gender does not seem to be a big issue in this story. The children are split up according to gender but when they are at the working farms it does not seem to play a major role. Piper helps with the animal because of her ability not her gender. Daisy picks fruit alongside men and women. I love the fact that two girls set out on their own to find the boys. I do not think this story would be as empowering for girls if the boys had set out in search of the girls. At the end of the book it seems the household chores and work are a group effort. Edmond had his garden but Isaac and Piper both work with the animals and the food. It is not a girls in the house and boys working outside atmosphere. It is truly a group effort.

Review Excerpts

School Library Journal review - "Though the novel has disturbing elements, Rosoff handles the harshness of war and the taboo of incest with honest introspection. This Printz award winner is a good choice for book discussions as it considers the disruption of war both physically and emotionally and should be on every high school and public library shelf."


Booklist review - "More central to the potency of Rosoff’s
debut, though, is 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."

Connections
I would like to use this book to show students what it can be like in war. I think it is important for them to understand what past generations went through. We are in a war now and we do see some effects of it but not to the extent of what they did. I like the fact that the war is a made up one and has not occurred. I think that helps to encourage the students imaginations. I would like to bring in other books that show teenagers during war time. Some of these could include Your Eyes in Stars, Number the Stars, The Diary of Anne Frank and April Morning.