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Rosoff, Meg. 2004. HOW I LIVE NOW. New York: Wendy Lamb Books. ISBN 0385746776.
In Rosoff's hauntingly apocalyptic tale, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to stay with her aunt and cousins on their farm in rural
England to escape from her father and pregnant stepmother in New York. Though she and her cousins instantly bond upon her
arrival, the family is quickly torn apart as war breaks out and they are scattered throughout the country.
HOW I LIVE NOW is both a powerfully written and compelling YA novel. In the beginning of the story, Daisy could serve
as the poster child for angst-ridden teens. She is self-absorbed and self-destructive, an anorexic who finds great pleasure
in watching herself shrink away because it offers her power in a world she can't control. It isn't until she forced to flee
for her life with her younger cousin in tow that she begins her transformation as she becomes someone who loves greatly and
generously. As she shares her story (offered in a painful, yet captivating first-person account), readers are drawn into her
world of confusion, and because of the frankness in which Daisy shares these experiences, they are given an inside look into
her private world. The candid and intelligent narrative highlights her growth, and in Rosoff's skillful hands, readers are
left feeling raw from Daisy's experience, though emotionally satisfied as they too begin to consider the question of "how
I live now".
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