the dead and the gone - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description

Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event--an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales. When Alex's parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle.

With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful new novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.

Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

An amazing companion novel to LAWKI May 9, 2008
14 out of 14 found this review helpful

I had the privilege to get an advanced reading copy and here is my review.

Last year I read Life As We Knew It by the same author of this wonderful book. You can find the review for that book here. I enjoyed Life As We Knew It so much that when I heard about there being a companion book I jumped with joy. Being a companion book also means you don't have to have read Life As We Knew It to know what is going on. The Dead & the Gone is a completely separate story.
The Dead & the Gone uses the same premise as Life As We Knew It, but takes place in a vastly different environment that creates some truly gruesome challenges for the main characters. Before we were in Pennsylvania away from large bodies of water, away from large cities, and away from practically all the major problems of an urban sprawl. The Dead & the Gone, however, is the exact opposite, taking place in New York City. An asteroid has struck the moon, pushing it into a closer orbit around the Earth and thrusting the Morales family into a grueling struggle for survival. With Alex's parents gone and presumed dead, he has to learn to take care of his younger sisters while keeping his faith in God. But New York City is not an easy place to live in when the electricity rarely works, fuel for stoves is in short supply, and a bitter winter caused by increased volcanic activity thrusts them into extreme cold, famine, and an epidemic.
Once again I feel that Susan has done a fantastic job bringing forward a truly powerful and realistic story about survival. The only thing SF about this story, again, is the impact on the moon, but the world we're presented is a modern world.
The strongest element in this companion novel is a religious element. In Life As We Knew It religion wasn't really a big deal, and in some ways it wasn't even part of the story. For The Dead & the Gone religion is practically everything. Alex is a catholic going to a catholic private school in a family of catholics. He's devout, his younger sister Bri is devout, and his youngest sister is religious, though not nearly as much as her siblings. This has to be stressed in my review because this story is partially a test of faith. How does one hold on to a belief in God when everything around you is falling apart and your prayers aren't being answered? When people start committing suicide or dying on the street and nobody bothers to pick them up and tkae them elsewhere for days, weeks, even months, how do you deal with that belief in God? Even though Alex never does lose his faith, he does battle with doubts and feelings that he feels may be sinful. He must do things that he wouldn't normally do and doesn't feel comfortable doing (such as taking the clothes and personal items off dead bodies in the street to barter for food or stealing from abandoned apartments to do the same).
Alex is a strong character and a character you can't help looking up to. He's charged with taking care of his two sisters practically by himself. Unlike in Life As We Knew It, everything quickly turns to darkness as food becomes incredibly scarce and the bitter winters set in with no way to heat up an apartment that, by default, has no fireplace (I think the quickness of this was somewhat intentional to pull away from the longer feel of the previous book). He has to battle with the decisions he makes every day as he does everything he can just to keep his family alive. It's harsh, it's real, and it's frightening to imagine that anyone would have to go through this. Would any of us survive?
There are some significant diversions beyond location from the previous book. In The Dead & the Gone we see the main character, Alex, get the flu, and have to follow him through the ordeal since he is the central character and the only character whose mind we get into. Susan does a marvelous job presenting a twisted, delusional view through the eyes of someone stricken with illness. The prose becomes disorienting just as the character descends into a myriad of hallucinations and merging of reality and bizarre fantasy. The 'diary' format carries over from the previous book, but here things are split up by day, but the entries are not diary entries, but standard prose entries, which diverges somewhat from the really internal feel and presents more of the grim reality of a New York City fallen from grace.
There are two flaws. The first is the ending, which does leave a little to be desired. Alex has such a hard time getting his sisters out of NYC, but in the end we're led to believe that they must have gotten out. I found myself actually questioning that. What if that plan hadn't worked? What if things failed? Could they be dead now? Perhaps that is what is wanted, and if so, good job, because I'm wondering. To be honest, though, this flaw wasn't that big of a deal. I still loved the book. The other flaw with the book is that for those that have read Life As We Knew It, there isn't a lot of surprise. You know what is going to happen with the moon, you know some of the things that will happen (food shortages, dead, and disease). Granted, some things are different and the way certain elements come into play differ from the first book, but they are the same in a lot of ways. The book, however, is still engaging and certainly a great read. Despite it being 'predictable' in the way I mentioned, it does leave twists and turns you wouldn't expect. People die suddenly and without warning; reliable sources of food suddenly dry up; and illness takes hold.
Regardless, this is one of my favorite books of 2008 already. I fell in love with Life As We Knew It almost instantly, and it was the same here. This book is put together so well that I found myself on the edge of my metaphorical seat (I lay in bed and read). I regret to say that I had to put down the book at one point when something happened that upset me. I mean this in a good way though. Very few books get me so engaged that when someone dies or something bad happens it actually has an effect on me. I think part of me was just upset about what had happened, but I won't ruin that for you, because it would take away the surprise. The pacing is perfect and the dates on the different sections are a great marker of time to keep you in the know. I sincerely hope that Susan continues writing these quasi-SF stories, these real life stories with a slight SF twist.

2 out of 5 stars

I should have reread her other book June 11, 2008
5 out of 8 found this review helpful

I really wanted to enjoy this book. But it as if Ms. Pfeffer wrote this as a rebuttal to the critics who blasted her other book for portraying religion and the U.S. government in a bad light.

There were so many problems, too many characters that were oddly unreal, I could cry it was so bad.

For starters, Alex, over and over, ad nauseum reaffirms his dedication to protecting his little sisters, Bri and Julie. Bri is unfailingly polite, positive and devout. She's a combo of Pollyanna and the Flying Nun. So sweet and self sacrificing that she doesn't seem human.

Julie alternates between whining and slamming doors and Alex spends most of his time trying to ignore her, but even that comes off false, because you never get a real feel for the relationship between them or if they can ever really band together to survive.

Then, there's Kevin. A friend bequethed to Alex by a popular, rich, white boy at the exclusive boy's school Alex attends. Kevin, with no real reason, waits in lines for food (which he doesn't need) and shows Alex how to strip corpses (about the only real part in the book).

Alex and his sisters just about starve because they can't break into any of the apartments for food. Hello? His dad was the super, he would have keys to every apartment. At the least a crowbar and a sledgehammer would have worked if you were desperate enough.

I just feel tired an annoyed after reading this. I am not sure how this book could go so wrong. Her first book was fantastic! I loved every moment, felt afraid for the characters and cried when those I liked suffered.

Oh, well, I guess every author has a bum book. Ms. Pfeffer's last book was so inspired that I think I will check out her other books in spite of this latest offering.

2 out of 5 stars

Should NOT have paid money for the hardback! June 30, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

I LOVED Life As We Knew It! I found the characters and the day-to-day struggles and solutions compelling, the details of the physical changes of the earth fascinating, and I really enjoyed the overall positive energy of the story. So I was so excited to see this companion novel come out, but this is NOT the same kind of book at all. The whole moon-event and the subsequent earth reactions are barely mentioned and just glossed over. The tone is SO negative and, frankly, boring. The characters don't read like real people at all, and the content was just so very...Catholic! Too much! I found it very annoying and rather unbelievable. Too bad. It could have been so much better.

4 out of 5 stars

a chilling portrayal of survival July 1, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I read Susan Beth Pfeffer's "The Year Without Michael" quite some time ago, and I remember it being a haunting, if vaguely disturbing story that has no real conclusion. Having read "Life as We Knew It" and its sequel, "The Dead and Gone," I have to say that that seems to be her forte: writing about characters in a slice of time that are dealing with unimaginable events. There's no happy ending to these stories, it's just a brief moment in their lives that show how they cope. In other words, it's a lot like real life.

"The Dead and the Gone" follows 17-year-old Alex in the aftermath of a crazy astronomical event. The moon has been hit by an asteroid that knocks it out of orbit, affecting the tides, the atmosphere, and pretty much the entire environmental balance of the Earth. Alex takes on the responsibility of caring for his two younger teenage sisters while coping with the uncertainty of his parents' fates, food supplies, and the future.

While this could probably be a standalone book, it's more of a compliment to the previous novel set in this future, "Life as We Knew It." Pfeffer assumes you've read the previous book and doesn't set up the moon/asteroid event like she does in the first book. This gives "The Dead and the Gone" a faster-paced feeling, as it starts off with a bang (literally!) and the dramatic events keep unfolding.

The characters in this book are vastly different than the first, which some reviewers don't seem to like. But to me it makes sense - the author is exploring how a worldwide event is affecting people from all walks of life. The "Life as We Knew It" characters aren't especially religious, but Pfeffer chose to sketch a Puerto Rican family that takes faith very seriously in "The Dead and the Gone." Obviously, the world is made up of people from all sorts of backgrounds - so why shouldn't the author take on different types of characters? It might have been interesting if she had chosen to write about characters in another country, instead of basing her two books in the United States. But my overall point is, I think Pfeffer made a great decision in exploring how the same event would affect people with a different worldview.

If you're looking for a happy ending, these are not the books you want to read. They're more character studies in a short period of time, but there is no real conclusion. There's hope at the end, but the story's not really "finished" - kind of like real life.

3 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable Read with some problems August 21, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

The Dead and the Gone
The Dead and the Gone is a very interesting concept. A young boy, named Alex, lives a normal life in New York. He works at a Pizza shop and goes to an all-Christian male school called Vincent De Paul. One day while working there is a large commotion outside and chaos seems to have taken some people over. It turns out that something crashed into the moon and caused it to fall out of orbit, and closer to the earth. The puts more gravitational force on the earth and causes many problems over a long period of time.

Alex doesn't seem concerned at the time. He goes home and attends to his two sisters, Bri and Julie. His mother is has been called to the hospital that she works at, and his father is in Puerto Rico attending a funeral. Alex has a brother named Carlos, but he is in the Marines. They are all alone and the world is falling apart.

Most of the book is based around them surviving. The world is rapidly changing and they have to adapt to it. Tides are rising and could overflow into New York. Volcanoes are erupting all over the world causing the sky to turn black. The darkened sky produces freezing weather, even in the summer. Food is becoming scarce and they begin only eating once a day, and it is only a spoonful of beans or something similar.

The other portion of the book is them living their daily life. This is the part I do not like. Within 6 pages of the book, the Moon has been hit. From there Alex and his family just go about their business. They go to school, church, and go through their daily routine. They constantly try to convince you the world is falling apart, but not that much anarchy occurs in Alex's life until the near end of the book. The characters never make it feel like their lives are threatened that much.

Alex is extremely religious too. He seems to pray every other line in this book. He is also Puerto Rican, so he speaks in Spanish while saying things every now and then. This is annoying to someone like me who doesn't speak Spanish. The religious Spanish speaking kid just came off to me as too fake.

The story does get very good in the last 50 or so pages. I felt like it was a worthwhile book. The author seems to use the words said, replied, and other generic endings for what her characters are saying. Still, I felt like this was a worthwhile book, despite being a little bland through some of the book.

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