Common Sense Note
The relatively positive attitude towards incest and smoking will disturb many parents, though providing grounds for discussion by courageous adults, who may wish to provide a reality check as well.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Matt Berman
This book has gotten starred reviews all over the place, and it's easy to see why. Written in sinuous and stylized prose, and using an original and sardonic teen voice, it has undeniable power, and it is one of the first teen books to deal, however peripherally, with the new vision, vastly different from just a few years ago, of what a world war might look like in the 21st century.
But there's so much that's wrong here, even aside from the warped values mentioned in the content advisories above. The author hints at telepathy among the cousins, but never pursues it; the way the unidentified force takes over England, apparently with hardly a fight, is never explained; Daisy just gets over her anorexia, which never seemed to bother her much to begin with; and the end comes with a jolt, and jump in time, and many unanswered questions. Even the major issues the author raises, such as incest, seem there for no particular reason, and are never dealt with. This is a strong but deeply flawed first effort.
From the Book:
... sometimes I forgot to count Isaac because he could go days without saying a single word. I knew Aunt Penn wasn't worried about him because I heard her say to someone that he'd speak when he was ready to speak, but all I could think was in New York that kid would have been stuck in a straitjacket practically from birth and dangled over a tank full of Educational Consultants and Remedial Experts all snapping at his ankles for the next twenty years arguing about his Special Needs and getting paid plenty for it.
Plot Summary:
Daisy, angry and anorexic, is sent by her father and pregnant stepmother to England to stay with cousins she has never met on their farm. Almost immediately her aunt has to travel, leaving the children alone, and then, as war breaks out all over the world, is unable to return. Daisy and her cousin Edmond, meanwhile, have fallen in love.
For awhile, as war, anarchy, and famine spread throughout the world, the children live a peaceful idyll in the country, unencumbered by adults. But soon enough the war comes even to their remote village, their house is taken over by the military, and they are separated. As conditions deteriorate, and Daisy tries to find Edmond, she finally begins to see what war has done to ordinary civilians everywhere.
Related Books:
More Sardonic Teens
You Don't Know Me by David Klass
Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn
Fat Kid Rules the World by K. L. Going
Stoner & Spaz by Ron Koertge
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Sexual ContentAn incestuous underage sexual affair, presumably unprotected, between first cousins is portrayed romantically, though not graphically, and without consequences. References to rape, sex, molestation, masturbation, erection, kissing, skinny dipping, and dogs humping. |
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ViolenceTwo bloody killings, and a graphic view of rotting corpses after a massacre. |
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LanguageA few expletives. |
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Social BehaviorDaisy is anorexic, though it doesn't seem to do her any harm. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoEdmond smokes, and it is portrayed as cool. |
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