What Goodreads Has to Say: Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.
As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.
A riveting and astonishing story.
What I Have to Say: Due to the fact that Daisy has an obvious eating disorder, I wanted to bring her in and support her in changing her eating habits. Especially when she said that her body was the only one that was used to not having enough protein. Someone has to be starving themselves for a very long time to not feel the effects of lack of protein.Though, all of that was put to the side when the bombs went off and her and Piper were left to wander around the countryside. All I could think about was that I wanted for them to be safe. In the back of my mind, I wanted so badly for Edmond to show up somewhere along their travels.
When Edmond comes to Daisy in her dreams, I am so sure that he is dead. I remember when my family members passed away and how I would dream about them. Every so often, I would see them in my house, or in locations where I was in such a state of turmoil at that moment - and I was sure they were watching over me. When Daisy would speak to Edmond, I was absolutely positive he was dead.
Yes, Daisy and Edmond slept together. And again, as in The Bachelorette Party, I squicked a lot again. (Why, 2 books in a row, squicky sex acts!) Yet, I don't know if I can fault either Daisy or Edmond for this. They were in the wake of a war. While Daisy seems to not really "get it" for a while, until she and Piper are taken away, but Edmond does "get it." They're both teenagers. Teenagers have raging hormones. It's what happens at that age. There is no doubt in my mind that Edmond thought about "what happens if I die?" and it never says if he's ever slept with someone before Daisy - at that age, even with the war around them, I'm sure he's thinking he wants to experience it at least once before he (may) die. Daisy is in such a turmoil of life herself, that she's so engrossed in the fact that this boy is paying attention to her. Her father has left her for her step-mother, who really wants nothing to do with her, at least in Daisy's mind.
Daisy's stepmother, while I do believe that she may have not been giving Daisy the type of attention that Daisy wanted, I'm not so sure that she was as awful as Daisy portrays her out to be. Daisy's eating disorder came about from her stepmother, but really, it began because she felt as though she has no control. Between her mother passing away (and her believing she is a murderer) and then her father goes and marries some woman that Daisy obviously doesn't think too highly of. My question then becomes - what type of father chooses his happiness over his daughters? Though -- perhaps Daisy's issues came from before the stepmother was introduced.
I picked this book up at the library the other day, and then I read the reviews on goodreads. I think I was expecting something ... more? The writing drove me NUTS. It was like being in the mind of a 15 year old, which, I know, was the point. Having dealt with 15 year olds - I never want to be in the mind of a 15 year old. It's a very frightening place. Run-on sentences and horrible grammar and CAPITALIZATION WHERE THERES NO NEED EXCEPT TO SHOW YOU THE IMPORTANCE. Yet, I can appreciate the reasons behind doing so.
Rating: 3.5 stars
Also --
Happy 4th of July!
This is the day, more than any other, that I miss my grandfather. My dad's father. He was in the NAVY and the 4th of July meant a lot to him. He passed away from lung cancer on my birthday - June 11, 1997. I can't believe it's been that long. I remember coming home from my 8th grade graduation dinner (the night before graduation at the church basement with my classmates. Most of whom I couldn't stand and who spent the last 3 years of my life making it a living hell (and admitting to the fact that they attempted to do so on purpose.)) The call came and I couldn't stop crying. I went to both the funeral and the burial, and it was such a traumatic experience that I never wanted to go through it again (of course, most people say that when they attend the funeral of someone they love.)
We lived with grandpa and grandma for a few years before my dad got his job at the boarding school. I don't remember a lot from when we lived there - I was only 2. But there are so many stories, and some of the traditions carried over past when we lived there. Grandpa would come home from work and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood would be on. Grandpa HATED that show. HATED it. He'd go into the kitchen, pop a beer, and ask my mother why the hell I was watching that garbage. He'd then come and grab me, and we'd go outside, and clean up the yard. Every day. I can't imagine the yard needed this much cleaning, now that I think of this. We'd go and clean it up, put the junk in the wheelbarrow and Grandpa would put me on top of the stuff in the wheelbarrow. Then, he'd drive the wheelbarrow to the edge of the woods and put all the stuff in the compost pile. He'd just dump it all over the side - me included. This was dubbed "Dumpy-dump." I don't know if I named it, or if he did - or who did. But I loved dumpy-dump and we did this until he and my grandma went down to Florida.
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