How I Live Now (Q&A)
August 25, 2008
Katrina asks: How well do you think Meg Rosoff portrayed teen life for an American girl? I though England had an idealistic (at the start) feel to it, but loved the book.
I moved to England when I was 11 and lived there until I was 14. It really is beautiful there, and the countryside is rolling and full of sheep. ;) That being said, I think the English family is definitely idealised. As far as teen life for an American girl-well, since most of the book is set in a dystopian world, most of it isn’t normal. But the bits before I thought felt true to form.
It took me a while to get into How I Live Now, but I ended up really loving it. It didn’t make me want to run out and read anything else by Rosoff, but I definitely thought it was a unique young adult read. Quite dark.