Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: YA Science Fiction
My Rating: 4/5
Four high school seniors put their hopes, hearts, and humanity on the line as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth in this contemporary novel.I don't actually have a preference for a pre-apocalyptic book. I've read a few and I find them to be almost the same. I was a bit wary when picking up this book. I was expecting much of the same story. What I wasn't expecting was to get sucked into the story as soon as I read it. I love this book for how much it got me thinking. This book also agrees to me in a lot of things. I found myself nodding my head vigorously, agreeing to every words. It seems like the author managed to see into my brain. It's almost uncanny to be reading the words that was the mirror image of my own thoughts.
They always say that high school is the best time of your life.
Peter, the star basketball player at his school, is worried “they” might actually be right. Meanwhile Eliza can’t wait to escape Seattle—and her reputation—and perfect-on-paper Anita wonders if admission to Princeton is worth the price of abandoning her real dreams. Andy, for his part, doesn’t understand all the fuss about college and career—the future can wait.
Or can it? Because it turns out the future is hurtling through space with the potential to wipe out life on Earth. As these four seniors—along with the rest of the planet—wait to see what damage an asteroid will cause, they must abandon all thoughts of the future and decide how they’re going to spend what remains of the present.
“Then I’ll tell you. The best books, they don’t talk about things you never thought about before. They talk about things you’d always thought about, but that you didn't think anyone else had thought about. You read them, and suddenly you’re a little bit less alone in the world. You’re part of this cosmic community of people who've thought about this thing, whatever it happens to be.
There were a bunch of characters in the story that were of varying personalities and the author managed to add more unconventional personality to each and every one of them. There's the jock who is not at all a stereotypical shallow person, a nerd who is not all perfect, a girl with excessive sexual desires who have a reason for being so and a bad boy who have more mind than rightfully thought. These diverse characters were so different from each other and it's interesting to see how the paths of their life intersects. The characters were quite believable in their struggles with peer pressure, parental expectations, social dilemma and even deep thoughts that bring more concerns than understanding. I understand that all too well. My favorite character is Peter because his thoughts matched mine perfectly. All of my concerns and pondering were reflected in Peter's thoughts. Besides, Peter was a very good guy and not at all like the typical jock portrayed in most stories. He really love his sister and took care of her well. I don't like his sister though. She's such a brat and ungrateful brat at that.
I love this book so much because it got me thinking. It's about the coming of the end of the world and the things that you would do when the end is near. The characters were very realistic in the things they want in life and the realizations. Also, the chaos that came was very frightening as there were no order and clear authorities.
Also, it's different from other books of similar genre. I found myself wandering off when reading books of such genre but surprisingly, I was hooked to this book from the first page. Besides, I love that there were diverse characters and the POV changes from chapters so we get to have glimpses of each characters' way of thoughts. The changes in perspective was flawless and I was never confused because the characters were very distinct.
The writing was so beautiful and I can quote a lot from this book. There were a lot of deep thoughts that can be chew and worthy of discussion.
Do you think it’s better to fail at something worthwhile, or to succeed at something meaningless?
I have only the slightest dislike for this book. I do not like the part where Peter hooked-up with Eliza. That happened too suddenly and it felt like more like lust in first sight rather than love in first sight. If that scene didn't happened, this book would have been perfect. Aside from that, I have no complaints.
