#the dead and the gone

[el-oh-her]

[editorauthoranna]

THE LAST SURVIVORS: THE DEAD AND THE GONE (Book 2) Review

The Dead and the Gone

By Susan Beth Pfeffer

So far, The Dead and the Gone is my favorite of the Life as We Knew It series. It was marketed as a companion book, but I feel it surpasses the original story Pfeffer wrote. Remember when I compared Life as We Knew It to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road? I take it back; this book is much more similar—but still for a younger audience.

The Dead and the Gone features the same premise as Life as We Knew It, but there are some big changes that have a powerful pull: the setting is New York City, a place which suffers immediate, direct, and deadly consequences after the moon disaster. Your narrator is still a teenager—Alex, a boy this time. However, he suddenly finds himself alone with two younger sisters to care for. Alex is constantly pitted against morality versus survival. What is he willing to do to survive in a city ravaged by tragedy with no help coming? The stakes in The Dead and the Gone are much, much higher.

Religion comes back full force in The Dead and the Gone. This time, it’s devout Catholicism. It fits into the story pretty well as Alex and his family are all of Puerto Rican descent. (The majority of Puerto Rico identifies as Catholic.) While religion of any type isn’t necessary to wrestle with morality, I do think Catholicism was a good choice to frame the story from. The three characters we see the most in The Dead and the Gone are each Catholic, but one is extremely devout, one is somewhere in the middle, and one struggles with their faith. (You can find out who’s who if you read the book!) The good framework comes from the dependencies and concessions Alex is shown to have with the church, confession, and education. Science versus religion isn’t really a problem in this book.

There are, of course, some plot points that I wish had been better formed. One point was why Alex didn’t break into more homes—because he does enter other people’s deserted homes to search for food, blankets, and items to trade. After months, Alex knows with something very close to certainty that he and his sisters are alone in their apartment building. Yes, yes, stealing is wrong, and that does come up, but possible starvation should overrule the fear of being found out when 90% of New York City has already been looted for the food sources it may be hiding.

Another was the fact a few schools stayed open under the pretense of education when it was really to feed the few kids left some lunch. I’m not saying this was a bad thing, but in a major United States city that’s been flooded, has no power, and millions of people living in it with no food trucks coming in and a single, weekly government handout that is unreliable and dangerous to be in line for—how do these two little schools find the resources to feed twenty or so kids lunch every day for months? Are adults starving so the children can eat? I’d believe it, but the answer the book gives us was no less than an unsatisfactory, “The church provides” or “God provides.” Annoying explanation, to be frank. Not actually an explanation at all.

That said, The Dead and the Gone still functions as a great book. It’s heart-wrenching, and can be scary, and, fantastical apocalypse aside, quite realistic in its portrayal of a broken humanity.

There’s two more books in this series, and I’m very curious about where Pfeffer plans to go next. Personally, I’m hoping for a continuation of events as the first two books quite thoroughly covered the immediate consequences of the moon disaster. Fingers crossed! Next up: This World We Live In.

~ Anna

[marypsue]

Keep seeing that post where OP starts like 'Thinking about...grieving the undead' and then adds on about like. Real life situations where people have not died but have left your life and you would have reason to grieve them.

All respect, that's an important concept, but that is not what I am thinking about when I read 'grieving the undead'.

[alley-cat777]

Book Review: The Dead and the Gone (Last Survivors #2) by: Susan Beth Pfeffer

If God wanted a world filled with saints, He never would have created adolescence. The Dead and the Gone by: Susan Beth Pfeffer Initial Thoughts: I had never read a young adult series that felt so grim and so realistic at the same time. The scary part about this series is that, something similar could happen. In the first book, the moon is pushed slightly out of orbit, causing a number of global…

[xshinina]

*Married life playing in the background

This idea was probably funnier in my head

[seance]

DEAD BOY DETECTIVES + the onion headlines

[chasingthestarss]

James: I’ve got a question to ask you

Regulus: as long as it’s not “will you marry me”

James: *silence

Regulus: wait

Regulus: was it?

Regulus: was it “will you marry me”

James: Well I’m not going to ask now

Regulus: no! Restart!

James: moments gone

Regulus: then bring it back!

[kelenia]

Legacy

[allright]

came back wrong trope but the character knows that they came back wrong. they’re so acutely aware of how different they are now from how they were before that it drives them fucking insane. they’re stuck trying to return to somebody that’s long dead. they can never be the person they once were. everybody around them knows it. deep down, they know it too, but they’re trapped in a cycle of their own making. of trying to revive someone that no longer exists.

[ghost-bxrd]

Prompt:

Jason is terrified of Damian al Ghul-Wayne.

Talia dipped him in the Pit, fed him lies, put him through the worst kinds of pain possible for the sake of training and turned him into a monster that went to heel when called. A monster even Ra’s was wary of.

He’s terrified of Damian, because if his mother managed to manipulate and play him like a fiddle, then she must have taught the same to her son.

Damian, who only has memories of a catatonic Jason cooing at him, cuddling him and protecting him, is becoming progressively more distressed by Jason’s perpetual cold shoulder and skittish behavior whenever Jason sees him.

[cliopadra]

Aw man…

[im-totally-not-an-alien-2]

Danny, at 17, did not have the best love life. This is partially because two of his must haves in a partner are " Will protect me with their life" and "Will commit unspeakable acts of violence for me" or at least beat someone up for his honor.

Naturally, this doesn't always result in the most stable of partners.

His first girlfriend, Valerie, became an anti-hero and broke up with him for his safety.

He finally got with Sam in sophomore year only for the feds to come into class one day to arrest her. To his surprise, her crimes had nothing to do with ghosts but rather an incident where she went too far and committed a few acts of economic terrorism. Danny and Tucker never really learned the specifics of the crimes, and her parents hushed up as many news outlets as they could, so there wasn't much info to go around. All they knew was that she saved thousands of lives by doing it.

In the end, she was sentenced to eight years, and she broke up with him so that he wouldn't wait around for her to get out.

His third partner was a guy named David who was really sweet. Unfortunately, Danny got kidnapped one day by David's arch nemesis, who was some villain with a corny edge lord name. Yeah. David had become a a super hero after they started dating.

And if you guessed that he freaked out and dumped Danny for his own protection, you'd deserve a cookie.

Danny was noticing a pattern here. One that continued with everyone he dated. They always became some kind of hero before dumping him for his own protection, and it was infuriating. Sure, danny could defend himself, but he was never deep enough into the relationship to reveal his phantom half, and frankly, his hero career was something he left behind when he left Amity and destroyed the portals.

He met Tim at a skatepark after Tim fell off his board cause of some jerk speeding out in front of him on his own board, forcing Tim to stop or else hit the guy. The guy was unrepentant and Tim calmed him down (this did not stop him from melting the guys wheels with an ectoblast when no one was looking).

Tim then asked him to coffee. Danny, noticing how cute Tim was, agreed.

Danny was up front with his parents being mad scientists in Illinois. He always was with all the people he dated. It was better not to hide these kinds of things or worse, wait until you're already attached and afraid of losing them. So he always told potential partners as early as possible. Tim seemed a bit put off by this but was calmer about it than most, and they continued chatting.

Tim didn't seem like the type to turn to heroism or anti heroism so he felt safe on their later dates. It was only after he had known Tim for a while that he put the pieces together.

Tim was always covered in bruises that he hid with his clothes and make up, he had complained about batman over the phone when he thought danny couldn't hear, he was rich, he knew how to fight as revealed by his stances and footwork dispite trying to pretend he didn't, and lastly he held a lot of political power and influence being Bruce Wayne's son. Power he had no reservations using when it suited him or he was just feeling petty (that pettiness was part of why danny was falling for him harder than he thought he could)

No wonder Tim was so okay with his parents being rouges.

Tim was a villain!

At least Tim wouldn't leave him like all his exes. Danny doesn't think he could handle it if he did. Another good thing about this is now he can talk more freely about the more villainous and morally gray ideas and inventions when he was alone with Tim.

Tim didn't see anything wrong with Danny's idea to use something similar to cloning pods to make synthetic meats like rump roasts and steaks as a way to end world hunger and was eager to add to the conversation.

[futuristichedge]

The most well adjusted apocalypse survivor

[fyeaheddiemunson]

[autumn-may]

worlds most underrated dynamic i hope we see them interact again. The hater trio

[blamemma]

Daniel Ricciardo behind the scenes of the Visa Cash App RB Launch Video