Module 5, part 1 - How I Live Now

Bibliography

Rosoff, M. (2004). How I live now.  New York: Wendy Lamb Books.

Summary

When she was 15 years old, Daisy left her father and stepmother in New York to live with her Aunt Penn and cousins Osbert, Edmond, Isaac and Piper in the English countryside.  There, with hardly any parental supervision, Daisy falls in love with Edmond, and they enter into a sexual relationship.  Shortly after Daisy arrives, Aunt Penn leaves the country for a few days.  But the start of a predicted war in England keeps Aunt Penn from getting back into the country.  For Daisy, the war does not become real to her until the house is taken over by soldiers and her and Piper are shipped off to stay with a family in another town where they will be safer.  Spring turns into summer as Daisy and Piper do their share of work, Daisy all the while getting as much information about outdoor survival and the whereabouts of Edmond and Isaac.  In the confusion of having to flee, Daisy and Piper head out on their own.  After days and weeks of walking and not having enough to eat, Daisy and Piper reach the farm where Edmond and Isaac were sent, only to find dozens of dead bodies, none of which were Edmond or Isaac.  Making the trek to their home, they find the soldier’s had deserted it.  For weeks Daisy and Piper live in the hidden lambing barn a mile or two from the house, Daisy frequently making the trek to the house to see if Edmond or Isaac or Osbert had come home.  It was on one of these visits that, after having no electricity for months, the telephone rings and Daisy’s father arranges for her departure from England.  Six years later, after institutionalization and therapy, Daisy returns to England to discover that her beloved Edmond, with his self-inflicted scars and detachment from the world, had not only been witness to the worst part of war, but had returned home to her days after she had gone home.  Getting through to Edmond is a struggle, but in the end, the home in England is where Daisy remains with Edmond, Isaac, and Piper.

My Thoughts

This is not the kind of book I would normally read, but because it was on the list of books to choose from this week and because it was in the library, I read it.  And I’m glad I read it.  Rosoff has such a way with words that I found myself, especially in the end, in tears when Daisy finally knows what happened to Edmond and the emotional scarring that resulted.  I really liked how passionate Daisy was in trying to protect her younger cousin and her determination to go on, even when all she wanted to do was sit down and cry.  It reminds me that it is in the toughest of circumstances that your character is molded. 

Reviews

“This first novel is intelligent, funny, serious, and sweet; a winning combination of acerbic commentary, innocence, and sober vision.  Sent from Manhattan to live with four English cousins on their farm, fifteen-year-old Daisy is smitten with the lush, pastoral beauty around her, but especially with her cousin Edmond, who surprises her “in about half a million ways each day.”  Daisy’s and Edmond’s idyllic love is interrupted when an unnamed enemy power invades the country (a la Marsden’s Tomorrow, When the War Began): the British army confiscates the farm, and the children are split up and evacuated to separate places.  As the violence escalates, Daisy and youngest cousin Piper escape their caretakers and make their way home through an uncertain countryside, where fields and woods may yield either carnage or sustenance.  Daisy’s account, in eccentrically punctuated run-on sentences, has a breathless directness, a mixture of urbane self-mockery and first-time wonder, that is utterly captivation.  Through her eyes, we see the practical effects of the occupation – how civilians rally to bring in the harvest, provide medical care, and even milk cows in the absence of electricity.  Refreshingly, Rosoff understates Daisy’s transformation from self-absorbed, defensive anorexic to generous, loving hero, but that inner evolution is always apparent in her bracing wit and intense response to beauty, both human and natural.  Hilarious, lyrical, and compassionate, this is, literarily and emotionally, deeply satisfying.”

Baker, D. F. (2004). [Review of the book How I Live Nowby M. Rosoff]. Horn Book Magazine, 80 (5), 597-598

Ideas for Use

Very good discussion topics for teens can result from reading this book, including anorexia, war, and sexual relationships.  A good book to use for a book discussion after reading it as a group or individually.