In this book the some people can never live a new place and whether change because they never survive and they dead. ( )

There is no happy ending to this series, just moving onward and forward, and accepting that the world has changed, and that -- as the title says -- this is the world we live in. This book continues Miranda's story, but also the story of Alex and Julie from The Dead and the Gone. This story isn't an immediate survival of a post-apocalyptic event as the first two were. Instead, this is more picking up the pieces and thinking about the future.

This thread was woven throughout the book, most notably with baby Gabriel. But also the romances between Alex and Miranda, Matt and Syl, and even Jon and Julie show the inhabitants of this new world do have a future, though it may be tragic and hard. This is more than just day-to-day survival.

I had very mixed feelings about the ending but it fit. (view spoiler) And truly that ending was emblematic of the new world. This wasn't a happy series, and there really is no happy ending that could have ended the series. The characters endure, create bonds, and continue on and survive as best they can. ( )

Whether or not you like this book may depend on whether you think people with disabilities should be smothered, for their own good and because they're a burden. Aaaaaaagh!!! ( )

It was just ok. I was glad that it was told from Miranda's point of view again. Honestly, I just can't stand Alex. He was a jerk in the last book and he was a jerk in this one. I found his know-it-allness very obnoxious. I do like how Pfeffer deals with how much social norms change over the course of a year and how the family deals with these changes, but in general I thought the plot was overwrought and schmaltzy. I really could have stopped after book 1 in this series. ( )

Pfeffer, I am disappoint. This was a terrible book and a terrible way to close out a series. Because I like lists, here's one to explain why I thought This World We Live In sucked without remorse.

1. It became another post-disaster story. What happened to a chunk of the bloody moon gone? Nope. Barely any mention of those moon-specific aftereffects beyond the lack of sunlight. Most of the ~shock and awe~ moments come from events that could have happened in any post-apocalyptic fiction. This was supposed to be different. It wasnt.

2. A lot of the shocking moments . . . weren't that shocking, or were severely understated. Miranda's reaction to the dead bodies could have been so much better and realistic, but it wasn't. The death of the cat, which is supposed to be on the worst moments in the book, falls flat on the page. It doesn't help that most of the action of the novel takes place in the house; literally not a lot of room to do anything.

3. TOO MANY CHARACTERS. This series benefited from a restricted cast for each book, so that we got to know them and feel for them and follow them through their struggles. When you throw together not only the main characters of two books as well as several new ones, I get jumbled up and confused - not to mention, I end up not caring about most of them.

4. Syl. Ugh. She came off as a pretentious wannabe-hippie-turned-Christian who made Miranda feel guilty for stupid stuff, killed the cat and called it merciful, and pretty much treated Miranda's mom like crap at the very end. No, let's push the severely traumatized woman into the open and let her squirm there. IT WILL BE GOOD FOR HER. Ugh, no.

5. Religion. The religion was so over-powering, I have to wonder if the author found Jesus between books. Why? Do you honestly think in order to survive, you need God in your life? And why were the covenants the automatically safest places to go? Oh, right, because religion is the ultimate force in this story. How sweet of Alex to /forgive/ Miranda for not being Christian. No thank you. If I wanted Christian lit, I'd read some, but I don't and therefore these elements were extremely intrusive and mostly unneeded.

Oh, and don't think I didn't notice the baby Gabriel. Nice move there.

6. The 'romance' of Alex and Miranda, which came out of nowhere and never developed, yet I'm supposed to believe their love will be forever and it is the greatest kind of love around. Gag me with a spoon. It was forced and heavy-handed and I hated it, and I hated how her love for Alex turned Miranda into a love sick stereotypical teenager. I would have been okay with it had it actually been developed or treated with some respect, but now I just wish Pfeffer had kept romance out of the series full stop.

7. Euthanasia. I had no problems with it. Shocking, but true. I do have problems with how it was foreshadowed. As in, with no subtlety at all. The constant mentioning of the pills and death over living and the story of the man with the broken leg and the cat's death - gosh, I wonder if Miranda's going to have to put someone out of their misery? Lazy storytelling all around.

8. The tornado became a deux ex machina for several big plot points. The sad thing is, it came at the very very end of the book. There's not enough time to fully appreciate the aftereffects before the story is over. Add the fact that the book ends rather suddenly and the tornado isn't so much a plot point as a cue to end the damn book already.

9. THE DIALOGUE. Remember the scene when Miranda's telling her mom she is leaving with Alex and her dad? The dialogue in there was cringe-worthy - not because it was bad but because it was so unrealistic and stilted. In fact, most of the dramatic scenes involve this unnatural dialogue which is meant to add to the emotion going on, but it really detracts from it instead. No, I don't think a major disaster is going to turn every teenager in the world into these great emotional orators, but apparently that is what happens in Pfeffer's world.

10. No postscript? No after thoughts? No epilogue? All right then. Leaving readers in the lurch usually isn't the best way to end a series, though. I was rather disappointed by this.

Okay, I was rather disappointed by the whole book. I wished I had just read the first two and left the third up to my imagination. Watch everyone disagree with me, though. It's okay, this is just my own opinion, you don't have to agree with me. I'm just saying - with all the stuff this book did wrong, it's hard to defend the bits done right. ( )