Friday, May 22, 2020

Review: Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman

By Neal and Jarrod Shusterman
My Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

What would you do if you turned on the faucet and there was no water? What would you do if you had no idea if and when you would have water again? Neal and Jarrod Shusterman imagine this possibility in Dry. Alyssa, her brother Garrett and her "unusual" neighborhood Kelton set out to find Alyssa and Garrett's parents after they disappear on a water seeking trip.  When their search proves fruitless, will the three be able to stay together and stay alive?

This book has an very scary but possibly outcome. That is what makes this book so intriguing to me to start--with climate change real and with more droughts, fires, hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes happening more frequently, the Shustermans take you on a journey during which you can ask yourself what would you do in this situation. Along their journey, we meet a range of other secondary characters. The pacing on this book is engaging, with short chapters rotating through different points of view. It centers on young adults (teens) mainly and their responses to the situation they are in either by no fault of their own (the drought for instance) or because of the choices they make. The ending felt rushed and a bit too tidy for my interests, but nonetheless I think teens will enjoy this book immensely. I would not hesitate to put this into reader's hands--I think I could pit easily to someone who likes dystopians or those who prefer action stories as there is enough to keep them engaged. 

I have a bit of an unpopular opinion on this book as it is just alright for me. I did not find myself as engaged as I wanted to be--part of that could be that I feel like I am moving into a reading slump this week as nothing is keeping my attention for long. That, or allergies. They are driving me bonkers this season as they have been bad. Ultimately, after thinking on it some, I am somewhere between a 3.5 and 4 star rating because of the ending. I stand by my opinion in feeling it was too rushed. 

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