When we’ve lost the strength to save ourselves, we somehow find the strength to save each other
I had a hard time giving a rating to Dry. It was an interesting read, but it had a lot of ups and downs. It was long-winded, but also very intense.
Book Review: Dry by Jarrod & Neal Shusterman
Rating:
Title & Author: Dry by Jarrod & Neal Shusterman
Genre: Dystopia, Adventure
Release date: October 2 2018
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Simon & Shuster Books
Synopsis
The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.
Until the taps run dry.
Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbours and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.
I give Dry by Jarrod & Neal Shusterman three out of five hearts because it was a lot of points long-winded, but it was also very intensely written and kept me on the edge of my seat.
The story is not so much about why the water stopped but about what happens after and how a group of people try and survive. It’s not a very long novel with only 390 pages, but it sometimes still felt like certain pieces just too way too long. I don’t know how it happened that I experienced it that way, but it made me enjoy this book less. The book does show off the worst of mankind and how the world has to adept without one of the biggest needs for the human body.
The main characters of Dry are Alyssa & her brother Garret, their neighbour Kelton, Jacqui and Henry. Alyssa’s goal is finding her parents and saving her little brother Garret. In the beginning, they bump a lot, just like any sibling relationship has, but the longer the drought stays in place, the more Alyssa puts her feelings aside to save her brother. It is interesting to see because it is something every sibling hopes they will do, but will (hopefully) never know if they would. Kelton is the freak from school and the neighbourhood. He is from a family of preppers and it saves them a lot of trouble when the taps run dry, but also makes him an outsider. Jacqui was a bit of a weird character, she is homeless and makes use of everyone around her. Henry is nasty. He lies and cheats his way to the best places and he doesn’t care who he hurts in the meantime.
Overall I had a hard time trying to come up with a rating for this book. I do think it was great, but I got annoyed reading from certain povs, but also that long winding pieces that I had to push through.
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For now, let books enrich your life!