Dry
Ratings63
Average rating4
I drank so much water listening to this! Though they give a hopeful ending, this book feels like a glimpse into a pretty close future that i believe we are as a society are in no way working to avoid. Definitely makes me want to up my own conservation and environmental efforts. Very discussable and would be great paired with lots of nonfiction on the topic. Some hackneyed/out of touch writing (I saw the real him as if he was being unzipped from a zip drive?!?!?!) but the action and pacing made that easier to overlook.
Something about this book just didn't click for me. Maybe it's because its about something way to real to have fun reading about. I love me some apocalypse books, but they usually have a sort of magical element. This was to real to be fully enjoyed. To depressing.
I think I would have had a different experience reading this if I had read it before our own generation's disaster time. After the pandemic though it feels though it makes some things much more mild or unrealistic. Like waiting a couple of hours to go to the store. I know now for a fact that if there was even a whisper of any shortage the public would make it a million times worse by preemptively buying it all out.
Ease of reading/following along: 5
Character development: 4.75
Character enjoyment: 3.75
Plot development: 4.5
Ploy enjoyment: 4
Vibe check: 4.5
= 4.41
*4.4- easy to read, realistic scenarios to think about if/when this type of water shortage were to occur, relatable characters.
Oh wow, that's one of the Best apocalyptic books I've ever read!!!! Partially because it's such a good concept, and partially because the main characters don't end up dating!!! That's so rare in young adult novels that it was really, Really nice to see!!! Granted, I read a lot of contemp. books For the romance/dating aspect, but when reading a book where that's not the main focus, it's nice for them to not actually add it in like so many other writers do.
[4.25] Absolutely stellar. The direction this took felt frighteningly real. A world without quick, easy access to water is quite possible, and terrifying to think about. In some ways I had trouble finishing this book; not because I didn't like it, but because it felt too real. The main characters are dumb, and many reviewers have fairly criticized the book for that. I don't blame them for it, but I'm okay with it because it feels purposeful. It makes sense to me. We do dumb shit when we're in crisis-mode, that's just a given. That effect is compounded when it's teenagers in crisis-mode. There were times when I wanted to shake characters by the shoulders and tell them what it be like it do when it am – and that's why it's not a perfect 5-star – but overall I found it really enjoyable.
So this is more a 3.5 rounded to 4.
While I enjoyed the writing and the dystopian type feel to the situation, I was left a tad irritated with how it ended. It went from them fighting for survival, complete chaos, and murder to BAM here's a new normal. Ummm what?! I want to say more but don't want to give anything important away.
Other than that disappointment I loved the premise, the characters and the situations they found themselves in and the ones they had to fight their way out of. If the world did dry up I think this is a pretty accurate reflection of what it could be like.
While I didn't fully love this one, I still recommend it. It's a quick and interesting read.
The best thing going for this book is just how real it could be.
In our age of politicians passing the buck (more so than usual) it does not seem outside the realm of possibility of this happening, especially with the rise of disasters like the Flint Water Crisis. This factor was what made me pick up this book on sale at my local Barnes and Nobel, and I am glad I did, because this is one of the better books that I have read this year.
The cast of characters all run the gauntlet in terms of people you would meet in this kind of disaster. We have Alyssa, who is the every-girl of the story. She is athletic and has what one could call ‘normal' middle class parents, and a little brother in a suburban community. Then we have Kelton, whose family lives next door to Alyssa, and who are the preppers one occasionally finds. He and his family are friendly enough, but they have strict limits when it comes to sharing what they have, which becomes more challenging as the Tap Out continues.
When it comes to a book like this, one of the most important things to get right is the mounting tension in the story, and the objective being the central focus of the plot. The author manages to get both of these things right, as our group travels around trying to get to Kelton's bug out location, or die trying. Along the way they meet new people, some good most bad, as they soon discover that, assuming they get there, they will not be the same people as when they left. The moments of action are spaced out well, and a lot of the situations they get into make sense, based on where they are and what they are trying to do. (No spoilers here, I promise).
On the other hand, there are some things that kept this from being perfect for me. One of which would be the fact that there is a character break up in this story between Alyssa and someone else that does not really make sense in the context of almost dying of thirst. I won't spoil it, only to say that, yes, she has every right to be angry, but under the present circumstances, I would have filed it away for dealing with later. Another issue are the changes in POV. While many of them occur to the main group that we are following, including Alyssa and co. a few happen outside them. We see the viewpoints from random drivers, news crewmen, and pilots as the Tap Out gets worse and worse. The only issue with these is that, while they are used well to show the scope of the devastation, the characters featured are only used once, and then never visited again. Couple this with the fact that they are not written very well, and they turned into parts I wanted to skip, rather than ones that I was looking forward to.
Still, I thought that this book was well written with major action scenes and well-chosen dialogue, with always gets bonus points from me. This is one of those books where you need to have a bottle of water by your side, because it will make you thirsty for more. I give I a four out of five.