Empty
Author: Suzanne Weyn
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: Oct.1, 2010
Pages: 192
Source: ARC publisher
About the Book: It’s the near future – the very near future – and the fossil fuels are running out. No gas. No oil. Which means no driving. No heat. Supermarkets are empty. Malls have shut down. Life has just become more local than we ever knew it could be.
Nobody expected the end to come this fast. And in the small town of Spring Valley, decisions that once seemed easy are quickly becoming matters of life and death. There is hope – there has to be hope – just there are also sacrifices that need to be made, and a whole society that needs to be rethought.
Teens like Niki, Tom, and Gwen may find what they need to survive. But their lives are never going to be the same again. (goodreads)
My Thoughts: I was thrilled to receive this book in a librarian preview box from Scholastic. The box showed up unexpectedly. I hadn’t really started blogging at that point and had never received any ARCs from publishers. I immediately started this book. Did I mention that this was back in August… of 2010?!?!?! I just finally finished it last week. I need to point out here that this is in no way a reflection on the book. I had a really intense master’s course that started and I just basically stopped reading all the books I had started. I’m really glad that I picked it back up.
As the summary states this book takes place in the near future. I liked that there wasn’t a specific time. The world is the same as it is now except for the extreme lack of fossil fuels. It shows how our everyday lives could be affected. When teens think of what a lack of fossil fuels means they might not think of not being able to get contacts or lipstick. There are “news articles” sprinkled in so as you’re reading the book it seems like it could actually be happening now. There were times when I’d be talking to someone about current events and I couldn’t remember if what I wanted to say was real or from this book!
I really enjoyed the fact that we get to see the events of this book unfold through the eyes of multiple narrators. The teens all had very different lives before the main events take place. It was interesting to see how they deal with everything and how the events change them. (See how I’m trying not to spoil “the events” for you!)
Empty was in interesting and thought provoking read. There is definitely some social commentary but it wasn’t overwhelming. I liked the set up of the book and the different angles it looked at. At 192 pages it’s a fairly quick read and lacks some character depth but is still enjoyable.
As the summary states this book takes place in the near future. I liked that there wasn’t a specific time. The world is the same as it is now except for the extreme lack of fossil fuels. It shows how our everyday lives could be affected. When teens think of what a lack of fossil fuels means they might not think of not being able to get contacts or lipstick. There are “news articles” sprinkled in so as you’re reading the book it seems like it could actually be happening now. There were times when I’d be talking to someone about current events and I couldn’t remember if what I wanted to say was real or from this book!
I really enjoyed the fact that we get to see the events of this book unfold through the eyes of multiple narrators. The teens all had very different lives before the main events take place. It was interesting to see how they deal with everything and how the events change them. (See how I’m trying not to spoil “the events” for you!)
Empty was in interesting and thought provoking read. There is definitely some social commentary but it wasn’t overwhelming. I liked the set up of the book and the different angles it looked at. At 192 pages it’s a fairly quick read and lacks some character depth but is still enjoyable.
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