The Living

This was a book where there was a LOT going on (corporate espionage, medical thriller, extreme weather, shark attacks, secret islands) but also still had sort of long stretches that I found very boring? But also note that “survival” is not really my particular jam.

I really liked the diversity and class issues here and I thought those were handled really well. Shy's a good narrator–a smart, observant teenage boy who's thoughtful, but also horny.

I picked this up because I wanted to maybe booktalk it for 7th & 8th graders who love Hunger Games etc, but I think it's a little too ~adult~ in terms of language and death/sex stuff? I mean I think there are definitely individual 7th/8th graders who would dig this but I don't feel comfortable pitching it to an entire class. I think high schoolers looking for a good adventure/survival story should like it a lot.