Block,
Francesca Lia. Love In the Time of Global Warming. Macmillan/Henry Holt 2013 230p $16.99 ISBN 978-0-8050-9627-9 hs/adult Science fiction E-BN
Penelope finds herself a survivor after
a post-apocalyptic flood in this retelling of The Odyssey set in modern
times. In searching for her family, she
joins up with other survivors to defeat the forces of evil and salvage as much
love as she can. With lyrical, gorgeous
writing, Block gives us a reconfiguration of The Odyssey featuring a
heroic young girl named Penelope, who narrates the story. When global warming causes all kinds of
weather-related crises, she single-handedly holds back floodwaters from her
parents’ Los Angeles home, saving herself and her little dog, and hunkers down
waiting for the other members of her family to come home. But after a few weeks, she must leave the
house when she hears marauding gangs of dangerous hoodlums approaching. Then, suddenly, a man appears to help her
escape, and she is off on a journey to find the other members of her family --
a journey of survival and adversity in a desperate, lonely landscape of death
and destruction. Along the way Pen
encounters genetically-engineered giants, piles of human bones, and other
survivors like herself, who join her in her journey to find her family. The story reminded me a bit of Cormac
McCarthy’s The Road … almost as bleak and depressing, but with a happier
ending. References to The Odyssey
as well as to Greek mythology are peppered throughout the story. There are some sex scenes (not terribly
graphic) and some foul language (all appropriate to the situation), but this
novel will be appreciated by older teens, especially those who have studied The
Odyssey and are drawn to post-apocalyptic literature.
Summary: Penelope finds herself a survivor after a post-apocalyptic flood in
this retelling of The Odyssey set in modern times. In searching for her family, she joins up
with other survivors to defeat the forces of evil and salvage as much love as
she can.
Survival-Fiction,
The Odyssey-Fiction --Carol Kennedy
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