Book Review: DRY by Neal Shusterman

Dry by Neal Shusterman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"I realize that this is the true core of human nature: When we've lost the strength to save ourselves, we somehow find the strength to save each other."

I'd been eagerly anticipating this book ever since a friend introduced me to the Scythe series (which rocked my world!!), and DRY proved to be worth the hype. It's classic Shusterman: sparse prose which moves the story along efficiently, at lightning speed, but always with just the right amount of character building and venue description to paint a clear picture of characters you come to care for very quickly. And darn, can Shusterman tell a story!

It tries to answer the question: What happens to a state if it runs out of water?

Part II is entitled "Three Days to Animal," and it's a theory which says that that's how long it takes for society to devolve and totally break down in case of a disaster. Shusterman paints that Hobbesian animal state so skillfully, it almost makes me want to promise never to waste so much drinking water by taking a bath twice a day.

Almost.

(Hey, I'm Tagalog, and my people love to take baths almost as much as we love to eat Jollibee chicken joy.) :'D

Hollywood, please make this into a movie soon! How do you spell "Blockbuster hit?" D-R-Y.

And to be honest, this is one Y.A. book that will make you want to guzzle down ice cold water while reading it... just for the sheer pleasure of knowing you can, grateful that you're not living in this nightmare world.

What's horrifying about this book is the fact that this scenario is a very real possible future. Let's pray that this book continues to be fiction, or else future bookstores may very well place this book beside those of Nostradamus.



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