THE LIVING

The Living

Biography

Matt de la Peña is the New York Times Bestselling author of six well received young adult novels: Ball Don’t Lie, Mexican WhiteBoy, We Were Here, I Will Save You, The Living and The Hunted. He’s also the author of two award-winning picture books A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis and Last Stop on Market Street. Matt received his MFA in creative writing from San Diego State University and his BA from the University of the Pacific where he attended school on a full basketball scholarship. De La Peña currently lives in Brooklyn NY. He teaches creative writing and visits high schools and colleges throughout the country.

My Quote

Summery

THE LIVING

"Now I'm on my second voyage, hoping the first will fade away..."

Shy says this while remembering the jumper on his first cruise and how it now haunts him.

By: Matt De La Peña

Literary Critique

Presentation by: Even Wagner

Matt uses flashbacks very well in his story to build depth in his characters and to show why they behave the way they do. But he failed to show me the pain of the main character, Shy, while he is starving in a very important place in the book. The imagery in the book was amazing. Often it felt as if I was looking at events unfold the way Shy was observing it in the book. Even with the shortcoming mentioned above, that was an outlier. Matt still did a great job with bringing the emotion of the characters to life.

THE LIVING

This story starts out on a cruise ship with Shy. Working this ship is his summer job and the way he sees it, easy money. But recently there was an incident. A passenger comitted suicide by jumping off the side of the ship. Shy grabbed his arm but was not strong enough to pull him back on to the deck. This and the fact his grand mother died of a new plague called Romero Disease is a heavy weight to carry arround on his sholders. But his friends are a very supportive even while he is sure someone is following him. Then it happens. The alarm goes off and this time it's not a drill. There is a tsunami coming. It was caused by the biggest earthquake in history. The center was somwhere near the border of the US and Mexico along the San Andreas fault line. The first wave consumes the ship. Shy wakes up in a pool of bloody salt water with just enough time to see the next wave bigger than the first bearing down on the ship. He came to again with the theater ceiling pinning him to the ground. Luckly, he was able to wiggle out and joined other passengers at the lifeboats. After waiting on some passengers, he finally secures a seat for him self. As they splash down he gets knocked out again. He eventually ends up on a boat with an injured passenger and a stuck-up rich girl. About three days in, the passenger dies and the girl named Addi has finally warmed up to Shy. On day seven, they get rescued by Shoe, the shoeshiner on the ship. He brings them to an island but won't tell them anything, just that things aren't what they seem. They later discover there are a bunch of peoeple dieing of Romero Disease on the top floor of the hotel on the island. There is a mysterious cure that the other survivors got but this only raises more questions because a cure doesn't exist for Romero Disease. A boat full of researchers promises to take everyone home but this only makes Shoe more apprehensive. The time to leave arrives. People are lining up to get on the rafts to take them to the big research boat. When these rafts arrive, the "researchers" on the rafts shoot everyone on the shore. Shy, Shoe and two other friends make it off the island alive on a salvaged sailboat that Shoe had been repairing. This left them with more questions than answers as they sail toward the West coast of California.

Setting

Shy

Thematic statement: No matter how rich or poor hardships affect us all.

No mater who you are you will be tested.

It's your job to overcome.

MATT

DE LA PENA

Thoughts on the book

This book was a very fun read due to the exciting premice, the relatability of the main character, and the imagery the author uses to put you in the shoes of the characters. It was a fun interesting journey with Shy as he tries to figure out what is going on as the book puts you through twists and turns. I bet I will enjoy the sequal as much as I loved this one.