In a Perfect World

In A Perfect World is how the world ends in a very quiet, and specific fashion. In Kasischke's book, the world ends due to an onset of the Phoenix Flu and we get to look at it through the eyes of a very naive newly wedded flight attendant and the family that has fallen in her lap due to the marriage.

Honestly, I hated the main character. Here she is, getting married to this guy who seems too good to be true with these god awful children who hate her and her mom who thinks she's an absolute retard and then on top of all this drama the world decides it wants to end itself. If that's not cause for a nervous breakdown, I don't know what is but this character (Jiselle) takes it all in stride like it's just another normal day. And because of this reaction I find it all a bit unreasonable. All around her, people have their lives falling apart but this family gets closer instead of falling apart. Instead of heading for the hills like her other friends she becomes even more entranced in this family and protecting them although they've given her no good reason to.

And I guess that's the point of this story. Jiselle grows from a naive girl walking into a situation she barely thought out and learning to take care of herself and others during a crisis. It's all very poetic, fitting for an author who mostly thinks of herself as poet.

This book took me a very long time to read because the fairy tale atmosphere took a long time for me to get used to. But when I sat down and really got into it, it's a solid book that gets you with how she weaves the destruction of the world, not in the development of the characters (because the characters, besides Jiselle don't really go anywhere lets be honest) and the ending will definitely leave you hanging, but with good reason. I don't think anyone would have bought it if she had wrapped up everything in a good way and a miracle cure was to be had.

I was unsure about the novel for most of the time I spent reading - it seemed purely superficial, lacking some sort of depth that could truly draw me into the story. While the situation was eerily prescient for our current times, I just couldn't quite connect with Jiselle's life. And then the author gave this book the absolute perfect ending - for THIS story - and it all came together. I'm extremely happy I stuck it out until the end, because it wound up being a thoroughly rewarding experience.

This book was given to me to read and I was quite happy with it. The book deals with the world basically coming to an end and focuses on one family during this whole time. Not only are they dealing with the world ending but the children are dealing with a new mother who is really young and frightened. She's dealing with a pilot husband who is always unavailable to talk and then eventually never communicates anymore. She now is the mother to children who are very unsure of her and she is trying to cope with being a single woman in a world that is turning on itself. I would recommend this book to anyone!