Neal Shusterman is an amazing story teller and this time his so Jarrod joins him. Dry is a great dystopian story that doesn’t seem far off from the present. In a time when water and scarce and there’s always a chance of drought, people will do just about anything to get the water. And not everyone will survive.

I am a huge fan of Neal Shusterman and he did NOT disappoint with this one! He brings to light what crazy things may be in our future should this world not change. Loved this book!

This book presents a real possibility of not being able to access something such as water and how, we as humans, will react if such a thing were to happen. Water is such a necessity and it's a very timely read in this current day in age when we're dealing with a pandemic.

While yes, some parts are very "teen-ish" in the characters behavior...it is a teen book.
Overall I enjoyed the story of this mixed up group of teens that ended up together during the Tap-Out trying to survive and find water. I enjoyed the (sometimes out there) twists and turns and where they ended up. Believable? Maybe not. But a fun read nonetheless.

Southern California has run out of water; the taps have run dry and it is only a matter of time before chaos consumes the entire region. Alyssa and her family are your normal suburban, middle class family who are as surprised by the Tap Out as everyone. Luckily, they do live next door to Kelvin and his prepper family who are actually prepared for this eventuality. Alyssa and her brother Garret are struck by one tragedy after another as bad decisions and chaotic times work against them. They team up with Kelvin and Jackie to try and find water and survive the Tap Out.

I loved the premise of this book because it is so realistic. California has been subject to droughts and water restrictions for years, so the water running dry is completely believable. As is the chaos that would ensue as people fight for what few resources remain. I thought FEMA's response was a bit questionable, but it added to the drama of the story. What I didn't like about the book was the main character of Alyssa and just how many terrible decisions she and everyone around her makes. These guys literally cannot catch a break throughout the entire story. At one point Alyssa gets so hung up on the fact that in 8th grade Kelvin used his drone to look in her window that she almost derails the entire venture to find water. I wish the characters could have been a bit smarter, but I guess dumb makes better storytelling.

I have been looking forward to this book ever since I heard about it. Neal Shusterman is an author that I will automatically buy! This book did not disappoint. The story follows a group of kids as the water in California runs out and they realize how quickly humanity goes out the window in the face of survival. I liked the dynamics between all the characters and you definitely are cheering for certain characters and hate others!
I love how Shusterman's books make you think about how you would react in certain situations and how his stories make you think about human nature.

Dry is cli-fi that explores "what would happen if the water (in Calirfornia) ran out?" It mainly follows a brother and sister-- Garrett and Alyssa-- and their neighbor, Kelton, whose family is preppers (people who believe that the end of the world as we know it is coming and prepare for it). They pick up some other teens in their quest for water and safety and come across a lot of danger including dysentery, extreme capitalism, cult-like communism, the not-so-kind preppers, wildfires, and more. The narrative is sometimes broken up with shorter chapters and "snapshots" or other victims of the Tap Out who cross paths with Garrett, Alyssa, and Kelton.

Overall, I like that the cli-fi genre has emerged as we worry more and more about climate change. However, Dry is extremely too long. Since Jarrod Shusterman is a screenwriter, I think it would have done better as a tv show or even a movie. It just moves way too slowly for my reading preferences.

Yet again, Neal Shusterman has written an amazing, timely novel - and this time along with his son. Shusterman has a way with taking serious, political situations and scenarios and turning them into instant page-turners that leave the reader wanting more. I hope to see another collaboration between Neal and Jarrod Shusterman in the future.

The other day I was taking a shower and wondered if there could ever come a future time when such activity would be considered a luxury? Well, Neal and Jerod Shusterman were doing more than questioning the idea of water scarcity when they wrote Dry, a modern day dystopian novel where drought conditions, the mismanagement of resources, and the inhumanity of politicians leads to the Tap-Out where the water supply is simply shut off for all of Southern California.

Does it really take “three days to animal” or does humanity kick in with heart and a helping hand? Hero or survival of the fittest or a combination of both?

Our heroes are a bunch of teenagers whose parents are out of the picture as they try to find a way to a safe haven which promises an adequate supply of rations until help arrives. Unfortunately, nobody seems to notice the catastrophe in CA when they are dealing with the effects of Hurricane Noah in Savannah, Georgia. The military is dispatched but only in an attempt to protect the remaining provisions destined for emergency locations while herding the displaced “thirsty” residents into inadequate shelters where the promise of water for all cannot be met.

Luckily Kelton is the son of a survivalist who has collected a stockpile of goods in preparation for any sort of cataclysmic event. The teen also has a crush on the girl next door, Alyssa, who he is determined to save along with her little brother Garrison. They pick up a couple of stragglers along the way as this ragtag band of scavengers tries to find a hidden lair - The Bug-Out. Their adventures are told in a rotating manner by each of the participants, plus a few others, revealing their reactions to this trail of horrors as they are forced to overcome obstacles which seem sure to prevent their ultimate success in survival.

A gut wrenching tale as choices are made and lives are in question, leaving the reader wondering if the effects of climate change could lead to just such a scenario. Hopefully this novel will serve as a warning alarm as the promised dilemma of water shortages becomes a bigger possible reality in the not so distant future when droughts increase, fires spread, and resources dwindle.

Four stars and a thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This review also appears on my blog, Gotta Read:
https://ellenk59.wordpress.com

I thought the beginning of the book Dry by Neal and Jarrod Shusterman was amazing. I continued to love it until the last two sections of the book. My patience wore thin towards the end in general, because anytime the characters had a chance at survival, something happened to stop it. I wondered how the book was going to end because it just kept going and going. Was this a teen survival book emulating the Greek myth of Sisyphus, who was forced to push a rock up a hill - only to have it roll back right before he reached the top? Or would it end in tragedy? Or would it end in a cliffhanger (no pun intended, for those who've read it) and be resolved in another book?

Unfortunately, it was none of those possibilities. It ended suddenly and way too easily. Just like all of the obstacles came along at just the perfect moment, the perfect situation happened, and ta-da! everything was resolved!

Side note: The Merrium-Webster dictionary defines deus ex machina as "a person or thing (as in fiction or drama) that appears or is introduced suddenly and unexpectedly and provides a contrived solution to an apparently insoluble difficulty."

​YUP!
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Overall, Dry was enjoyable to read - super fast-paced and teens will love it. It'll make a great movie, too... just as long as they work on the pacing and ending a bit! And it looks like it will become one because Deadline reported in February that movie rights were sold to Paramount.

3.5*
Two teens who live next-door to each other are thrust together as a matter of survival. Alyssa is not thrilled to be stuck relying on the strange Kelton when her parents go missing during a severe water crisis in Southern California. Needing to get away from people crazed by the lack of water, the two neighbors are joined by Alyssa’s little brother and two other unlikely teens. They are a motley group who band together simply out of desperation.

Shusterman has envisioned a world gone mad when access to water disappears and people are driven to desperate measures by their thirst. Mob rule makes suburbs war zones and turns neighbors into hostile threats.

The small band of teens seeking a safe haven from the violence is a mix of oddballs. Alyssa is the most stable of the group and her main focus is to protect her little brother. She is the voice of reason in a world gone insane. Amid the madness, there are a few other standouts who demonstrate humanity in a time of crisis. Shusterman’s apocalyptic world is made more realistic by this addition of a handful of people who don’t succumb to the baser actions of the mob.

Today those concerned over Global Warming will find this story a frightening warning call. Shusterman is always ready to call attention to possible catastrophes. Here he has created a band of teens who are a fascinating mix of unlikely companions. They are not the typical heroic saviors of YA literature today. Each has their own agenda in the quest for water.

There are no easy fixes to the absence of water and the agony of absolute thirst is vividly portrayed. The conflict may seem to occur with too much speed but the point is strikingly made that man cannot exist without water. A powerful tale of society suddenly consumed with the absence of one of life’s basic needs.

DRY by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman is all about the Tap-Out, the result of a major drought in Southern California which has been going on for a while. What makes this novel so vivid and relevant is the absolutely remarkable way that the Shustermans use multiple narrators to relate the events after Arizona and Nevada decide to shut the floodgates on any water supplies to California: "[Mom's] watching the TV, where a news anchor is blathering about the 'flow crisis.' That's what the media's been calling the drought, ever since people got tired of hearing the word 'drought.' Kind of like the way 'global warming' became 'climate change' and 'war' became 'conflict.'"

Are you thirsty yet? You will be when reading this dystopian survival story which centers on Alyssa and Garrett, a sister and brother whose parents leave to look for water and don't return. The siblings team up with Kelton (his Dad is an ex-Marine survivalist) and Jacqui who says, "I'm disappointed by people – how weak they are, how frail their psyches must be to allow a water shortage to turn them into murderous mobs." A "compulsively readable and unnerving tale" per the Horn Book review, DRY received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.

Wow. Classic Shusterman! I was really sucked into the story, as terrifying as it is. A natural disaster like this is not hard to imagine, but our reactions to it (as a country, as a state, as citizens, as human beings) are hard to imagine. The Shustermans gave us the worst in humanity and the best.

I listened to this book, and I had a constant state of dread in my heart. I realized I was driving with my hands gripping the steering wheel. And just when I thought the story couldn't get worse, it would. Just when I thought the kids had made a good choice and would get to water, something terrible would happen. But they were kids, and they made plenty of bad choices along the way. It was almost like one of those dreams where you cannot get where you are going and you wake up frustrated and exhausted.

The ending was pretty satisfying, and I have to say I was glad to see it end because it absolutely terrified me.

When the California drought escalates to catastrophic proportions, one teen is forced to make life and death decisions for her family in this harrowing story of survival from New York Times bestselling author Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman.

The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.

Until the taps run dry.

Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbors and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.

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This book had me quiet thirsty. It took me a while to get into a reading flow but I did end up enjoying it. I can't help but feel for California especially in contrast to what is going on now with the wild fires.

This was great! I was concerned that it would be a repeat of any of the other "we're out of water" books I've read, but no. It was less of the nitty-gritty of solving a crisis and more about the humanity or lack thereof during a crisis. We meet five major characters along the way, all of whom are dramatically affected by the tap-out. What I like best about these characters is that they are occasionally reprehensible people (some more than others). Tragedy and danger make monsters of us all, and the Shustermans capture that perfectly. I also feel like it's a perfect lens of society, much like Mike Mullins' Ashfall series. It seems very authentic. I do think the ending wrapped up a little too nicely and that there were earlier parts that could have been trimmed to allow for more closure. I feel like reading this during the CA wildfires made it all the more impactful. I think this one is an easy recommend though, so it's a great addition to the library.

Some parts of this book I loved!! And some parts I hated... or were at least hard to read. Neal Shusterman does a masterful job of writing dystopian. Period - I was reading this book thinking, wow this could happen and that was unnerving!! Not one of my favorite books that this author has written - I feel Scythe is a better book. Overall I did love this book though!! Took me a while to read due to life issues, but a great story with great characters!!

Darius suffers from depression and is bullied at his high school. He feels like he is a disappointment to his father. When his grandfather’s cancer becomes terminal, Darius and his family travel to Iran where he finally meets his mother’s parents and extended family. There he makes his first close friend and learns to understand his Iranian heritage and love his grandparents. Darius the Great is Not Okay is for anyone who has ever felt like they aren’t okay.

Shusterman never fails! This book is just as thrilling, intriguing, and intense as any of his others.

I was unsettled by how convincing this book is. Perhaps it seems so utterly realistic due to a timely and believable disaster - a severe drought. The dire situation, combined with the logical but traumatic plot points and fun but quirky characters made this a total page turner.

Shusterman's latest YA thriller is scarily realistic and plausible. In the near-future or alternate-present America, a prolonged drought called the Tap-Out results in the sudden depletion of Southern California's water supply. When their parents vanish while seeking desalinated water, Alyssa and her 10-year-old brother Garrett embark on a harrowing journey, searching for their parents and fending for themselves as society around them deteriorates. Along the way, the siblings pick up three teens: their survivalist neighbor Kelton, unpredictable lone wolf Jacqui, and calculating opportunist Henry.

Dry alternates between the teens' distinct viewpoints and intersecting snapshots that supplement the backdrop of how others are dealing with the dire circumstances.The snap shots doesn't distract the reader and only enhances the hysteria, suspense, and time constraints on our characters until they die of dehydration. I liked Alyssa but she came across as your generic teen. I would have much rather preferred if the story was told by the spirited and impulsive Jacqui. I was intrigued by Kelton's family dynamic who were super prepared for any crisis and I wanted to learn more about them. Henry was well fleshed out despite the limited page time he appeared in the story.

The story does have its share of bleak moments. I did have to suspend my disbelief in the lack of warning before the Tap-Out comes into full swing. I also had questions towards the ending that were not addressed and glossed over. While not my favorite Shusterman novel, Dry is a solid dystopian/survival thriller.