If ever there was a book that is problematic, it is Evan Morrison’s How to Survive Everything. On the surface, this book has everything I could hope for, considering I love apocalyptic dystopian novels, but as soon as I started reading this book, I knew it wasn’t going to be for me. The writing style and character voice is truly atrocious. While there certainly may be teenage girls out there like main character Haley, they don’t need to star in their own survival novels. The plot is lost amongst Haley’s snarky, crude, and mean-spirited quips about everyone in her company. Despite my intense dislike for her, I pushed through this book, but it was quite painful. A more intellectual, nuanced version of this story could have been golden, but as it is, this book is dead where it stands.

Thank you very much @netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of How to Survive Everything by Ewan Morrison, released March 1, 2021. I tried reading this when I first received it, but it was not for me at that time. Just tried it again, and was not a fan this time either, so did not finish it. It's about a survivalist colony during a pandemic, and a family and how they try to survive. I just did not love the writing or the story. #bookstagram #pandemic #advancedreadercopy #howtosurviveeverything

I'm mixed on this book. While I love the premise, doomsday prepper kidnapper mixed with is the world really ending or not, I did find some of the language took me out of the story. Sometimes, the young girl's thoughts were spot on, and others I could hear someone trying to imagine what a young person sounds like. Not often, buy enough for me to be taken out of the story at times.

I did think of Cloverfield Lane at times, with the whole is the world ending plot, which is a good thing. In the end, I enjoyed the book. It did take me awhile to finish it, as again, the voice felt a bit off, or too "cutesy" from what I expected the book to be. However, once I put my e oecratiobs aside, I found it to be a rather entertaining take. I would definitely read more from Morrison.

Children of divorce, Haley and Ben live with their mother. But their dad believes there's a new, much deadlier pandemic coming and is determined to keep them alive. He wants to take them to his prepper hideaway where they will be safe from other people. NOW. But there's no way their mother will go along with his plan. Saving them requires extreme measures.

Kidnapped by their father and confined to his compound far off the grid, Haley and Ben have no contact with the outside world. How can they save their mother? Will they make it out alive? Is the threat real--or is this all just a dark fantasy brought on by their conspiracy obsessed father's warped imagination?

Propulsive and chilling in its realism, How to Survive Everything is the story of a world imploding; a teenage girl's record for negotiating the collapse of everything she knows--including her family and sanity.

A chilling tale of a sister and brother whose lives are upended by a pandemic and dominated by a doomsday prepper father., this book explores what people hold onto when the rest of the world seems to be falling apart. Whom can you trust? And what happens when beliefs are shattered?

On the one hand, I loved the premise & the way the author infused humor into misery- it was clever & unnerving. It asked readers to look directly at bloody, tragic decisions made in the name of survival… and it makes you ask yourself “could I do that?”. On the other hand, this absolutely felt like it came from the perspective of a dude and I had to keep reminding myself that the protagonist was a young girl- I think this was compounded by it being a first person narrative. So a mixed experience, but overall I’m glad I read it!

Thank you so much @netgalley & @harperperennial for the eArc!

The conclusion to the longer review recently posted on reviewingtheevidence.com :

The title of the book promises advice on how to survive everything, but none of its characters are changed in any serious way by their newly adopted way of life, nor do they contemplate any other form of social existence than what got them where they are in the first place. Some one, somewhere should be asking if it's really worth living like this, with no outside stimuli, no books, no music, and (oops) evidently no successful crops. When Adam and Eve took their first faltering steps away from the Eden they had lost, the "world was all before them, where to choose." These survivalists are stuck with one another, behind a razor wire fence they have themselves erected until they run out of dried beans or someone comes by with a bigger crossbow.

http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/review.html?id=11787

This is a book set in the future, 2025 told by a 15 year old girl. She has been kidnapped by her father who is determined to protect her and her brother from the next pandemic so he whisks them away to a remote location. I don't usually read too many dystopian novels, It was interesting, to say the least, especially what we all just experienced with the recent pandemic! This took me longer to get through, clearly as it has already been published (my apologies)! Still, I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good mystery/thriller, a futuristic setting, and family drama.
Thank you to Netgalley & publishers for the ARC in exchange for my review!

2.5 rounded up

The discrepancies of place plagued me for the length of the novel. I kept waiting for the reveal of why two obviously American families were living in a remote location in the UK. Not part of the story and I guess we're just supposed to believe they're British? (Listen to the audiobook and you'll understand completely.)

Your narrator is a 15 year old girl who's so "cringe" yet fits the extreme stereotypes set by all the characters- the military type dude, the earth mother, the cult leader, etc. Even the supposedly "normal" mom was super fashionable and strict with her rules. And then there's the diametric of gender stereotypes that everyone falls into once the self imposed lockdown begins.

You know, this could have been an fascinating book if:
1. The characters were dialed back a bit, maybe a lot
2. Location and nationality of characters was unified
3. The ending left you with not knowing exactly if there was a pandemic or not, or at the very least not end the book the way it did so the MC didn't have to make a choice as to letting people know what's going on

I know it’s still tough for a lot of people to read books that involve pandemics, regardless of their nature, so be cautious about picking this one up if you find yourself in this category.

How to Survive Everything is much different from any pandemic related book that I’ve read before. This book is less about the actual disease and more about human reactions and emotions. The focus is on survival and the consequences our decisions can have when we’re just trying to make it through. Don’t get me wrong, there are still plenty of edge-of-your-seat moments where you’re concerned if some of the characters will survive.

I loved that we got to experience this story through Haley’s eyes. There’s that great teenage flare that comes through in YA stories, which lends humor to a story that could be incredibly dark. There is a wide cast of secondary characters that the reader is given a chance to bond with as Morrison allows each of their personalities to shine through. While we may not get everyone’s in-depth backstory, there’s enough meat there for the reader to truly understand their reactions and motivations.

If you’re looking for something a little bit different, How to Survive Everything meets that mark.

A huge thank you to Harper Perennial for my gifted copy!

I wasn’t expecting this book so be so young adult-geared. The main character narration is very juvenile and not my cup of tea. I could see how this book would be a fun read for teens but not for me.

This near future dystopian is narrated by 'indecisive, choice-averse, two-faced, sarcastic, passive aggressive, asthmatic, whining, overthinking, ADHD, Hamlet-ish' teen Haley.

Haley and her small brother Ben are abducted by their ex-journalist/mad inventor dad Ed Crowe and imprisoned in a compound in a remote location with a bunch of very strange characters who idolize Ed.

Dad claims that a new viral disease that turns lungs into puree is spreading exponentially - but can Haley believe him?

Haley wrestles with what to tell the others, until a shocking development changes her world view.

This was not for me. I am not a fan of YA fiction. I found the narrator's voice to be awkward (and not in a teenage-way) although the story, as far as it goes, isn't bad. I am not a YA and have not been one in some time, so this just isn't didn't resonate with me in any way.

Well, Ewan Morrison's novel, How to Survive Everything kept me glued to the couch on a rainy weekend!

Haley and her younger brother Ben have been kidnapped by their (non-custodial) father who is determined to shield them from the next pandemic, at a remote, off the radar location. It is Haley's voice and point of view that drives the book.

Is their father delusional or is he a canny harbinger of the truth? He's written a manual to follow, for just about anything that could occur. Almost. And it is this treatise that Haley refers to with every event, occurrence, interaction that takes place in the compound. But there's not an answer for everything that transpires.

I quite like dystopian tales and I found the physicalities of Morrison's setting to be intriguing. The idealism and regimen that the members try to live by and follow start to take their toll as the book progresses. Are they delusional? Or far seeing?

Wound into the tale is the unpredictable factor - people. There are others inside the gates as well. The dynamics of a small society cannot be predicted. I loved Haley's recounting. She's torn between her beliefs and what her father is telling her, her burgeoning attraction to one of the other residents, her love for her mother and more.

How to Survive Everything was a page turner for me. I couldn't wait to read the ending, to find the answers for the questions I had. And I did - but certainly not what I imagined.

How to Survive Everything is more than a little frightening to read, given our world today. Gentle readers, this one might not be for you.

**Television rights have just been sold for a planned series!

I tried to love this book, but ultimately it was not for me.

Briefly, the main character, Haley, is a 15 years old child of divorced parents. Mom is a career woman and dad is a mentally unstable conspiracy theorist, cult leader, who kidnaps his children because he believes a second pandemic has hit our world. Haley’s father whisks them away to a remote location, and essentially brainwashes them all into living in a survivalist / doomsday / patriarchal community.

This book just felt unbelievable to me. The book is structured from Haley’s perspective but has a survival type manual heading that creates each part of the book.

I found it unbelievable that Haley and her mother would have fallen for all of this. I also did not appreciate some of the plot twists regarding whether or not the pandemic was real or not, and many twists felt a little forced.

The pacing felt weird, and the “savior” of society appears to be a mentally sick white guy who is all about supporting the patriarchy. My gut is women don’t get a say, and that’s not my thing, whether it is commentary or not.

I wanted to love it.

I loved the idea and the plot! I love doomsday type books but the writing in this was extremely hard to understand. I found myself rereading parts multiple times because I couldn't understand what it said.

I also had a difficult time connecting with the MC - I found the way she is portrayed is a false impression of a teenage girl. And I think that may be due to a male author not being able to realistically portray how a teenage girl thinks. Unfortunately, I found the narration all over the place with too much punction.

That said, I think it has potential - it's just the writing didn't do it for me.

Before I begin this review, I have to admit that I cannot stand YA books. This book was listed on NetGalley under Mystery & Thrillers, and General Fiction (Adult). Then when I went to Goodreads to mark that I started reading it, they had it in categories like Thriller, Dystopia, and YOUNG ADULT. Arghhh…I think they’re both a bit wrong. I’d categorize this as a YA dystopian, dark comedy horror/thriller. Despite the narration of the first-person protagonist sounding even younger than her age of 15, I ended up really enjoying this book!

As we know from the synopsis, Haley and her little brother, Ben, have been kidnapped while on a rare custody visit with their father. Their dad is a doomsday prepper, and for years has been secretly building a safe place to hide from a great pandemic - and that’s exactly where he’s now imprisoning his children.

Their dad, Ed, is so extreme in his end-of-the-world views that he lost everything, including his wife and family. When reports of a new virus spreading in Asia came out, he put his plan in motion, kidnapped his kids, and took them to this safe place. The place is equipped with food, water, weapons, medical supplies, a bit of electricity - along with many videos, books and even survival guides written by Ed himself.

This book, as I mentioned, is written from Haley’s perspective, and is interspersed with plenty of survival guide material. The first half I would actually label as cute, and while I never did end up loving Haley (or any of the characters), her thoughts were often humorous. There were a lot of disturbing things in it, and a couple of annoying things, but there were also some side stories that yeah, were cute.

Normally, being “cute” in horror/thriller books makes me gag, but I have to give kudos to the author for not only making it bearable, but very enjoyable. This never got slow, the ending was great and I thought the whole thing was very creative. With chapters titled “How To Deal With Mother” and “Home Surgery For Beginners”, the whole survival guide aspect was really fun. I’m giving this a 4.5; normally anything even remotely young-adult feeling annoys me, but this one delighted me!

(Thank you to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks, Ewan Morrison, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

Five years after our current pandemic, there is another one: but this one has been let loose from a laboratory and is exponentially more lethal than Covid. How can you prepare yourself and your loved ones for such an eventuality?

Haley and her brother are whisked off by their conspiracy theorist and possibly mentally unbalanced father, Ed, to a safe compound which he has taken many years to prepare for just such an eventuality. There are a few other people there, all in thrall to Ed’s version of reality, one that he has captured in his Survival Manual which Haley dips into, along with her own tips, as the spine of the narrative.

As Ed forecast in his manual, they lose power and running water, and they are cut off from the outside world. Almost immediately, the small community starts straying from their self-imposed rules and they make choices that threaten the safety and security of their compound. Before long, they are anticipating the arrival of outsiders, survivors from the pandemic, and have to get themselves ready to repel them.

Haley’s narration is that of a rather shrill 15 year old and initially I wasn’t sure how much of it I could sit through but either she calms down or I got used to it. Her inability to make the simplest decisions even after thrashing through all the options is beyond irritating, though when she does make one it leads to disaster for her dad.

The group comes together to amputate Ed’s leg in an extended and pretty gruesome sequence (though I now feel I could give it a pretty good shot if I was ever called on) . This leads to the easing of tensions between the committed and the doubtful and there is a new flowering of community.

The author does an excellent job of showing love between different sorts of parents and their children, as well the high pitch of first teenage love and the cultish adoration between the leader and his followers.

This is an interesting, and rather British, take on the prepper and survivalist milieu but I might have enjoyed it more with a slightly less angsty teenage narrator.

Thanks to Harper and Netgalley for the digital review copy.

Special thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: November 15, 2022
Ewan Morrison is a Scottish author, and his newest work “How to Survive Everything” is an impactful novel on adolescence, mental illness and the surviving the end of the world.
Haley and Ben Cooper-Crowe are living with their mother as a result of a contentious and bitter divorce between their parents. Their father believes that they are on the verge of a deadly, life-altering global pandemic, far worse than Covid, and has built a survivalist commune in a remote location, along with some loyal followers. During a visit with their father, Haley and Ben are kidnapped and taken to live at this compound, their father desperate to save them from the outside world. Soon, their mother is captured to live with them, but she insists the outside world is completely unaffected and just as Haley left it, and her ex-husband and Haley’s father is mentally unstable. Both Haley’s mother and father are able to provide proof to their contrary opinions and Haley is forced to do the one thing that terrifies her- choose sides between her parents, in a situation where her choice may mean literal life-or-death.
The story is told completely from Haley’s perspective, as she writes her experiences down in a sort of “survival manual”. Haley is courageous and naïve, but completely likable and easy to root for. As a reader, I, too was as conflicted as Haley as Morrison has a way of making both parents, at separate times, seem completely sane and reasonable, marking the other parent as the opposite. I was unsure throughout the novel’s entirety who was actually telling the truth, and that factor formed a quick rapport and connection with Haley and her young brother, Ben.
“Survive Everything” is graphic in parts (for example, when it becomes necessary to amputate Haley’s father’s leg) and scientific in parts (when Haley breaks down how to connect a cell phone to a disabled telecommunications system or how to hotwire a radio) but as the format of the novel is a survival how-to guide, this information would be vital to Haley’s potential readers, and Morrison has to keep to this script.
Morrison’s story is creative, amplifying the “global pandemic” scenario to a now-not-so-unbelievable degree, with believable, relatable characters and an unsettling ending. It is a riveting novel that kept me on the edge of my seat from page one and will change the way you look at the post-pandemic world around you.

Honestly, this one was a miss for me. The concept had all the potential to be clever, tense, and mind bending, but unfortunately the story did not execute on most of it. The main issue for me was the awkward narration which made things feel more scattered than they were and often failed to provide insight or allow tension to build. The “survival guide” format is clever, but it needed to be tighter overall to stand out amongst others stories that utilize a similar structure.

Haley and Ben had done it all before: waking up at unusual hours, driving to remote locations, practicing unusual (and unnecessary) survival skills. All of it just to ease their dad’s paranoia that another, society-ending pandemic is just around the corner. So on the day their dad kidnapped them, nothing seemed amiss until it was too late. Convinced that the pandemic he had feared was finally upon them, Haley and Ben’s dad had whisked them away to an isolated compound he had built to protect them from the outside world. But is the pandemic real or has their dad’s paranoia reached a new high? Cut off from the world, how can they find out? What about their Mom who was left behind?

This story is told from 15-year old Haley’s perspective as she writes a pandemic survival guide. Haley has some interesting insights and the book starts off quite strong. However, Haley quickly felt like more of a caricature than a real person. Her apathetic statements frequently felt forced and were frequently used to avoid detail that could have helped develop the story. She is also naive to things a 15-year old generally wouldn’t be and frequently uses odd phrases that make her lose her authenticity. The issues with dialogue and characterization carry over to the other characters, but to a lesser degree. As a result, I had a hard time getting deeply invested in the plot.

The premise of the story is good and I still found what was happening interesting. It does a nice job keeping you guessing whether or not the pandemic threat is real. This is really what kept me going. There are definitely some moments that are quite heavy handed in what they are representing and are clearly thoughts/ideas that Morrison wants to convey. However, these didn’t distract too much from the story.