We All Looked Up

Starred review from January 26, 2015
An asteroid named Ardor is on course to destroy the world. As four Seattle teenagers count down the weeks until impact, they wrestle with the meaning of their lives and their possible deaths. Peter, a basketball golden boy, must decide if he should save his sister from her nihilistic boyfriend and whether true love is worth ignoring the status quo. Eliza, a photographer with an unseemly reputation, negotiates her father’s cancer diagnosis, her mother’s abandonment, and the need to chronicle the chaos erupting around her, while finding herself drawn to Peter. Rounding out the story’s rotating voices are Anita, a straight-A student who just wants to sing, and Andy, a slacker who must decide where his loyalties lie and how to handle his dangerous friends. Debut novelist Wallach increases the tension among characters throughout, ending in a shocking climax that resonates with religious symbolism. Stark scenes alternating between anarchy and police states are counterbalanced by deepening emotional ties and ethical dilemmas, creating a novel that asks far bigger questions than it answers. Ages 14–up. Agent: John Cusick, Greenhouse Literary Agency.

Starred review from January 15, 2015
The end of the world turns into a life-changing opportunity for four high school seniors.High school is all about labels. In this stunning debut set in present-day Seattle, there's Peter the athlete, Andy the slacker, Anita the overachiever and Eliza the slut. Just as each notices a strange blue star in the sky one night, the president announces that the star is actually an asteroid with a path that is 66.6 percent likely to hit and destroy the Earth in two months. Told from the teens' alternating viewpoints, sometimes with cleverly overlapping details, this edgy story follows how each copes with impending doom with brilliant imagery and astounding depth. Knowing that all life will probably end in just weeks, the four teens abandon their labels and search for meaning in the time they have left. Inspired by Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, they forge a "karass"-an unbreakable, and indeed life-changing, bond-as they explore purpose, evil, faith, independence, friendship, sex and love together. In the background there is also social commentary to be gleaned as the world becomes a dangerous place and martial law becomes a farce. But just like the asteroid that dots the night sky, Wallach pierces his darkness with tenderness and humor. A thought-provoking story that will bring out readers' inner philosophers. (Fiction. 14 & up)

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February 1, 2015

Gr 10 Up-It's spring of senior year, and four students are questioning whether they're headed for the futures they want. For Peter (the popular jock), Anita (most likely to succeed), Andy, (the slacker stoner), and Eliza (the photographer with a reputation), the pressures of school, friends, and family feel massive-until the announcement that an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. Suddenly the future isn't so important. Wallach has created an accessible cast of realistic teens struggling with identity, family, and loyalty. Substantial language, casual sex, drugs, and occasional violence occur throughout, but it almost always feels authentic to these teens and the world they're living in; even their worst mistakes feel relatable and worthy of empathy given the world-ending circumstances. Many adult characters feel one-dimensional, but the sense of the teens' urgency to live is palpable. In following his four protagonists as their lives converge, Wallach has written a coming-of-age novel with a captivating existential twist: What is truly important at the end of the world? VERDICT Fans of gritty and apocalyptic fiction won't be disappointed.-Amy Koester, Learning Experiences Department, Skokie PL

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2015
Grades 10-1 Wallach introduces four teenagers facing an asteroid predicted to be on a disastrous collision course with earth in two months. All of themPeter, the basketball star; Eliza, the artsy and misunderstood photographer; Andy, the marijuana-soaked slacker; and Anita, the musically inclined straight-A studentdecide, over the course of interconnected, alternating stories, that they must use these two months to do things differently, to make whatever time they have left more meaningful. Peter dreams of Eliza, thinking she has to be better than his catty girlfriend, Stacy, while Anita tries desperately to save herself by pursuing her music. The truth of these teenagersof any teenagersis that they are rarely as simple as their clique positions would suggest. The story twists in unexpected ways, making it at times chilling but also hopeful. There are a few moments that feel contrived, but Wallach's debut is nevertheless a literary Breakfast Club for a modern generation, and it will surprise readers expecting another clunky dystopian novel with its solid, realistic writing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2015
When an asteroid is predicted to destroy Earth in two months, civilized society begins to crumble in anticipation of the disaster. Told in alternating perspectives, this debut novel follows four Seattle teens as they make major life changes and seek meaning in their final days. A compelling pre-apocalyptic story with a strong narrative voice and an intimate, character-driven approach.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)