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" Today&amp;#039;s book review is from Woman&amp;#039;s Day&amp;#039;s Associate Web Editor Alexandra Gekas. She read Lost Everything by Brian Francis Slattery. Set in a not-too-distant future, two or three generations at most, global warming has brought the United States into a drought-fueled civil war between government forces and a revolutionary army. Amidst this violent and blighted backdrop, Slattery follows Sunny Jim and his preacher friend Reverend Bauxite as they travel north through New York State and Pennsylvania on the Susquehanna River, in the direction of an oncoming nuclear cloud, to fetch Jim&amp;#039;s son Aaron and flee south before the storm overtakes them. As Jim and Reverend Bauxite rush north, they meet others both fleeing the storm and traveling toward it in an attempt to return home before the end. Bouncing between three locations\u2014the river, the highway and the house\u2014we meet soldiers who are fighting the revolutionaries (even though they can&amp;#039;t remember why), teenagers falling in love despite the devastation, mothers trying to protect their children and crewmen on the vessel carrying Jim and the reverend whose last duty is to bring their passengers as far as they can go. We hear all the different life stories and varying personal experiences\u2014crimes committed, loved ones lost and moments of redemption\u2014of all these people who face the same unknown. Though Brian Francis Slattery is an established science fiction author, I would place this apocalyptic novel somewhere between Cormac McCarthy&amp;#039;s The Road and Mark Twain&amp;#039;s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. While the story does depict the future of our worst nightmares, a sense of optimism shines through. Jim and the reverend are trying to protect family and innocence. The people we meet certainly show intense cruelty, but there are also moments of profound kindness, small, but powerful gestures of love and a great sense of hope overriding hopelessness. Lost Everything honors the human condition of adaptation and unity, and defends the notion that despite the worst, many people can and do maintain their dignity. This story is theme- and character-driven more than it is driven by plot, so if you&amp;#039;re looking for something to get lost in on the beach, it may not be the right choice. But if you&amp;#039;re looking to curl up in a quiet corner with a book that will touch a nerve and reveal light in the darkness, I highly recommend this novel. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/entertainment/reviews/a47168/lost-everything-by-brian-francis-slattery/>