Can you imagine growing in a survivalist community whose motto is "Always be prepared for the worst day of your life."? That's the plight of Becca, narrator of Bethany Mangle's Prepped. She and her parents and little sister, Katie, live in one founded by her grandparents. Financial priorities are assigned to equipment to survive catastrophes as opposed to say food and shoes. Dangerous disaster drills are routine for anyone over 13. Marriages are arranged for genetic diversity. After all after an unspecified global catastrophe they are supposed to repopulate the world.
Becca wants no part of this dystopia obsessed community. Unlike most of the community's kids who are homeschooled, she goes to a public high school. She catches poignant glimpses of the world she'd like to belong to. She's applied to her dream college and has been accepted with a generous financial aid package.
But her father has been killed in a car accident. Her mother is showing no signs of grief. In fact the whole community seems to be acting stranger than usual.
Becca has always protected Katie. How can she abandon her?
On a purrrsonal note, my sister never lived in that kind of community. But she belonged to fundamentalist churches that looked forward to the rapture like kindergarten kids look forward to Christmas. I fail to see the appeal.
A great big shout out goes out to the students at UMaine and other fine colleges and universities who are finishing papers and cramming for finals.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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