The Four Waves

The main character in this book is Cassie, a teenager that's living in the middle of the end of human kind. This alien-apocalypse had four stages, - better known as four waves-. The first one: "lights out" an electromagnetic pulse fries every electronic device in the world. When I read this I couldn't imagine the world know, so dependent on technology without it. We have lost every surviving skills, we are kind of useless without a phone in our hands and there's no way to communicate, no way to ask for help or found your loved ones. That really, really scared me.

I also thought a lot about the psychological state everyone was at that time, denying that the end was close but also with constant fear every second of the day. I couldn't imagine living in the world like that, but what troubled me the most was Cassie's family because it was identical to my family and I thought in parents in that situation, trying to calm us down as Cassie's dad: "He looked at me and smiled reassuring and said, -everything is going to be okay- because that's what I wanted him to say and it's what he wanted to say and that's what you do when the curtain is falling -- you give the line that the audience wants to hear."(pg. 36)



When I began to read the book I thought that it would be really cool you know? I mean, apocalypse, aliens, survival it sound like a really great book to read, really exciting actually; but then, as I read I realized it was just awful. I felt completely identified with Cassie and that made me understand her and imagine what it would feel like to be her and live what she was living more deeply. Everything that happened to her, every single lost she had I could feel it too and it was really easy for me to be in her place and feel what she felt. "When he came to tell me she was gone, he was calm. He didn't lose it. He held it while I lost it."(pg. 52). I wouldn't want to be her for any reason in the world, because as I read (and picture me in her life) I realized that I wouldn't be able to survive 3 days in her world.

Finally, the worst part of all the waves was the fourth one. In situations like this, us humans look for groups, to stay united so we have better chances to win a fight and survive, but when someone give's you a reason not to trust the person beside you and fear takes control over you then everything's lost  "This is what the Others have done to us. You can’t band together to fight without trust. And without trust, there was no hope. How do you rid the Earth of humans? Rid the humans of their humanity."

This first part of the book is all about destruction and lost, I think this is a compilation of humanity's worst fears, all together in a book. I think that I would be part of that background-non-important group that dies in the first week. I don't think that I would be physically or physiologically strong to survive in a world like this.





VOCABULARY:

1. Clutching: to hold real tight, to seize.
"As he ran, I clutched his hand, trying not to let go. If I tel go, I'm lost" 





2. Strayed: without a fixed way or purpose.
"I walked and walked. So tired I didn't noticed i have strayed from the main road"





3. Obliteration: to remove or destroy completely.
"The never ending obliteration of the place made it impossible to ever heal"






4. Contingency: a possibility, something uncertain
"He's always prepared. Sheldon has contingency plans for every single posible -or imposible- disaster"




5. Embankment: enclose or protect. Raised to hold back water, carry a road way.
 "The plane settled about 400 yards from the runaway in an embankment"