Dry

Dry

Neal Shusterman never disappoints when it comes to his novels. Dry has by far been my favorite from him. Scythe is pretty high up there as well, but the characters in Dry were more relatable. I just knew from the summary of the book I was going to love this read. Plus, this novel was co-written with his son Jarrod Shusterman as his debut novel.

What was fascinating about this book was that it wasn’t an apocalyptic world. It was a near future setting in modern southern California. The whole country has heard of southern California having seasonal drought, but this drought is not quite natural. They call it the Tap Out because like old news, hearing the same name gets repetitive and needs an update to keep interest. So, global warming becomes climate change, drought becomes tap out, etc. What first starts out as a water shortage soon becomes a complete tap out. That means no showers, no filtered water from the fridge, no washing dishes, no clean laundry, no ice, no flushing toilets, no boiling water, and especially no water to drink.

Water is a basic necessity that we take for granted on a daily basis. If it was taken away, our world would end up similar to what happens in Dry. People turn into water zombies, those who are past the point of dehydration but not quite dead, communistic ideals take over for those who believe they have the divine right to distribute water in which they believe is right, and desperation for water could leave people drinking any liquid no matter where it comes from or what’s in it. Some people might even try to make a profit in chaotic times.

It’s the little things in life that make a big impact in our world that we take for granted on a constant basis. Imagine if all livestock simply died over night including the offspring. Humans could survive on vegetables, but not every can switch to vegetarian or veganism overnight. Or what if electricity, gas, or oil ran out? If Dry ever has a companion novel, it would be neat to see what happens to humans when electricity turns off permanently.

I heavily enjoyed the flow of this story and how it started off as a regular day in a new lifestyle with little water and slowly progressed to a reality completely waterless.

This book will make you look at water in a different way and make you feel guilty for pouring water down the drain or taking extra-long showers.