book review
Lili taught us that anyone can write a book if they have an idea.
After the Lights Go Out is a fast pace novel written by, Australian author, Lili Wilkinson. The genre of the book bordered on Sci-Fi and Young Adult but tells a story of disaster, love, and sacrifice.
The book is set in a small town called Jubilee (in Melbourne; a place of familiarity to the author) and follows the story of a 17-year old girl named Pru. She lives with her father Rick, and her younger twin sisters Grace and Blythe. They are doomsday preppers! One day, when their father is away for work, doomsday hits and they are the only ones prepared. But Pru has met Mateo, and the book starts to dabble in an end of the world romance. Do not get me wrong though, the book is NOT a love story. There’s almost no time for that because Pru has to keep her sisters safe while they hide their supplies and skills from the town.
I’m on the fence about how good of a character Pru was. As a 17-year old girl living in Australia, she was completely wrong in the way she acted and thought. I know she was trained as a survivalist and this was a time for her exact skill set, but at the beginning of the book, (where there was no doomsday) she was unrelatable and didn’t worry about anything important at the time. On the other hand, I found her choices based on the circumstances in the middle of the book, to be justified and exactly how I would have acted. In these moments she was a relatable and vulnerable character. This was where I could connect to the character, which lasted for the rest of the book.
I had very eerie and mysterious feelings whilst reading this book and yet enjoyed the fast pace of the story immensely. I feel that, at the end of the world, it wouldn’t make sense to spend the time to set a scene with extreme detail, and I admired that the author left this up to the reader to imagine. But did she leave too much up to me? Growing up in Australia helped me to understand these missing links, but what about for the international readers?
In relation to the writing, I found the story quite easy to follow; the flow was fairly consistent and not at all jumpy. The writer chose to take a more pragmatic but, at the same time, emotional approach to her story and the outcome. I quite enjoyed the simplicity of the text and how all the information was clear and concise.
I quite enjoyed the twists towards the end of the book. Obviously, I won’t spoil anything but I must say that it was shocking and unexpected.
I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I must compliment the artists on their accurate portrayal of the vibe of the story through this one picture. So, hats off to Debra Billson and Tithi Luadthong for creating a cover that really captured the essence of the story.
Overall I give this book a rating of 6.5/10 and recommend it to more mature audiences that are into lighter and more spirited Sci-Fi books.
-S Smith, Year 10
Lili Wilkinson, Author