People smarter than me (the literary critics at the NY Times and Washington Post, specifically), called this book "masterful", a "potent allegory" and a "blistering classic."
I'm left thinking one simple and resounding thought: I didn't get it.
What I did pick up on was that the concept and writing were, in fact, masterful. A group of kids are staying in a mansion as a summer getaway with their spoiled and somewhat despondent parents. The kids are afterthoughts, left to fend largely for themselves. Then, a massive storm hits and chaos ensues. The kids know they're safer without their parents and leave them behind. Out in the world, they find an even more chaotic world than they one they left, complete with vigilantes, death, uncertainty and maybe even some sort of alien magic.
There are other plot twists, too, about the end of the world due to climate change. There are religious undertones, too, and an attempt to reconcile an old Bible one child found with the science that is destroying the world around them. While the book at first appears to be careening towards apocalypse, I was also praying for the end.
It's very possible that I'm not smart enough to have seen the meaning behind this. Either way, it's not a book I would recommend. Maybe the guy from the Times can convince you otherwise.
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