How to Survive Everything by Ewan Morrison

Happy Thursday! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things Tours for Ewan Morrison's latest, How to Survive Everything!

Haley and Ben are used to their father's eccentricities. It's one of the reasons their mother divorced him in the first place. It's also one of the reasons they have limited visitation with him. 

But that doesn't keep their father from abducting them one early morning. It helps that they were staying overnight with him in the first place. They just thought it was another of his little adventures—an outing before they returned to their mom. 

What they didn't know was that everything was about to come crashing down around them!

There's a part of my brain that, while reading this, insisted, "Too soon!" I mean, pandemic fiction during an actual pandemic...So yeah, it might be too soon for some people. 

Morrison's tale is set in the near future, post Covid. And it acknowledges Covid-19 as part of its plot. 

See, Haley and Ben's father has become increasingly convinced that the next big pandemic is right around the corner. But he was a journalist during Covid-19, tasked with covering just that: the next big super bug. And he thinks it's happening. Now. 

Our narrator, Haley, is a teenage girl living through this reality. And there are definitely times when both she and the reader wonder if her father is really fully with it or not. 

Under the guise of being her guide to surviving, Haley outlines pretty much every step that led to her new reality. And she does it with a snarky attitude that gives a rather dark read a humorous bent that makes it easier to swallow. 

I really liked Morrison's overall style. Haley's voice was the kind that I really appreciate (snark is kind of a favorite of mine). 

Is this a fun read? I guess it depends on how dark you like your humor and how well you're holding up these days! I found it so, but admit that at times it didn't do much to take me away from my current anxieties!