The Dead and the Gone

By: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated listeners with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event - an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of 17-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales. When Alex's parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle.

With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful new novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.

©2008 Susan Beth Pfeffer (P)2008 Random House, Inc.

Missing gaps but amazing job reading and heartfelt

Loved the story and how well the author got you attached to characters. Amazing job reading felt like I was watching a movie in my mind. Had a few gaps that drove me nuts but good overall

Not the brightest kids.

They are the only ones left in the whole appartment building, and they nearly starve to death, when there are dozens abandoned apartments possibly full of food right there. Ok, they have metal doors, but windows are glass, walls are drywall (most likely)! Were there balconies to climb over possibly? C'mon!
Also, the city is full of chunky rats feeding on all the corpses, but no one even considers catching them for a hearty stew. Ew, they literally would rather die. I mean if it's life or death situation, rat stew sounds pretty damn good!
Electricity is super unreliable - let's risk and take the elevator! What?! Bri doesn't come back - they don't think to check the elevator, find her there dead few days later. After grieving over her and settling her dead body to rest, they TAKE THE ELEVATOR back up! Are you kidding me? Didn't you learn?
And the lack of trouble in NYC was hard to believe. It's not the safest place on a good day, but in time of apocolypsis - there is barely any, main character faces no shooting, no looting, no fights. Mighty peaceful.

A pretty good book

Any additional comments?

The narrator was acceptable. The story was pretty good, however grew a little tired of the excess Catholicism. Perhaps the author felt this was needed to build the main characters. The actions of the characters left that hollow if this was the case.

Two Thumbs Up Post-Apocalyptical Adventure!

As others have pointed out, the narration at first feels a little off due to the narrator's deep mature voice portraying a 17 year old. But it doesn't take long to adjust, and Robertson Dean's soothing voice spinning the dark tale was an absolute delight. I hope he narrates the last two books! I found the Dead and the Gone to be far better developed and rewarding than Life as We Knew It. In LAWKI the plot centers around Miranda and her reactions to everyone around her as she's mostly being taken care of in the face of disaster. Her mother and older brother do most of the thinking for her, and at times her immaturity was obnoxious. In Alex's case, quite the opposite, which made the read more compelling. However, Alex isn't the perfect character, either. He can be misogynistic and quick to anger, but ultimately is likable in the sacrifices he makes for his little sisters and strength in the daunting task of carrying his family alone. It was fascinating to witness the moon event first in rural Pennsylvania, and then the same event from an entirely different point of view in New York City. Miranda and Alex, despite being in very different surroundings, experienced the same horrible situations and seemingly hopeless future. But Ms. Pfeffer does a nice job of keeping the story fresh without feeling redundant, which cannot be an easy task. I look forward to seeing what's next for these characters. And I now trust the moon a little less.

Great Story, Narration was Odd

We’ve been listening to the series while on a family vacation. Everyone really enjoyed the storyline - This one is a bit grittier than the first book. However, the narrator was not well suited to portray female voices without sounding absolutely ridiculous.

Hurt my ears

The narrator is to old and gravely sounding and the Authors use of "He said" is disruptive.

Great story, not the best narrator

I agree with what others have said about the narrator. In contrast to the previous book, his voice was jarring and I struggled to finish the book at times because of the pronunciation of words like "mami" and "papi". The female characters were voiced so comically it almost sounded like a parody. The story itself is great, but the narrator's performance was distracting

So amazing!-but sad..

I L-L-LOVED this book! It helps you visualize the struggles that the main characters went through, it really puts you in the pov of them. Very sad book though, I was so sad, especially at the end. Anyways, it’s a good read and I highly recommend it and the whole series in general!

great book

I like it I want the other books in the series to read on and figure out the rest

good book

great story line, I felt really engaged in the story and loved the characters. Highly recommended