While I Live - John Marsden

Marsden, John. While I Live. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2007.

Summary: While I Live is the story of Ellie Linton and her struggles to keep her family farm after her parents are brutally murdered.  Living on the border between two hostile nations in a divided, post-war Australia, Ellie must fight many battles.  After members of the enemy nation kill her parents in a random, cross-border raid, Ellie shoulders the burden of keeping up her family's struggling farm while taking care of Gavin, her deaf, adopted brother.  With the help of her friends and her own personal courage, Ellie faces legal disputes and the every day grind of running a farm by her self while trying to finish school.  On top of this, her friend Homer, and ex-boyfriend Lee are caught up in a group called the Liberation, which seeks to free prisoner's of war.  When Homer becomes one of these prisoners, Ellie gets caught up in the Liberation's activity, using her experience from fighting in the war to help her.  Throughout the book, she grows and becomes even braver, facing her challenges and overcoming them.  In the end, she wins the rights to the farm, and saves her friends from those that would harm them.

Dystopia: The civilization in While I Live, is not typical of a dystopian novel.  In fact, I'd be much quicker to call this book a coming-of-age novel.  It is, however, set in a post-war society, where the government is still recovering from the shocks of war.  I think the story before this novel would be better suited for a dystopian novel: a world in which teenagers are fighting in a war.  This book, however, does not delve deep into the state of the government or the civilization, but focuses much more on Ellie, and her struggles with running the farm, raising Gavin, and continuing a battle that was supposed to have ended, all while dealing with the normal pangs of adolescence.  I think that the story contained in this novel could be looked at as the possible rebuilding after the dystopia has been abolished.  Most dystopian novels involve the set up of a dystopian society, a character's realization that the society is corrupt, and a character's decision to rebel, or not.  In this story, Ellie is not outwardly dissatisfied with her society besides the court system where her voice goes unheard.  She is relieved that she can once again rely on the police and resume trade for livestock.  Ellie must fight to maintain her lifestyle, and this is the real intrigue of the story.  After fighting in the war, Ellie must now fight to protect her farm, her family, her friends and herself.  In this way, there is a similarity between this book and the giver or unwind.  Teenagers are placed in extreme situations due to the state of their societies and they rise to the occasion.  

One theme that has ran through all of the novel I have read so far is choice.  This idea is very explicit in this book as well.  Ellie battles for her right to choose to keep the farm when there are those who would have her sell it.  She is forced to grow up all to quickly when she discovers her parents dead, and is faced with the choices her situation presents.  Slighter older teens reading this book will identify with Ellie's increased responsibility and the tough situation she faces while admiring her persistence and courage.  While I felt like there was too much going on in this story, I did enjoy reading in parts because I was excited to follow Ellie's choices.  This story may not be quite dystopian, but it is an interesting tale of a girl who is forced to make tough choices and overcome intense struggles.  

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