The Rules Of Survival by Nancy Werlin

Genre: Tragedy, Reality,
Rating: 3
Pages: 259

Summary

Enter Matt’s world where he lives with his two younger sisters and his crazy, insane mother and all her boyfriends. Meanwhile Aunt Bobby is downstairs stuffing her face with food and not paying the smallest speck of attention to the bigger picture: Matt, Cali and Emma need to get away from their mom. It’s a struggle to survive under the roof of his mom, which feels more like a rain cloud.
But then Matt discovers Murdoch, a man he witnessed rescuing a little boy in the convenience store. And Matt knows if he can get his attention their might just be a little hope. Amazingly, Murdoch begins dating his mom and life’s almost good. But when Murdoch dumps his mom all roads lead to hell. Matt knows he’ll need to take action, but can he survive these measures alone?

Why Read It?

This isn’t a typical “Mom goes through a bunch of boyfriends” classic. It’s a scary adventure for Emma, Cali and Matt, just kids. It’s heartbreaking and infuriating, yet brilliant and satisfying, a story you won’t want to forget. For Girls and Boys!



My Thoughts

The Rules of Survival is basically about these three kids trying to get away from their insane crazy mother. Her actions simply made me want rip her hair out at some points. Other times she confused me with her behaviour.
It’s a great story about overcoming adversity. It covers mostly family relationships and the romantic relationship between Murdoch and her. However, it is mainly about surviving a parent that might as well be a scary uncontrollable teenager.
I rated The Rules of Survival a three because it was a good book, and I don’t think I’d read it again. Mostly because the story line wasn’t in that great of my interest and books like this aren’t something that I enjoy particularly. Reality and Tragedy novels I find don’t lift my mood although sometimes they give me a great sense of relief and that’s why I enjoy them for the most part.
I think the lesson in this book is just to take action and seek help and don’t stop until you get it. I believe that’s an important ability to have, and I’m glad Matt had it in him to get word out, no matter how difficult it was and he kept trying whether he succeeded or failed. I admire him for that. So maybe you want to pick this up and read it, maybe you don’t, but I think you’re missing out on a great novel, after all it’s a National Book Award Finalist, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist and a ALA Quick Pick!