Not a Drop to Drink

Summary (from the publisher): Regret was for people with nothing to defend, people who had no water.
Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most importantly, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty, or doesn't leave at all.

Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Having a life means dedicating it to survival, and the constant work of gathering wood and water. Having a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.

But wisps of smoke on the horizon mean one thing: strangers. The mysterious footprints by the pond, nighttime threats, and gunshots make it all too clear Lynn has exactly what they want, and they won’t stop until they get it….

With evocative, spare language and incredible drama, danger, and romance, debut author Mindy McGinnis depicts one girl’s journey in a barren world not so different than our own.

Review: I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from HarperCollins.

Not a Drop to Drink a post-apocalyptic young adult novel about a not so distant world where water resources are scarce. Lynn is a teenager who was born in the wake of the water crisis and has been raised by her mother in a remote community in rural Ohio. Their life is all about survival: guarding their pond, hunting for food, gathering firewood, and constantly on the lookout for potential threats to their home and water source. Lynn's life is incredibly isolated since the only person she has ever known is her hardhearted mother.

When Lynn's mother unexpectedly dies, Lynn's life is changed forever, especially by the introduction of several new friends. It surprised me that Lynn could so readily learn to trust others after being raised to mistrust everyone as an enemy, and shoot others on sight. Yet Lynn is open to the idea of compassion, having fun, and finding love with others or as Lynn says, "It seems like it'd be kind of nice not spending every minute living against dying" (171). In a way, history repeats itself as Lynn is required to serve as a surrogate, and single mother, just like her own mother; "so she laid down in Mother's cot, surprised at the waft of scent that enveloped her as she slid under the blankets. Mother's smell was there, the outline of her body still imprinted on the mattress. Lynn fit into it nicely, and watched over Lucy while she slept" (83). Yet Lynn chooses a more compassionate approach to life than her mother ever did. It seems as if the moral message conveyed by McGinnis can be summed up by the lines of Robert Service quoted by Lynn herself, "It's not for sins committed/ My heart is full of rue,/ but gentle acts omitted,/ Kind deeds I did not do" (193).

Overall I think McGinnis did a great job executing the future reality in the world she creates. She wisely omits some details, such as the exact year or scientific reasoning for why the water is drying up. Yet we do know it's sometime in the future since cell phones and the wars for oil are referenced; "I was regular army once upon a time, but my convoy got hit by an IED during the Second War for Oil and they sent me home" (184). Yet other details, like why they don't have electricity aren't explained. Or, if water is so scarce, why they aren't frantically collecting snow in their water tanks, rather than building snowmen and having snowball fights.

While I enjoyed this book and could see it being very popular young adult fiction, I don't know that it has anything original to add that hasn't already been done in everything from The Road by Cormac McCarthy to the TV show Revolution. Additionally, it features a lot of killing for young adult fiction, and I was surprised by the choices made by the author in who to kill off, although other hit novels like The Hunger Games certainly don't stray away from violence either. Also, I thought the action that happens in the final chapters was rushed and the epilogue less than satisfying. I'd like to imagine Lynn having a richer life than the one the epilogue alludes to. However, for a young adult novel I think this is both entertaining and deals with mature topics in a level, yet not overly explicit way.

Stars: 3