Flawed narrators make me squirm. When I read a story from the point of view of a character who does not make the right decisions, I often don't know whether to read on. Fictional friends are important to me as a reader. I read to befriend the characters. What if the protagonist doesn't seem like the kind of friend I would like to have?I read After Tomorrow slowly for exactly that reason - it made me uncomfortable. However, the point is that the story is supposed to make me uncomfortable, for it's dystopic, set in a time when the pound is worthless and no one has food. The only thing Matt and his family can do is to try, somehow, to move out of the UK and into France, which is, at least for the time-being, allowing a few refugees in.But Matt resents everything that comes his way. He does not want to learn French; he thinks it is pointless. His stepfather Justin is nowhere near as … [Read more...]