Ms. Butler writes this book in the form of journal type entries covering the period of July 2024 to July 2025. The journal entries are written by an unnamed teenager who at first appears to focuses her writing on her dreams, her religious beliefs, her desires etc. She, the writer of these entries, is not described by name until half way through the entries we read. We do learn that  the writer of said entries starts each entry with a biblical verse/her interpretation of one. This verse sets the tone for the entry. At first the reader thinks the entries are from an adult, being they are so deep and so thought out. But we later see that Lauren is a 15 year old girl who has to grow up rather fast due to the circumstances she is being raised in. We also learn that though she doesn’t necessarily believe in everything she is taught religion wise, she believes in the importance of life, surviving in the woods if necessary, and being prepared when it is necessary. The first chapter focuses on Lauren’s dream of her flying through doors and crashing into several, falling into a dark abyss and waking up before finding her way out. When I read this immediately I felt that this writer was concerned with her mortality and was dreaming of herself dying. It wasn’t until I read on that I realized not only was this a good initial assumption considering what was going on around her, but was the foreshadowing of what was coming later on in the book. Once you proceed with reading further chapters it is extremely obvious that hyperempathy did play a role in her dreams but also made her super vigilant. Lauren’s smarts also led her to learn about plants and flowers, how to prepare for the inevitable and how to survive. Living in California in 2024 which has turned into an area of death and destruction where those living there pray that they will live the next day. Everyone around her  though they have high walls built in the towns people, family and friends are getting robbed, raped and sometimes murdered for their possessions, money and food. The police are doing nothing and the water prices are extremely high that many families can’t afford to purchase it. Lauren sees whats happening around her and is trying to protect herself and her family from the inevitable destruction. Unfortunately though her father semi believes her, her “former” best friend does not and reports to her parents that Lauren is spreading ridiculous information. Lauren thinking she can trust her best friend by telling her how to prepare for the imminent danger they will all be facing, realizes she can’t trust anyone except herself to prepare and wait…….

Upon reading chapter 1 of Falter by McKibbon,  I was taken aback by the use of  the roofs as the focus of the first few paragraphs. As I proceeded further through the chapter it was made clear that the roof “reference” was used to show that though those are solid and mainly immovable they are more stable than that of our climate and the destruction of our natural resources. The author talks about how humans work together to create the asphalt tiles. In reality it is actually telling the reader that we as humans are destroying the environment for future generations. Our previous working together to build the materials for things as roofs in reality has played a role in the  future generations not being able to develop due to the collapsing of these resources we previously took for granted. As the author equates to the development of asphalt, everyone’s role played a part in the process of the destruction of our environment. “All of us together built something remarkable”. The human race continues to grow technologically as well as humanly, through advancements we previously did not have. We have created global issues due to these advancements which will cause future generations to cease to exist. Trees as well as other natural resources may be killed off before the end of the century. The collapse of civilizations over the centuries should give us concern. As Rome fell, other civilizations rose. The statement “we’re simply so big and moving so fast that every decision carries enormous risk” is true of the climate change situation. Climate change affects every person, animal; living thing world wide. In the past when countries/empires collapsed, no one knew nor impacted by their demise. With the size of the world now, and the consumption of our resources we are limiting resources for future generations to come.