Tomorrow, When The War Began review

Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

Pan Macmillan, 1993, 286 pages

I wonder if positively reviewing this book will help me win the John Marsden award this year. Well, I guess we’ll have to see what happens nine months from now. In the meantime, here’s my review of one of Australia’s most famous books from one of Australia’s most famous authors, book one of the best-selling Tomorrow series.

So, I guess you’re wondering what this book’s about, aren’t you? Well, skip to the next paragraph; this is the part about how the idea came up. When Marsden began writing, he wanted to write a novel about war, though didn’t know how to go about it. He then thought about just focusing on a small group of people in the war, and not the war itself. Then (in a completely original move by him</sarcasm>) he decided to write to about teenagers. Marsden has said a lot of the inspiration comes from World War II, where Australia could have been taken over by Japan.

Now, as promised, here’s the plot. It’s the end of the school year, there’s nothing to do in the country town of Wirrawee, and Ellie and friends want to do something. After some consideration, Ellie comes up with a perfect idea: a camping trip. Gathering numerous friends from school (boys AND girls, wink wink nudge nudge) they set off to Tailor’s Stitch on their way to Hell (not the ACTUAL Hell, that’s just the name the give to a nearly unreachable forest at the bottom of the cliff). After a few days of lounging around at the bottom of the cliff (and ignoring fighter jets that flew over them), they head back to town.

And now, the thrilling part. When they get back to town, they find it not only deserted, but many of the animals at Ellie’s family’s farm were dead. And Homer’s house wasn’t much better. If you hadn’t already seen the title of the novel, you’d be a little confused as to what’s happened, but since you have, you would realise that they’ve been invaded. How do eight ordinary Australian teenagers survive in a country being taken over by an unknown enemy? Simple: by attempting to fight back despite the odds being tipped in favour of the invaders. Damn those crafty . . . actually, it doesn’t say who invaded us.

Let me put my thoughts this way: there’s a reason this book has sold three million copies, won several awards and had a film adaptation (with a sequel on the way). From wild car chases through town to spying on the enemy through day and night looking for weak spots, this book will have you on the edge of your seat from chapter 6.

My rating: 9/10

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