The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau, is about Lina Mayfleet and Doon Harrow, who try to escape the underground city of Ember. The city's main generator is failing, there is a shortage of everything, and the citizens are beginning to doubt they can survive much longer in the city. Meanwhile, Lina and Doon graduate from there school and randomly choosing their jobs the will serve for the next three years. Doon (with a little negotiating with Lina that involved trading) got Pipeworks labor (which is a lot like a plumier), while Lina got messenger. Doon thinks he can try to fix the generator, which is near the cities pluming and the reason why he traded with Lina. At home, Lina finds an old box with ancient fragments of an important piece of paper with important instructions. Teaming up with Doon, Lina tries to decode the paper, which was titled 'Instructions for Egres', which turns out to be instructions for a safe Egress, or exit. They go to the underground river that powers the generator, where they find boats, candles, and matches waiting for them. Together, they leave the city, and come up to our world above the soil, and begin a whole new life.
I think one of the main themes of the novel is 'if you want some thing done, then do it your self.' this theme is shown throughout the book, but you can really see this theme when Lina and Doon leave the city in the boat. It shows that they were ready to survive, even if the other people just sat around on their lazy behinds and just hoped for the best. People who are like that are never going to achieve their goals in life, unless, of course, their life goal is to be come a dependent, lazy, someone-else-should-do-it person. It's as simple as if you want water, go get a cup and fill it with water, then drink it.
I would recommend this book to people who like the stressful and hard-to out down kind of writing. Those kind of books come like the breeze, sometimes (or is that sneeze?). You never know how a book's tale will turn out until you read it. That is, unless you've read it all ready, or have heard a better review than this one. I would also recommend this book to those who've seen the movie. Thank you for reading.
