Reviews - American Rapture

1.75k reviews for:

American Rapture

C.J. Leede

4.14 AVERAGE

elinafranziska's review

4.5

dark emotional hopeful fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

jborbee23's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

pageswithpaigeh's review

4.0

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

permanent_skeleton's review

4.0

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

peachykats's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I might raise the star rating to 5 stars with reflection. This book is not for everyone, but it is for me. I have a lot of thoughts about this novel, but I’m not quite sure how to articulate them. The way Leede really captures a sense of Catholic imagination mixed with Americana is truly a feat. The exploration of growing up is also well captured here. Everything really fit together.

Content Warnings

kelseybousquet's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

marcus_bines's review against another edition

3.5

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

So, which is worse, the horror of a virus that turns people into ravenous, raping beasts, or the horror of being brought up in a psychologically controlling belief system that doesn't give you the tools to understand even your own body, let alone the world around you? That's what Leede offers up here, a bloody apocalyptic nightmare in which 17yo Sophie must navigate the world outside her Catholic bubble as it falls to pieces around her and her companions. Despite a third quarter that feels a little slow and repetitive, and a pandemic setting that is well worn, the themes of this book, and its characters who, like Sophie, you are drawn to love through your experience of trauma with them, raise it above average. And when it's horrific, it's properly horrific.