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A review by mctumenas
Coming of Age at the End of Days by Alice LaPlante
2.0
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley.
I wanted to like this book, as I have enjoyed the author's previous work. It simply doesn't work for me. The initial premise of the story, the 16 year old girl, who never fits in; her new religious neighbors and her new religious fervour makes sense. We have seen this before with religion, with drugs, with music, etc. as teenagers work out who they are, who they will become. Then the story goes downhill. The strange neighbor Jim, the unsympathetic chemistry teacher and their relationship seemed tangential to the story, little did I know that they would become part of the gigantic deus ex machina at the end.
Anna's parents are not well developed characters, and Lars' parents are non-entities. The only in depth character we find is Anna. Lars seems more one dimensional.
The final scenes in the novel, actually from the time they go on the run, simply don't make sense at all and the grand finale- but of course, that was why her father had that hobby-and the deus ex machina swoops down to the rescue.
I wanted to like this book, as I have enjoyed the author's previous work. It simply doesn't work for me. The initial premise of the story, the 16 year old girl, who never fits in; her new religious neighbors and her new religious fervour makes sense. We have seen this before with religion, with drugs, with music, etc. as teenagers work out who they are, who they will become. Then the story goes downhill. The strange neighbor Jim, the unsympathetic chemistry teacher and their relationship seemed tangential to the story, little did I know that they would become part of the gigantic deus ex machina at the end.
Anna's parents are not well developed characters, and Lars' parents are non-entities. The only in depth character we find is Anna. Lars seems more one dimensional.
The final scenes in the novel, actually from the time they go on the run, simply don't make sense at all and the grand finale- but of course, that was why her father had that hobby-and the deus ex machina swoops down to the rescue.