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A review by samiamiam
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I'm going to start this with an actual review of the book but then I'm going to get into the more personal reason I like this book.
Over all this book is pretty good. I feel like it's a pretty accurate portrayal of what it feels like to be a bi teenager and one thing I like about YA is that it's meant to exaggerate teen struggles and I think making Elena as watched and belittled as she is really shows that.
Now onto the personal side of it
I read this book for the first time when I was 16 years old. I remember loving it. I said it was one of my favorite books of all time. I wrote a report on it for school. I LOVED this book. I knew then it was because of its portrayal of Shaun. I'd never really seen a shitty step parent be shown in such a complex way. I'd never felt so seen in my own family dynamic by it. I remember thinking he came out as a decent guy in the end and I fully expected to give this book 5 stars for that reason alone. That is the one thing I remembered about this book going into my reread of it.
The short response to that remembering is I was wrong. Shaun made the wrong choice in the end. Shaun was an asshole but I now realize how much he reflected my own step father then. It also made me realize how much my own step father had changed since I was 16. I don't know what my atep fsthers choice would have been if we'd been in this book at the end of the world but I know what it would be now.
This book is just as important to me now as it was when I was 16 and didn't see any lights in my tunnel because it makes me see how far I've come. That's why I think I rate it so highly. Don't get me wrong it's a good book and I'd still recommend it but it will always be so special to me because of what it showed 16 year old me and what it allowed me to look back on at 21. So thank you for that. It means more than you could know
Over all this book is pretty good. I feel like it's a pretty accurate portrayal of what it feels like to be a bi teenager and one thing I like about YA is that it's meant to exaggerate teen struggles and I think making Elena as watched and belittled as she is really shows that.
Now onto the personal side of it
I read this book for the first time when I was 16 years old. I remember loving it. I said it was one of my favorite books of all time. I wrote a report on it for school. I LOVED this book. I knew then it was because of its portrayal of Shaun. I'd never really seen a shitty step parent be shown in such a complex way. I'd never felt so seen in my own family dynamic by it. I remember thinking he came out as a decent guy in the end and I fully expected to give this book 5 stars for that reason alone. That is the one thing I remembered about this book going into my reread of it.
The short response to that remembering is I was wrong. Shaun made the wrong choice in the end. Shaun was an asshole but I now realize how much he reflected my own step father then. It also made me realize how much my own step father had changed since I was 16. I don't know what my atep fsthers choice would have been if we'd been in this book at the end of the world but I know what it would be now.
This book is just as important to me now as it was when I was 16 and didn't see any lights in my tunnel because it makes me see how far I've come. That's why I think I rate it so highly. Don't get me wrong it's a good book and I'd still recommend it but it will always be so special to me because of what it showed 16 year old me and what it allowed me to look back on at 21. So thank you for that. It means more than you could know