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A review by cgreer42
Coming of Age at the End of Days by Alice LaPlante
4.0
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Alice LaPlante’s Coming of Age at the End of Days is the story of a 16-year-old girl named Anna who lived in Sunnyvale, California, with her piano teacher mother and her earthquake-obsessed father. Anna falls into a deep depression that begins to abate after her mother, who is quite anti-Christianity, reads the Bible to her in hopes of lifting her spirits. Anna is most intrigued by the Book of Revelations, which she sees as mirroring her own feelings of impending doom. Not long after that she is introduced to the apocalyptic religious organization of her neighbors, the Goldschmidts. This group seeks to bring about the end of days, and Anna is enthralled almost immediately. However, after experiencing a life-altering tragedy, Anna must confront her quest to help bring about the rapture.
Coming of Age at the End of Days depicts depression and the seeking of death and destruction in a very realistic way. During the beginning Anna reminded me of Justine from Melancholia, as she was looking forward to the end of it all. She became more active than Justine once she believed that through her actions she could help bring about the rapture.
The way Anna comes to her obsession with death is somewhat inconsistent with the characterization of her mother. I felt that the author did not satisfactorily explain why her mother would read Anna the Bible when she was strongly opposed to Christianity.
Nevertheless, Coming of Age at the End of Days was a very satisfying read. Not only was I not able to put it down, but Ms. LaPlante’s writing did what I love for writing to do—it transported me into Anna’s mind, complete with the feelings of unease, devastation, and utter loneliness. Mrs. LaPlante also does a masterful job of creating three-dimensional characters in the world around Anna, each of whom plays a major part in her growth during the course of the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to people looking for an eerie and surreal read that is morally and psychologically complex.
Alice LaPlante’s Coming of Age at the End of Days is the story of a 16-year-old girl named Anna who lived in Sunnyvale, California, with her piano teacher mother and her earthquake-obsessed father. Anna falls into a deep depression that begins to abate after her mother, who is quite anti-Christianity, reads the Bible to her in hopes of lifting her spirits. Anna is most intrigued by the Book of Revelations, which she sees as mirroring her own feelings of impending doom. Not long after that she is introduced to the apocalyptic religious organization of her neighbors, the Goldschmidts. This group seeks to bring about the end of days, and Anna is enthralled almost immediately. However, after experiencing a life-altering tragedy, Anna must confront her quest to help bring about the rapture.
Coming of Age at the End of Days depicts depression and the seeking of death and destruction in a very realistic way. During the beginning Anna reminded me of Justine from Melancholia, as she was looking forward to the end of it all. She became more active than Justine once she believed that through her actions she could help bring about the rapture.
The way Anna comes to her obsession with death is somewhat inconsistent with the characterization of her mother. I felt that the author did not satisfactorily explain why her mother would read Anna the Bible when she was strongly opposed to Christianity.
Nevertheless, Coming of Age at the End of Days was a very satisfying read. Not only was I not able to put it down, but Ms. LaPlante’s writing did what I love for writing to do—it transported me into Anna’s mind, complete with the feelings of unease, devastation, and utter loneliness. Mrs. LaPlante also does a masterful job of creating three-dimensional characters in the world around Anna, each of whom plays a major part in her growth during the course of the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to people looking for an eerie and surreal read that is morally and psychologically complex.