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The Last Days of California
Jess is fifteen years old and waiting for the world to end. Her evangelical father has packed up the family to drive west to California, hoping to save as many souls as possible before the Second Coming. With her long-suffering mother and rebellious (and secretly pregnant) sister, Jess hands out tracts to nonbelievers at every rest stop, Waffle House, and gas station along the way. As Jess’s belief frays, her teenage myopia evolves into awareness about her fracturing family.
Selected as a Barnes & Noble Discover pick and an Indie Next pick, Mary Miller’s radiant debut novel reinvigorates the literary road-trip story with wry vulnerability and savage charm.
Selected as a Barnes & Noble Discover pick and an Indie Next pick, Mary Miller’s radiant debut novel reinvigorates the literary road-trip story with wry vulnerability and savage charm.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published September 9, 2013
79 people are currently reading
5184 people want to read
About the author
Mary Miller
14 books420 followersBiloxi, Always Happy Hour, The Last Days of California, Big World
Stories in Paris Review, McSweeney's Quarterly, American Short Fiction, New Stories from the South, Oxford American, Mid-American Review, Ninth Letter, Indiana Review, and Mississippi Review.
Nonfiction in the NYTBR, American Book Review, The Rumpus, and The Writer.
Stories in Paris Review, McSweeney's Quarterly, American Short Fiction, New Stories from the South, Oxford American, Mid-American Review, Ninth Letter, Indiana Review, and Mississippi Review.
Nonfiction in the NYTBR, American Book Review, The Rumpus, and The Writer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 513 reviews
January 26, 2019
i had heard great advance praise about this book from people who are in charge of discovering great new writers, and was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of my own.
it's a coming of age story about jess, a fifteen-year-old girl whose family: mother, father, and secretly pregnant seventeen-year-old sister elise are on a meandering family road trip from alabama to california, passing out religious tracts on their way to the scheduled second coming.
despite their "king jesus returns!" t-shirts and purity rings, elise and jess just aren't feeling the religious fervor and impending rapture of their father, and while they follow the facebook posts of other people preparing for the apocalypse; giving away their money and throwing open their doors in all-or-nothing displays of faith, they are treating it more like a passing entertainment and are more preoccupied with the shedding of their american girlhoods for the novelty of boys, independence, and self-examination.
this is jess' story, but like any story of sisters, elise is never far from jess' mind. elise is older, beautiful and wild, and jess loves her fiercely, but also resents the ease with which she goes through life, and the casual way she treats her physical and social gifts. jess herself is not popular; she is socially awkward, doesn't understand jokes, and shies away from contact:
I wanted to text someone but no one was expecting to hear from me. I had friends but they were mostly school or church friends. We didn't play with each other's hair or tell each other our deepest secrets. It wasn't at all what I'd thought junior high friends would be like - I thought we'd be sleeping in the same bed, shopping for clothes. I thought we'd tell each other everything. I knew it was my own fault. When someone lightly touched my arm or leg while we were talking, I flinched. I didn't know how I could want things so badly while making it impossible to ever get them.
and even though her religious faith is waning, she wants to be a good person. she tries to engage strangers in conversation, gives money away to those in need, tries to encourage those who look lonelier than she is, and she wants her family to be stable and prosperous, but there's nothing like a road trip to really emphasize the cracks in what's holding a family together: unspoken pregnancy, unspoken unemployment, regrets. jess tries to smooth the path, she is very sensitive to perceived awkward pauses, being so awkward herself:
"Van Horn's coming up," our father said, walking up behind us. "We'll stop there."
"That sounds like a good place," I said for something to say. So much of what he said required no response, but if no one said anything, his words just hung there.
her inability to register emotions makes her an excellent chronicler, but also a very sympathetic character. after witnessing a death:
"I'm sad," I said. I didn't feel sad, but i thought saying it might help me feel it.
jess wants desperately to be loved, to feel something that seems to come so naturally to other people, and she is filled with emotional and sexual confusion, like most young girls, but hers is more pronounced by her emotional anesthesia.
There was something about the face-painting woman that made me feel achy. It felt a little like love, though I'd never been in love and couldn't say for sure what it was. I wondered if it would always feel like pain.
it is entirely familiar.
the story travels through the most desperate and blighted portion of the american landscape - a parade of waffle houses, gas stations, run-down motels, with deadening scenery and people struggling to carve out something for themselves. and jess is also struggling, trying to leave her mark on the world even in the smallest ways:
The woman shrugged. I fake yawned, hoping she'd catch it, but she didn't. It worked best if you yawned just as you were passing someone, if the person hardly noticed you at all. I liked the idea that I could pass it to someone and they would pass it to someone else and my yawn could travel, cross state lines.
as they make their way across the country, jess is also experiencing a sort of emotional road trip of her own: prickly and jealous, placating and dutiful, aching to change, to be something memorable, wanting to come into her own and revising her ideas about adulthood and love and responsibility and culturally-ingrained standards of beauty.
Maybe I wasn't unattractive. Maybe I was only unattractive in Montgomery because everyone already had ideas about me there. If I moved to Arizona, I might be popular. I might be on the dance team, kicking my legs in tall boots at pep rallies. I hadn't made the dance team in Montgomery and didn't know if I was going to try again. It seemed better to accept the one failure than to try a second time and fail, like I hadn't learned my lesson.
it's beautiful and real and haunting. a pure and believable coming of age story in which each member of the family is shown at both their best and their worst. it is sad and smart and lyrical, and i suspect it is going to be a book that touches chords in a lot of women, who will want to tell jess it's going to be okay someday.
He gave us the coins from his pockets and we threw those in, too, but after a while I realized I'd stopped wishing and was just throwing.
just a lovely book.
come to my blog!
it's a coming of age story about jess, a fifteen-year-old girl whose family: mother, father, and secretly pregnant seventeen-year-old sister elise are on a meandering family road trip from alabama to california, passing out religious tracts on their way to the scheduled second coming.
despite their "king jesus returns!" t-shirts and purity rings, elise and jess just aren't feeling the religious fervor and impending rapture of their father, and while they follow the facebook posts of other people preparing for the apocalypse; giving away their money and throwing open their doors in all-or-nothing displays of faith, they are treating it more like a passing entertainment and are more preoccupied with the shedding of their american girlhoods for the novelty of boys, independence, and self-examination.
this is jess' story, but like any story of sisters, elise is never far from jess' mind. elise is older, beautiful and wild, and jess loves her fiercely, but also resents the ease with which she goes through life, and the casual way she treats her physical and social gifts. jess herself is not popular; she is socially awkward, doesn't understand jokes, and shies away from contact:
I wanted to text someone but no one was expecting to hear from me. I had friends but they were mostly school or church friends. We didn't play with each other's hair or tell each other our deepest secrets. It wasn't at all what I'd thought junior high friends would be like - I thought we'd be sleeping in the same bed, shopping for clothes. I thought we'd tell each other everything. I knew it was my own fault. When someone lightly touched my arm or leg while we were talking, I flinched. I didn't know how I could want things so badly while making it impossible to ever get them.
and even though her religious faith is waning, she wants to be a good person. she tries to engage strangers in conversation, gives money away to those in need, tries to encourage those who look lonelier than she is, and she wants her family to be stable and prosperous, but there's nothing like a road trip to really emphasize the cracks in what's holding a family together: unspoken pregnancy, unspoken unemployment, regrets. jess tries to smooth the path, she is very sensitive to perceived awkward pauses, being so awkward herself:
"Van Horn's coming up," our father said, walking up behind us. "We'll stop there."
"That sounds like a good place," I said for something to say. So much of what he said required no response, but if no one said anything, his words just hung there.
her inability to register emotions makes her an excellent chronicler, but also a very sympathetic character. after witnessing a death:
"I'm sad," I said. I didn't feel sad, but i thought saying it might help me feel it.
jess wants desperately to be loved, to feel something that seems to come so naturally to other people, and she is filled with emotional and sexual confusion, like most young girls, but hers is more pronounced by her emotional anesthesia.
There was something about the face-painting woman that made me feel achy. It felt a little like love, though I'd never been in love and couldn't say for sure what it was. I wondered if it would always feel like pain.
it is entirely familiar.
the story travels through the most desperate and blighted portion of the american landscape - a parade of waffle houses, gas stations, run-down motels, with deadening scenery and people struggling to carve out something for themselves. and jess is also struggling, trying to leave her mark on the world even in the smallest ways:
The woman shrugged. I fake yawned, hoping she'd catch it, but she didn't. It worked best if you yawned just as you were passing someone, if the person hardly noticed you at all. I liked the idea that I could pass it to someone and they would pass it to someone else and my yawn could travel, cross state lines.
as they make their way across the country, jess is also experiencing a sort of emotional road trip of her own: prickly and jealous, placating and dutiful, aching to change, to be something memorable, wanting to come into her own and revising her ideas about adulthood and love and responsibility and culturally-ingrained standards of beauty.
Maybe I wasn't unattractive. Maybe I was only unattractive in Montgomery because everyone already had ideas about me there. If I moved to Arizona, I might be popular. I might be on the dance team, kicking my legs in tall boots at pep rallies. I hadn't made the dance team in Montgomery and didn't know if I was going to try again. It seemed better to accept the one failure than to try a second time and fail, like I hadn't learned my lesson.
it's beautiful and real and haunting. a pure and believable coming of age story in which each member of the family is shown at both their best and their worst. it is sad and smart and lyrical, and i suspect it is going to be a book that touches chords in a lot of women, who will want to tell jess it's going to be okay someday.
He gave us the coins from his pockets and we threw those in, too, but after a while I realized I'd stopped wishing and was just throwing.
just a lovely book.
come to my blog!
August 3, 2017
Great read, thanks to my goodreads friends who recommended this book about a family on a roadtrip and above all a coming of age story... Recommended! Seemingly an apocalyptic theme, this family is headed by the evangelical father who packs up his family, leaving their Alabama home to drive west in anticipation of the rapture, hoping to save as many souls as possible before the Second Coming. But in fact, it's not apocalyptic at all. It's a family with all its highs and lows, travelling to California, stopping at fast food joints and crappy hotels and motels. Oldest daughter Elise a beauty and pregnant... Story told by the youngest, fifteen-year old Jess, it's a coming of age story on the road. Smoothly told, quick read, confronting, loving, funny, sad, all in one, great story.
Makes me think of my backpack trips in the US... vowing at the end of the trip amongst others I'd never step into a fastfood restaurant ever again in my life, which of course did not come true ;-)
Great story, and a talented writer. I'll keep an eye out for her work. As usual I will tweek and add to my review a bit here and there in the coming days... ;-)
Makes me think of my backpack trips in the US... vowing at the end of the trip amongst others I'd never step into a fastfood restaurant ever again in my life, which of course did not come true ;-)
Great story, and a talented writer. I'll keep an eye out for her work. As usual I will tweek and add to my review a bit here and there in the coming days... ;-)
February 6, 2017
This could be Heaven or this could be Hell.*
Fifteen-year-old Jess is on a mission from God . . . or to God. Or, maybe even away from God. She's trapped in the backseat with her older sister as her parents head to California to await the Rapture. They've left their home in Alabama, and are credit-carding their way across the U.S.A. Dad thought the girls would enjoy seeing the real America before they're whisked off to their heavenly reward, but so far they've mostly seen the inside of the car, and cheap motel rooms. Jess is really starting to have her doubts about this whole enterprise.
. . . I was thinking about the rapture and being lifted into the clouds with all of the other chosen ones. I didn't want to die on earth or up in the clouds. I wanted God, if He did exist, to stay where he was, just like He always had. And I wanted my life to be different and better, but I wanted to be the one responsible for changing it.
This trip has been a real eye-opener, leaving her questioning her beliefs, and wondering about her father's sanity.
It was his thing, not believing in anything but God, as if to believe in anything else --- man's landing on the moon, global warming --- would be disloyal.
Elise, her sister, the girl their mother believes to be "too beautiful and naive" serves as both Jess's best friend, and occasional tormentor. She's carrying a secret that she's shared only with Jess. Now, their roles, so firmly established before the trip are not so so rock solid anymore.
I wanted to be like my sister, who made friends and mistakes easily.
But Jess is also puzzled by Elise.
Who was she really? Was she the person who rode bikes with me and jumped on the trampoline, or a careless drunk who went off with strange men and did God-knows-what?
Like her or not, and I'm still not sure if I did, Elise is pretty entertaining. Like Jess, she's no longer sure if she believes in a higher power.
"What about you?" she said. "Do you feel the presence of God when you're in church, or do you just stare at people's asses and try not to yell curse words at the top of your lungs? Because that's what I do."
And I liked her mocking attitude toward the impending rapture.
"On Saturday night, I'm going to take off all my clothes and leave them on the grass at whatever shithole motel we're staying in, and then I'm going to hide in a bush and watch everybody freak out," she said.
Is this book really worth five stars? Eh - maybe not to you, but I really enjoyed it - mainly because of Jess, our narrator. Her voice, her attitude, her uncertainty - - If I wasn't the good daughter, I wouldn't know what I was, and . . . my desires weren't that unreasonable, and why was my body made to want things it shouldn't want? - made this one a treat for me. I had religion shoved down my throat as a young girl, and I asked myself some of these very same questions. If you've asked them yourself, then maybe this book is for you.
I wanted to go back to the time when I hadn't thought about whether or not I believed, when I'd gone to church and Sunday school and passed out tracts and it never occurred to me to question any of it. Now everything was in question, all at once, and it mattered.
*Yes, I know, I can't believe I quoted Hotel California, written by Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, but, dammit - it seemed appropriate. Any trip with loved ones can be Heaven or Hell.
(But, usually it's Hell.)
Fifteen-year-old Jess is on a mission from God . . . or to God. Or, maybe even away from God. She's trapped in the backseat with her older sister as her parents head to California to await the Rapture. They've left their home in Alabama, and are credit-carding their way across the U.S.A. Dad thought the girls would enjoy seeing the real America before they're whisked off to their heavenly reward, but so far they've mostly seen the inside of the car, and cheap motel rooms. Jess is really starting to have her doubts about this whole enterprise.
. . . I was thinking about the rapture and being lifted into the clouds with all of the other chosen ones. I didn't want to die on earth or up in the clouds. I wanted God, if He did exist, to stay where he was, just like He always had. And I wanted my life to be different and better, but I wanted to be the one responsible for changing it.
This trip has been a real eye-opener, leaving her questioning her beliefs, and wondering about her father's sanity.
It was his thing, not believing in anything but God, as if to believe in anything else --- man's landing on the moon, global warming --- would be disloyal.
Elise, her sister, the girl their mother believes to be "too beautiful and naive" serves as both Jess's best friend, and occasional tormentor. She's carrying a secret that she's shared only with Jess. Now, their roles, so firmly established before the trip are not so so rock solid anymore.
I wanted to be like my sister, who made friends and mistakes easily.
But Jess is also puzzled by Elise.
Who was she really? Was she the person who rode bikes with me and jumped on the trampoline, or a careless drunk who went off with strange men and did God-knows-what?
Like her or not, and I'm still not sure if I did, Elise is pretty entertaining. Like Jess, she's no longer sure if she believes in a higher power.
"What about you?" she said. "Do you feel the presence of God when you're in church, or do you just stare at people's asses and try not to yell curse words at the top of your lungs? Because that's what I do."
And I liked her mocking attitude toward the impending rapture.
"On Saturday night, I'm going to take off all my clothes and leave them on the grass at whatever shithole motel we're staying in, and then I'm going to hide in a bush and watch everybody freak out," she said.
Is this book really worth five stars? Eh - maybe not to you, but I really enjoyed it - mainly because of Jess, our narrator. Her voice, her attitude, her uncertainty - - If I wasn't the good daughter, I wouldn't know what I was, and . . . my desires weren't that unreasonable, and why was my body made to want things it shouldn't want? - made this one a treat for me. I had religion shoved down my throat as a young girl, and I asked myself some of these very same questions. If you've asked them yourself, then maybe this book is for you.
I wanted to go back to the time when I hadn't thought about whether or not I believed, when I'd gone to church and Sunday school and passed out tracts and it never occurred to me to question any of it. Now everything was in question, all at once, and it mattered.
*Yes, I know, I can't believe I quoted Hotel California, written by Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, but, dammit - it seemed appropriate. Any trip with loved ones can be Heaven or Hell.
(But, usually it's Hell.)
August 29, 2016
This is a lovely, charming coming-of-age journey of two sisters and their parents on a drive from Alabama to California just in time for the Rapture. California has reserved premium seats for the Saved, and that's where they are headed. Jess is the perfect narrator for this charming story, at 15 years old, she vacillates between the love of her parents, wishing she could be more like her sister, wanting the boys to notice her like they do her sister, and a staunch determination to hold onto her virginity and her “promise” ring that her father gave her. So much teen angst! Both girls have their own worries, and none of their worries are based on the promised Rapture. Jess’s 17 year-old sister Elise is more worried about something growing inside her. Two sisters who appear to be as different as night and day.
“My biggest fear was that things would go on forever and there would never be any end. The idea of forever terrified me, even if we were in heaven and everything was great there.”
I have driven across country three times, I’ve driven with my parents for day-long drives when I was a teenager, and I’ve driven from the East Coast to the West Coast with a 5 year old asking “Where are we now?” or “Who lives here?” every five minutes. I can’t imagine driving cross-country with my parents as a teenager, or with my teens as a parent. The boredom of the endless drive, the inevitable sameness of the places you stop. It’s almost claustrophobic, and even when it’s not there’s a level of intimacy you’re not often subjected to for days on end. It takes a toll on all involved. When half are teenagers more concerned with how they look and the other half not only happily anticipating the Rapture, but also counting on it… there just isn’t a bridge for that gap.
“And I wondered how good happiness and pleasure could be without their opposites to compare them to. If everyone was beautiful, what would beauty even mean? What would I have to strive for?”
"At some point, my feelings for my parents had changed. I mostly felt nothing and couldn’t think of anything to say to them, but it was periodically broken by a brief, crushing feeling, a love so intense that there was nothing to do but reject it altogether.”
Interesting stops along the way include a Flea Market that they only convince the Dad to stop at when they use handing out religious pamphlets as an added perk. The shady motels replete with teenage boys hanging around the pool at night offer momentary relief from the boredom.
“Boys made everything look easy; it made me love them and hate them at the same time.”
Slowly, Jess begins to realize the world might not be made up of as many people like her proselytizing father, and just maybe there are more people like her – people who don’t know what to believe, or what to believe in.
“My biggest fear was that things would go on forever and there would never be any end. The idea of forever terrified me, even if we were in heaven and everything was great there.”
I have driven across country three times, I’ve driven with my parents for day-long drives when I was a teenager, and I’ve driven from the East Coast to the West Coast with a 5 year old asking “Where are we now?” or “Who lives here?” every five minutes. I can’t imagine driving cross-country with my parents as a teenager, or with my teens as a parent. The boredom of the endless drive, the inevitable sameness of the places you stop. It’s almost claustrophobic, and even when it’s not there’s a level of intimacy you’re not often subjected to for days on end. It takes a toll on all involved. When half are teenagers more concerned with how they look and the other half not only happily anticipating the Rapture, but also counting on it… there just isn’t a bridge for that gap.
“And I wondered how good happiness and pleasure could be without their opposites to compare them to. If everyone was beautiful, what would beauty even mean? What would I have to strive for?”
"At some point, my feelings for my parents had changed. I mostly felt nothing and couldn’t think of anything to say to them, but it was periodically broken by a brief, crushing feeling, a love so intense that there was nothing to do but reject it altogether.”
Interesting stops along the way include a Flea Market that they only convince the Dad to stop at when they use handing out religious pamphlets as an added perk. The shady motels replete with teenage boys hanging around the pool at night offer momentary relief from the boredom.
“Boys made everything look easy; it made me love them and hate them at the same time.”
Slowly, Jess begins to realize the world might not be made up of as many people like her proselytizing father, and just maybe there are more people like her – people who don’t know what to believe, or what to believe in.
January 21, 2014
The Last Days of California, is a coming of age story that takes place while a fundamentalist family drives cross country in order to get to California on the day that their particular brand of sola scriptura says the world is going to end.
Why California? So that they can have the most time to revel in the glory of the rapture as it rolls out time zone by time zone. Or maybe it is just to gloat.
The novel takes place in the last three days leading up to the day.
Spoiler?
The world doesn't end.
The end of the world event is most likely the one that was supposed to take place on May 21, 2011. They both are supposed to happen on a Saturday, and well it's the only 'summerish' one that has happened recently. Their religions spokesperson is called Marshall though, which gives it a Heaven's Gate nod, not that there is any drinking the Kool-Aid and lacing up the Nikes going on here.
Some mornings when I walk out of my apartment at a little after 6am in the morning there is this homeless(?) woman sitting on the steps for my building.
For a few years she had been a regular at B&N with her blue ghetto cart that had bible verses taped to it along with the a handwritten advertisement for some AM fundamentalist radio station that was pushing the 'world is ending on day (x)' doctrine (doesn't this seem problematic to Biblical literalists since doesn't it say somewhere that no one will know when the world is coming to and end? It doesn't say no one except for this dude who did some math).
If given half a chance she would tell you about how you were going to die and go to hell on this particular day unless you repented and believed that the rapture was coming. As the day moved closer she looked quite pleased with herself, and then the day came and passed, and I didn't see her for awhile, until she seemed to resurface again in my neighborhood, still wandering around with her blue ghetto cart, sans any bible verses or advertisements for obscure AM radio stations.
Sometimes I want to ask her how does it feel to have believed so much in something that turned out to be wrong.
Most of us these days don't really get to experience our biggest beliefs proving to be utterly wrong, especially after we go proverbially all-in with a belief. What does that feel like?
This book isn't really about that.
It's a coming of age story of a girl who does believe, sort of. Her family that's living on the verge of poverty and off of credit cards to fund a spending-spree cross country trip in celebration of the last days. And an older sister who is the sinning, rebel daughter who spends her time checking things her father says on Google and being the devil's advocate to everything the family believes.
The kind of bizarre thing about this story is how little the family is concerned about the idea that the world is going to end. Yes, there is some disbelief, and it's possible that more than half the family doesn't believe at all, but even if they aren't worried about the world ending, they also don't seem too worried about how seriously fucked this junk-food loving dysfunctional family is going to be after this three day orgy of hotels, room service, kitschy junk and fast food that they are embarked on.
I enjoyed the book, but I didn't love it as much as I know some people have been loving it. This book is one of those borderline YA/Adult novels, I'm pretty sure it's going to be released as an adult novel, but it lives in the same murky area that say a John Green novel would be placed in. I think this should have a pretty wide appeal when it finally gets released next year.
Why California? So that they can have the most time to revel in the glory of the rapture as it rolls out time zone by time zone. Or maybe it is just to gloat.
The novel takes place in the last three days leading up to the day.
Spoiler?
The world doesn't end.
The end of the world event is most likely the one that was supposed to take place on May 21, 2011. They both are supposed to happen on a Saturday, and well it's the only 'summerish' one that has happened recently. Their religions spokesperson is called Marshall though, which gives it a Heaven's Gate nod, not that there is any drinking the Kool-Aid and lacing up the Nikes going on here.
Some mornings when I walk out of my apartment at a little after 6am in the morning there is this homeless(?) woman sitting on the steps for my building.
For a few years she had been a regular at B&N with her blue ghetto cart that had bible verses taped to it along with the a handwritten advertisement for some AM fundamentalist radio station that was pushing the 'world is ending on day (x)' doctrine (doesn't this seem problematic to Biblical literalists since doesn't it say somewhere that no one will know when the world is coming to and end? It doesn't say no one except for this dude who did some math).
If given half a chance she would tell you about how you were going to die and go to hell on this particular day unless you repented and believed that the rapture was coming. As the day moved closer she looked quite pleased with herself, and then the day came and passed, and I didn't see her for awhile, until she seemed to resurface again in my neighborhood, still wandering around with her blue ghetto cart, sans any bible verses or advertisements for obscure AM radio stations.
Sometimes I want to ask her how does it feel to have believed so much in something that turned out to be wrong.
Most of us these days don't really get to experience our biggest beliefs proving to be utterly wrong, especially after we go proverbially all-in with a belief. What does that feel like?
This book isn't really about that.
It's a coming of age story of a girl who does believe, sort of. Her family that's living on the verge of poverty and off of credit cards to fund a spending-spree cross country trip in celebration of the last days. And an older sister who is the sinning, rebel daughter who spends her time checking things her father says on Google and being the devil's advocate to everything the family believes.
The kind of bizarre thing about this story is how little the family is concerned about the idea that the world is going to end. Yes, there is some disbelief, and it's possible that more than half the family doesn't believe at all, but even if they aren't worried about the world ending, they also don't seem too worried about how seriously fucked this junk-food loving dysfunctional family is going to be after this three day orgy of hotels, room service, kitschy junk and fast food that they are embarked on.
I enjoyed the book, but I didn't love it as much as I know some people have been loving it. This book is one of those borderline YA/Adult novels, I'm pretty sure it's going to be released as an adult novel, but it lives in the same murky area that say a John Green novel would be placed in. I think this should have a pretty wide appeal when it finally gets released next year.
March 2, 2014
I read this novel purely because of its title, which immediately caught my attention. I didn't know anything about the author or her book - as it turns out it's a debut novel, which is both a good and bad thing.
The Last Days of California is the story of the Metcalf family, which embarks on their last road trip ever - they travel from their hometown of Mobile in Alabama to the coasts of California to experience the rapture. The father is a devout evangelical who is 100% sure that the Second Coming is rapidly approaching, and he doesn't want to miss the show (I guess the idea of meeting Jesus in Mobile was not to appealing enough, which is weird - wouldn't Jesus prefer to show up in Christian country?). Happy or not, the Metcalfs pack their bags, take the car and hit the road.
I admit that I was expecting a Utopian or post-apocalyptic novel, but this theme suits me just fine. The pilgrimage is always a good occasion to let complext characters engage in self-discovery - there's little else that they can do on the Journey. But it's not the case here. The novel is narrated by the fourteen year old Jess, who has to quickly come of age on the road - deal with her secretly pregnant older sister, her ailing mother and obsessively religious father, and discover the allure and mystery of boys. But it's not anything that has not been done before, and better - there's just not enough meat to sink one's teeth into. While Jess is a sympathetic character and we can relate to her confusion, she's never quite "there" and never has to face any real challenge or test: she never really has to confront her parents or even her sister, who drinks and smokes and only pretends to be religious. Jess's encounters with the boys on the road are ultimately without much consequence or impact on her character. Perhaps the biggest flaw of the novel is the lack of any serious religious conflict: I expected Jess to fight with herself over her beliefs or lack of thereof, but she's mostly resigned to being just a passenger. Most of the religious activities in the book consists of the father and sisters handing our tracts to fellow drivers and travelers.
While this is a debut, it's not the "fierce new voice" that the blurb promised - I'm glad I didn't read it before approaching the book or I would have been seriously disappointed. Still, it's not an entirely bad book - it's definitely readable, but stretched to the brim (I've read that the author began as a short-story writer, which could be how this book began as well). Like with most road trip novel it's all about the journey and not the destination, so it's no real surprise when The Last Days of California just ends, without going anywhere and offering any real resolution. In this case, however, the journey turned out to not be as interesting and illuminating as I would expect; the novel simply lacked any real substance and did not provide me with emotions or insights that I could take away from it. Still, it's a debut, and these are rough waters; all the good luck to the author in the future, which will hopefully bring on a longer and more developed book.
The Last Days of California is the story of the Metcalf family, which embarks on their last road trip ever - they travel from their hometown of Mobile in Alabama to the coasts of California to experience the rapture. The father is a devout evangelical who is 100% sure that the Second Coming is rapidly approaching, and he doesn't want to miss the show (I guess the idea of meeting Jesus in Mobile was not to appealing enough, which is weird - wouldn't Jesus prefer to show up in Christian country?). Happy or not, the Metcalfs pack their bags, take the car and hit the road.
I admit that I was expecting a Utopian or post-apocalyptic novel, but this theme suits me just fine. The pilgrimage is always a good occasion to let complext characters engage in self-discovery - there's little else that they can do on the Journey. But it's not the case here. The novel is narrated by the fourteen year old Jess, who has to quickly come of age on the road - deal with her secretly pregnant older sister, her ailing mother and obsessively religious father, and discover the allure and mystery of boys. But it's not anything that has not been done before, and better - there's just not enough meat to sink one's teeth into. While Jess is a sympathetic character and we can relate to her confusion, she's never quite "there" and never has to face any real challenge or test: she never really has to confront her parents or even her sister, who drinks and smokes and only pretends to be religious. Jess's encounters with the boys on the road are ultimately without much consequence or impact on her character. Perhaps the biggest flaw of the novel is the lack of any serious religious conflict: I expected Jess to fight with herself over her beliefs or lack of thereof, but she's mostly resigned to being just a passenger. Most of the religious activities in the book consists of the father and sisters handing our tracts to fellow drivers and travelers.
While this is a debut, it's not the "fierce new voice" that the blurb promised - I'm glad I didn't read it before approaching the book or I would have been seriously disappointed. Still, it's not an entirely bad book - it's definitely readable, but stretched to the brim (I've read that the author began as a short-story writer, which could be how this book began as well). Like with most road trip novel it's all about the journey and not the destination, so it's no real surprise when The Last Days of California just ends, without going anywhere and offering any real resolution. In this case, however, the journey turned out to not be as interesting and illuminating as I would expect; the novel simply lacked any real substance and did not provide me with emotions or insights that I could take away from it. Still, it's a debut, and these are rough waters; all the good luck to the author in the future, which will hopefully bring on a longer and more developed book.
June 25, 2016
Strawberry Wine
"Yeah, I was caught somewhere between a woman and a child,
One restless summer we found love growing wild."
Deana Carter, Strawberry Wine, 1995.
This is is a refreshing novel of a coming-of-age journey, a sort of family "Odyssey." Like Flannery O'Connor, with impeccable prose and structure and through the use of vivid symbolism, Ms. Miller hits the raw peccadilloes of the American southerner, the fundamentalist notions of religion more prominent here than in other regions, and many of the ironies inherent to the region (ingrained or inbred). Mary Miller seems just as good or better than John Green of the young adult genre at expressing teen angst, especially of girls.
Having lived in the American deep South all my life, I can attest to Ms. Miller's spot-on depictions of Southerners generally and many of the evangelicals I've known. She nails their mannerisms, customs, thought patterns, bass ackwards logic, idioms and euphemisms, without ridiculing or criticizing them in an unwarranted manner.
The novel's protagonist, 14 or 15-year-old Jess (quite a telling name), is teenage girl from Montgomery, AL. This novel hit a little too close to home for me with two daughters who were 14 at the time I read this.
Last Days of California is a tale of Jess' coming of age on a journey to the Rapture (the haven for those to be saved is in California) with her evangelical father, her secretly-pregnant and bitter sister, and her suffering mother (who, despite her husband having just lost his job, maintains her false pride, "we have our reputation to think about" in reference to her sister's waywardness back home). Along the way, she runs across an angel ("Gabe"), for whom she spreads her wings to fly, and a devil (anything here would be a spoiler).
With her apt gift for story-telling, Ms. Miller appears to have a wonderfully bright future.
"Yeah, I was caught somewhere between a woman and a child,
One restless summer we found love growing wild."
Deana Carter, Strawberry Wine, 1995.
This is is a refreshing novel of a coming-of-age journey, a sort of family "Odyssey." Like Flannery O'Connor, with impeccable prose and structure and through the use of vivid symbolism, Ms. Miller hits the raw peccadilloes of the American southerner, the fundamentalist notions of religion more prominent here than in other regions, and many of the ironies inherent to the region (ingrained or inbred). Mary Miller seems just as good or better than John Green of the young adult genre at expressing teen angst, especially of girls.
Having lived in the American deep South all my life, I can attest to Ms. Miller's spot-on depictions of Southerners generally and many of the evangelicals I've known. She nails their mannerisms, customs, thought patterns, bass ackwards logic, idioms and euphemisms, without ridiculing or criticizing them in an unwarranted manner.
The novel's protagonist, 14 or 15-year-old Jess (quite a telling name), is teenage girl from Montgomery, AL. This novel hit a little too close to home for me with two daughters who were 14 at the time I read this.
Last Days of California is a tale of Jess' coming of age on a journey to the Rapture (the haven for those to be saved is in California) with her evangelical father, her secretly-pregnant and bitter sister, and her suffering mother (who, despite her husband having just lost his job, maintains her false pride, "we have our reputation to think about" in reference to her sister's waywardness back home). Along the way, she runs across an angel ("Gabe"), for whom she spreads her wings to fly, and a devil (anything here would be a spoiler).
With her apt gift for story-telling, Ms. Miller appears to have a wonderfully bright future.
April 26, 2020
Fino al ritorno
“Quando il ragazzo che amo mi chiederà di sposarlo, non dirà le solite cose, che mi ama alla follia, e non si inginocchierà. Dirà che vuole morire con me in una cazzutissima esplosione sottomarina. Dirà che mi ama fin nel profondo di quella sostanza molliccia che abbiamo dentro le ossa. Se vorrà, potrò aiutarlo io a inventarsi qualcosa”.
Jessica e Elise sono due sorelle adolescenti (quindici e diciassette anni), si amano e si odiano intensamente, sono in viaggio con i loro improbabili genitori, dall'Alabama verso la California per partecipare alla Seconda Venuta di Cristo, alla fine del mondo, e durante questa esperienza familiare e morale, mangiano in continuazione, digitano messaggi sul telefono, osservano il mondo e perdono l'innocenza con i coetanei che incontrano: una è vergine e ha la prima esperienza nel sesso, l'altra affronta una gravidanza indesiderata e segreta. Il cammino verso la maturità (per quanto questa appaia come una spaventosa deviazione) prende lo spazio scenico aperto dall'infinito timore dell'apocalisse; si parla di un inizio, non di una fine (“Quando voglio spaventarmi, la sera a letto, mi ripeto in testa per sempre, per sempre, per sempre, per sempre, finché non impazzisco”). La voce della protagonista è sincera e spontanea, articolata e meditativa: rappresenta con stile asciutto e fertile una femminilità nascente e luminosa. Si tratta di una storia romantica e bizzarra, ambientata tra redenzione e esuberanza nelle strade rassegnate di un America insignificante e arrendevole, dove l'elemento umano acquisisce rilievo e sensibilità, grazie ad una incontaminata inclinazione a vivere momento per momento in superficie, come se l'incoscienza fosse simbolo di qualcosa di ulteriore e estremo, di semplice e comunicabile. Il pellegrinaggio narrato dalla Miller è in qualche modo un sacrificio e manifesta uno sviluppo indefinito e incompleto, minacciato dalla fede inquieta, ridimensionato di fronte alla finitezza dei fatti e delle relazioni fondamentali. Per tutti i personaggi, quel multiforme vuoto interiore non è condivisibile, se non scontando le conseguenze di un irreversibile cambiamento: dagli altri a se stessi, una conversione.
“Quando il ragazzo che amo mi chiederà di sposarlo, non dirà le solite cose, che mi ama alla follia, e non si inginocchierà. Dirà che vuole morire con me in una cazzutissima esplosione sottomarina. Dirà che mi ama fin nel profondo di quella sostanza molliccia che abbiamo dentro le ossa. Se vorrà, potrò aiutarlo io a inventarsi qualcosa”.
Jessica e Elise sono due sorelle adolescenti (quindici e diciassette anni), si amano e si odiano intensamente, sono in viaggio con i loro improbabili genitori, dall'Alabama verso la California per partecipare alla Seconda Venuta di Cristo, alla fine del mondo, e durante questa esperienza familiare e morale, mangiano in continuazione, digitano messaggi sul telefono, osservano il mondo e perdono l'innocenza con i coetanei che incontrano: una è vergine e ha la prima esperienza nel sesso, l'altra affronta una gravidanza indesiderata e segreta. Il cammino verso la maturità (per quanto questa appaia come una spaventosa deviazione) prende lo spazio scenico aperto dall'infinito timore dell'apocalisse; si parla di un inizio, non di una fine (“Quando voglio spaventarmi, la sera a letto, mi ripeto in testa per sempre, per sempre, per sempre, per sempre, finché non impazzisco”). La voce della protagonista è sincera e spontanea, articolata e meditativa: rappresenta con stile asciutto e fertile una femminilità nascente e luminosa. Si tratta di una storia romantica e bizzarra, ambientata tra redenzione e esuberanza nelle strade rassegnate di un America insignificante e arrendevole, dove l'elemento umano acquisisce rilievo e sensibilità, grazie ad una incontaminata inclinazione a vivere momento per momento in superficie, come se l'incoscienza fosse simbolo di qualcosa di ulteriore e estremo, di semplice e comunicabile. Il pellegrinaggio narrato dalla Miller è in qualche modo un sacrificio e manifesta uno sviluppo indefinito e incompleto, minacciato dalla fede inquieta, ridimensionato di fronte alla finitezza dei fatti e delle relazioni fondamentali. Per tutti i personaggi, quel multiforme vuoto interiore non è condivisibile, se non scontando le conseguenze di un irreversibile cambiamento: dagli altri a se stessi, una conversione.
November 11, 2015
Sometimes, you read a book and feel like it was written from the inside of your own head. Like someone saw you and just scooped it out of your subconscious and turned it into really pretty words. But then, there’s some new stuff there too for you to gather from and you realize that it’s just a piece of the universality of human experience. Yeah, so for me, this book was like that.
Pulling you into the car and taking you along for the cross-country road trip into the “rapture”, this book is so well-written and insightful it stings. It covers you and you remember all of the lonely feelings you had when you were growing up, all the moments you couldn’t have put into words even if you’d tried because it would have sublimated the vast emptiness of the experience.
The great thing about this book is that it brings you those moments through the experience of the main character, Jess. But, instead of sublimating or lessening the impact of those things by explaining them as they happen, they are amplified (which I guess is what great writing achieves). By being inside Jess’s mind, you were constantly itched at like her thoughts were a scratchy wool sweater. You contemplate the unknowability of people both in terms of sheer quantity and in terms of interpersonal interactions.
I loved this book. It had a cutting darkness that made for a great read and had some great things to say about our country and its state of affairs as well as the state of affairs you are embroiled in as you personally navigate it – particularly if you are or were an insecure, self-conscious teenage girl. It also puts into perspective our triviality which helps with taking oneself too seriously. The most impactful of moments is presented so matter of factly that we are reminded of how fast everything happens (particularly when you’re young) and how brief life is (all the time). I would suggest everyone in the world read this book. I didn’t want it to end. It held me in its palm the whole way through.
Pulling you into the car and taking you along for the cross-country road trip into the “rapture”, this book is so well-written and insightful it stings. It covers you and you remember all of the lonely feelings you had when you were growing up, all the moments you couldn’t have put into words even if you’d tried because it would have sublimated the vast emptiness of the experience.
The great thing about this book is that it brings you those moments through the experience of the main character, Jess. But, instead of sublimating or lessening the impact of those things by explaining them as they happen, they are amplified (which I guess is what great writing achieves). By being inside Jess’s mind, you were constantly itched at like her thoughts were a scratchy wool sweater. You contemplate the unknowability of people both in terms of sheer quantity and in terms of interpersonal interactions.
I loved this book. It had a cutting darkness that made for a great read and had some great things to say about our country and its state of affairs as well as the state of affairs you are embroiled in as you personally navigate it – particularly if you are or were an insecure, self-conscious teenage girl. It also puts into perspective our triviality which helps with taking oneself too seriously. The most impactful of moments is presented so matter of factly that we are reminded of how fast everything happens (particularly when you’re young) and how brief life is (all the time). I would suggest everyone in the world read this book. I didn’t want it to end. It held me in its palm the whole way through.
July 26, 2018
Romanzo di formazione e romanzo di strada, l’aspetto più interessante è quello della prospettiva da cui viene raccontato il viaggio della famiglia di Jess dall’Alabama alla California, per annunciare che la fine del mondo è arrivata e la Seconda Venuta accadrà, ora e qui. Ovvero là e in un domani che non sorgerà.
La narrazione, stralunata e perciò sempre un po’ straniante, è affidata alla quindicenne Jess che durante il lungo viaggio si misura con tutti i suoi diversi problemi di adolescente e di supposta credente. Il personaggio centrale, insieme a lei, è la sorella avvenente, Elise, che a diciassette anni e all’insaputa della famiglia, è incinta e sufficientemente consapevole da opporre la sua volontà a quella del tenace padre e della rassegnata (ma solidale) madre.
Il viaggio sarà un’occasione per crescere, riflettere, farsi una propria idea del mondo e di sé, esserci e riconoscere il proprio diritto a esserci, sperimentare le emozioni, il sesso, i sentimenti, accettarsi almeno un poco, cominciare ad allontanarsi dalla famiglia di origine senza per questo smettere di amarla.
Una voce fresca e originale quella di Mary Miller, che ci fa conoscere un altro pezzetto di America.
La narrazione, stralunata e perciò sempre un po’ straniante, è affidata alla quindicenne Jess che durante il lungo viaggio si misura con tutti i suoi diversi problemi di adolescente e di supposta credente. Il personaggio centrale, insieme a lei, è la sorella avvenente, Elise, che a diciassette anni e all’insaputa della famiglia, è incinta e sufficientemente consapevole da opporre la sua volontà a quella del tenace padre e della rassegnata (ma solidale) madre.
Il viaggio sarà un’occasione per crescere, riflettere, farsi una propria idea del mondo e di sé, esserci e riconoscere il proprio diritto a esserci, sperimentare le emozioni, il sesso, i sentimenti, accettarsi almeno un poco, cominciare ad allontanarsi dalla famiglia di origine senza per questo smettere di amarla.
Una voce fresca e originale quella di Mary Miller, che ci fa conoscere un altro pezzetto di America.
February 10, 2014
2.5 stars. Reading this right after Robert Penn Warren's 'All the King's Men' does Miller no favours unfortunately. This coming-of-age meets road-trip novel is competently and engagingly written but does nothing I haven't read many times before and lacks anything to really get your teeth into. It's humourous though not laugh-out-loud funny, the two teenagers are convincing and their verbal sparring is often delightful, but the constant references to Burger Kings and Taco Bells (comforting because you always know exactly what the food will be like and where the bathrooms will be) soon becomes wearing once Miller has exhausted the possibilities for comment on American culture. It is perhaps telling that in a novel where the road trip's destination is California, the characters never arrive: yes, "the journey" teaches narrator Jess more about herself than the destination, but this is a novel that ultimately goes nowhere. Perhaps the novel is intended as a version of the kind of foods the family consume (in seemingly huge quantities!) on their journey: enjoyable, quickly consumed, but lacking substance.
November 18, 2014
One of the truths of parenthood is that long car drives with your teenage children can be a trial or a revelation. Often the only time parents can get their kids to talk, is when they are away from the TV, friends, and especially if cell phone reception is sketchy (yay I-90 through the Catskills!).
Jess and her evangelical family are driving to California to await the end of days. This is the ultimate road trip. In their cramped car family issues come bursting out. Some secrets are laid bare, some hidden forever, some fears are faced, some left to haunt another day. Despite the religious backstory the issues Jess and her family struggle with are familiar. Her older, prettier sister is in trouble, her father has put their family in yet another precarious situation. Jess herself is having a mini crisis of faith. As they stop at motels along the way the sisters test their parents' rules; do they still apply if the world is going to end in a few days? Should they worry about calories? Does that cute boy really like me? Why haven't any of my friends texted me?
The juxtaposition of the day to day worries of a teenager against the belief that the world might be coming to an end heighten the immediacy and single mindedness of the teenage brain. Decisions are made, will Jess have to live with them? Will she regret them?
Some scenes were almost painful as I watched Jess throw herself into situations that a naive teenager would/could. I wanted to barge in and intervene, but had to read on and passively follow her journey. This was a quick and thought provoking read! Great material for a book club!
Jess and her evangelical family are driving to California to await the end of days. This is the ultimate road trip. In their cramped car family issues come bursting out. Some secrets are laid bare, some hidden forever, some fears are faced, some left to haunt another day. Despite the religious backstory the issues Jess and her family struggle with are familiar. Her older, prettier sister is in trouble, her father has put their family in yet another precarious situation. Jess herself is having a mini crisis of faith. As they stop at motels along the way the sisters test their parents' rules; do they still apply if the world is going to end in a few days? Should they worry about calories? Does that cute boy really like me? Why haven't any of my friends texted me?
The juxtaposition of the day to day worries of a teenager against the belief that the world might be coming to an end heighten the immediacy and single mindedness of the teenage brain. Decisions are made, will Jess have to live with them? Will she regret them?
Some scenes were almost painful as I watched Jess throw herself into situations that a naive teenager would/could. I wanted to barge in and intervene, but had to read on and passively follow her journey. This was a quick and thought provoking read! Great material for a book club!
March 3, 2014
The Metcalfs are a family of religious fundamentalist who believe that The Rapture is going to occur and the end of the world is imminent. This is a story told from the youngest, 15 year old Jess’s prospective. It’s a coming of age story, which takes place as the Metcalfs are on a road trip to California to experience The Rapture. Jess’s prettier and older sister, Elise, is not a believer and challenges her parents every chance she gets. Elise is fodder for Jess’s rumination and teen angst. Jess really wants to believe, but realizes she’s finding this faith business difficult to reconcile with her logical feelings. Jess is trying to find her place in the world and in her family. What makes this novel readable is Jess’s observations while on the road trip. She examines her mother and father’s relationship. She sees regular people and ponders their lives. She questions aspects of religion and God. Jess’s observations are funny and sometimes sad. It’s a quick read.
September 27, 2013
Mary Miller has written a world that is simultaneously foreign and disturbingly familiar. 15 year old Jess, is the perfect narrator to observe and provide commentary on a cross-country road trip, an entire family in hot pursuit of salvation. Like most teenage girls raised in religious conservative families, Jess is consumed with thoughts of boys, God, family, and a body that is both desperately disappointing and eager to explore. This is a book about love in its truest form, the way wanting it can make you tight with numb, and the way you find relief in the least expected places.
April 24, 2017
Not much happens in this book. A family travel to California by car for the rapture, when they will all be saved. It's the voice of Jess - the fifteen year old daughter - that makes it wonderful, and the tiny observations she makes along the way that rang so true. It's a coming of age story where Jess eats her way through the fast food restaurants of America. It's witty, and funny, and kind of sad and lonely too. Highly recommended.
July 29, 2017
I will read whatever Ms. Miller writes. In a world that feels shitty a lot, stories about real people navigating America are so very important.
It's like pulling up a sheet and seeing what's under it, both good and bad.
It's like pulling up a sheet and seeing what's under it, both good and bad.
April 20, 2015
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. My sister will tell you that one of the most harrowing things about our childhood was living under the constant threat of rapture. My mom was wildly religious and had us jumpy as all get out. Imagine my sister at nine, terrified that her life was going to end at any moment. Thus, the premise of this book had the opportunity to hit close to home for me, but it doesn't because clearly no one in this family truly believes that the rapture is possible. It's like the author doesn't personally know any religious fundamentalists, or the members of her fictional family are intentionally bad examples. Flannery O'Connor, whose story "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" is directly referenced, got this in that she wrote about faith and its foibles honestly. In Miller's book, it's just window dressing.
If you strip belief out of the story, then what you're left with is a coming-of-age road trip with a mildly quirky premise, which is cute, but has been done to death. There's just nothing to hold this book together into anything that matters. In fact, it was so forgettable that two days after I finished it I could remember that I had to write a review, but not what book I had read--it had already been fully submerged under the content of two other books I'm reading at the moment. There's nothing to make this book stand out in the coming of age genre, and I really don't recommend it.
If you strip belief out of the story, then what you're left with is a coming-of-age road trip with a mildly quirky premise, which is cute, but has been done to death. There's just nothing to hold this book together into anything that matters. In fact, it was so forgettable that two days after I finished it I could remember that I had to write a review, but not what book I had read--it had already been fully submerged under the content of two other books I'm reading at the moment. There's nothing to make this book stand out in the coming of age genre, and I really don't recommend it.
June 30, 2014
The Last Days of California opens with the Metcalfs on a road trip from their home in Alabama to California. They are headed there for the rapture and have a huge supply of religious tracts in the trunk so they can spread the word at rest areas and gas stations as they travel across the country.
This is Jess’s story. Fifteen-year old Jess has a voice that is quiet at first. As they story goes on, though, we get a balanced and engaging combination of ugly truths, poetic observations, and resonant introspection. Jess is maybe one of the best young narrators I’ve ever read: her voice does not hit you over the head; it starts like a small circle, then builds out to a much larger ones, like when you toss a rock in water.
Miller’s depiction of the relationship between Jess and her sister Elise, is probably my favorite aspect of this book. The two sisters definitely have very different personalities, but they never fall into static types or caricatures. They take turns being nurturing, taking care of one another, and falling apart. I would say the depiction of the sisters’ relationship is pretty much flawless. There is a lot to admire about this novel and the author’s writing. I am looking forward to reading Big World, Mary Miller’s short story collection.
This is Jess’s story. Fifteen-year old Jess has a voice that is quiet at first. As they story goes on, though, we get a balanced and engaging combination of ugly truths, poetic observations, and resonant introspection. Jess is maybe one of the best young narrators I’ve ever read: her voice does not hit you over the head; it starts like a small circle, then builds out to a much larger ones, like when you toss a rock in water.
Miller’s depiction of the relationship between Jess and her sister Elise, is probably my favorite aspect of this book. The two sisters definitely have very different personalities, but they never fall into static types or caricatures. They take turns being nurturing, taking care of one another, and falling apart. I would say the depiction of the sisters’ relationship is pretty much flawless. There is a lot to admire about this novel and the author’s writing. I am looking forward to reading Big World, Mary Miller’s short story collection.
June 3, 2014
Maybe 3.5. There's so much to love in this southern, dysfunctional, road-trip novel. It's a great premise -- a family trapped in the car together as they drive from Alabama toward California to witness the rapture, which is scheduled for Saturday. The narrator is a 15 year-old girl, insecure in comparison to her bombshell sister and in search of life's meaning before it all ends.
Religious fervor. Coming of age. Sexual awakening. Family drama. These are all components I love, but it never quite came together.
The threads of this story could have been like the novels of Wiley Cash or Kevin Wilson, but it pales in comparison.
Religious fervor. Coming of age. Sexual awakening. Family drama. These are all components I love, but it never quite came together.
The threads of this story could have been like the novels of Wiley Cash or Kevin Wilson, but it pales in comparison.
September 17, 2013
I have no doubt this novel will make a huge splash in 2014. I feel tremendously grateful to have received an advance this early. Mary Miller is brilliant and this is an important, thoughtful, and strange novel I will revisit frequently.
December 9, 2014
The Short of It:
Probably one of the best coming-of-age novels I’ve read in a long while.
The Rest of It:
Fourteen-year-old Jess and her family, including her older, pregnant sister Elise, set out from Alabama to California right before the Rapture. Their mission? To save as many souls along the way as possible. As they travel from town to town, handing out their pamphlets to anyone who will take them, it becomes obvious to the girls that their father has lost his job (again) and that there really isn’t money for a trip across the country. Plus, the parents are clueless about their own daughter’s pregnancy and Jess finds herself in a position to protect her sister’s secret for as long as possible.
I loved this family. For all of their faults, they are a family in the biggest sense of the word. As they head out on this road trip, it’s clear that things are at stake. Life, as they know it could be changed forever after the Rapture but Jess and Elise are not convinced of that. They want to believe, but at the same time, they have their doubts.
Because of these doubts, they test the waters a bit. Hanging out with boys, drinking and smoking and basically experimenting as kids are known to do. But what makes it different for them is that they don’t know if the world will exist by the time they get to California. Will they be one of the saved ones? As they stop along the way, they meet people and have experiences that change who they are and in the process, they come to terms with their beliefs.
Books can be such a personal thing but I LOVED this book. I loved the family, the girls (with all of their faults) and the road trip, yes… I love road trips and reading this book was like jumping in the car and taking off for an adventure. I could easily have been their long-lost cousin hiding in the trunk. I FELT as if I was with them every time they stopped for gas and horribly processed snack foods. And every time they jumped into a motel pool, I could literally smell the chlorine.
This was such a great read. It gave me a lot to think about and it took me out of my world and right into theirs. I read it in just a couple of sittings and if you are worried about the religious parts, don’t. It’s not heavy-handed in any way. As Jess contemplates life, you can’t help but fall in love with her as a person.
To truly appreciate it, you must read it for yourself. I’m sure it will be on my list of favorites for 2014.
For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter.
Probably one of the best coming-of-age novels I’ve read in a long while.
The Rest of It:
Fourteen-year-old Jess and her family, including her older, pregnant sister Elise, set out from Alabama to California right before the Rapture. Their mission? To save as many souls along the way as possible. As they travel from town to town, handing out their pamphlets to anyone who will take them, it becomes obvious to the girls that their father has lost his job (again) and that there really isn’t money for a trip across the country. Plus, the parents are clueless about their own daughter’s pregnancy and Jess finds herself in a position to protect her sister’s secret for as long as possible.
I loved this family. For all of their faults, they are a family in the biggest sense of the word. As they head out on this road trip, it’s clear that things are at stake. Life, as they know it could be changed forever after the Rapture but Jess and Elise are not convinced of that. They want to believe, but at the same time, they have their doubts.
Because of these doubts, they test the waters a bit. Hanging out with boys, drinking and smoking and basically experimenting as kids are known to do. But what makes it different for them is that they don’t know if the world will exist by the time they get to California. Will they be one of the saved ones? As they stop along the way, they meet people and have experiences that change who they are and in the process, they come to terms with their beliefs.
Books can be such a personal thing but I LOVED this book. I loved the family, the girls (with all of their faults) and the road trip, yes… I love road trips and reading this book was like jumping in the car and taking off for an adventure. I could easily have been their long-lost cousin hiding in the trunk. I FELT as if I was with them every time they stopped for gas and horribly processed snack foods. And every time they jumped into a motel pool, I could literally smell the chlorine.
This was such a great read. It gave me a lot to think about and it took me out of my world and right into theirs. I read it in just a couple of sittings and if you are worried about the religious parts, don’t. It’s not heavy-handed in any way. As Jess contemplates life, you can’t help but fall in love with her as a person.
To truly appreciate it, you must read it for yourself. I’m sure it will be on my list of favorites for 2014.
For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter.
March 8, 2014
Jess at 14 is a witty observer as her father packs up the family and leaves on a road trip from Montgomery, Alabama with the intention of moving to California, saving as many souls as possible on the way.
Along the way they meet many strange characters but my favorite part of this book is their trip across America, the diners, restaurants, the food and scenery all commented on our tour guide, Jess. The reader watched as she slowly changed from naïve girl, believing what her father preaches, to a questioning young adult that realizes some of what she told just does not make much sense.
An interesting look at a family, what components make up a family and how sometimes one just doesn't see the obvious.
Along the way they meet many strange characters but my favorite part of this book is their trip across America, the diners, restaurants, the food and scenery all commented on our tour guide, Jess. The reader watched as she slowly changed from naïve girl, believing what her father preaches, to a questioning young adult that realizes some of what she told just does not make much sense.
An interesting look at a family, what components make up a family and how sometimes one just doesn't see the obvious.
May 5, 2014
Miller takes her talents for writing vivid hard-hitting stories and crafts a lovely meditation on a religiously burdened family driving to California for the rapture. The teen narrator is a fantastic combination of eager energy and resigned melancholy. Some readers may find the story slow in parts but I loved the dreamlike backseat quality of how it all unfolds with the sweet and tough resonance that Mary Miller's writing is known for.
January 29, 2014
Here's my review at the L.A. Review of Books: http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/get...
February 15, 2015
Lyrical, dreamy, and achingly real. A gorgeous novel.
October 7, 2015
its a book so perfect, i'd like to write one like this someday :)
February 6, 2014
Fifteen-year-old Jess and her family have left their home in Montgomery, Alabama, and are driving to California, with the plan to arrive before the Rapture. Along the way, they are committed to saving as many souls as they can—Jess' father wants her and her older sister, Elise, to hand out as many tracts as they can every time they stop at gas stations, fast food restaurants, motels, and the occasional casino. Despite the special and sacred nature of their pilgrimage, this car trip is like one many families experience—Jess and Elise squabble over space in the backseat, their long-suffering mother just wants to read and relax in peace, and their father refuses to use a GPS because he doesn't like machines to tell him what to do.
Other than their father, it doesn't appear that anyone in their family truly believes that the Rapture will actually happen. Elise, who is secretly pregnant, hopes in many ways that it does come, so she won't have to live with the disclosure of her secret. And Jess isn't sure what she believes, about being saved, or anything else for that matter.
"That was my problem—I had no imagination—I couldn't imagine anything other than what I knew. The way time functioned, for example. Minutes. Waiting. How long a day could be. My biggest fear was that things would go on forever and there would never be any end. The idea of forever terrified me, even if we were in heaven and everything was great there."
As her family makes their way across the country, Jess confronts her insecurity with her looks and her body, and her simultaneous envy and relief that guys stare at Elise and not her. She desperately wants something to happen in her life—she wants more meaningful friendships, she wants to fall in love—but in her heart she knows she might not be as ready for these things as she thinks she is. She says, "I didn't know how I could want things so badly while making it impossible to ever get them."
Jess also watches as her parents struggle with their own relationship, with their father's inability to hold a job, their fears about money, and with Elise's erratic behavior. They also struggle with the question of whether the trip will ultimately end in the Rapture, and what will become of their lives if it doesn't occur. Elise can't face the reality of her situation, and isn't sure whether she should keep using her looks to get her the attention she craves. Jess wants things in her family, and their relationships, to remain the same.
"If I wasn't the good daughter, I wouldn't know what I was. I wasn't popular or a cheerleader or a straight A student. ... There were so many things I wasn't that I had difficulty defining myself, especially in relation to Elise, who was so many things."
Mary Miller really told an interesting story, and I found both Jess and Elise's characters to be very dynamic—you knew there was more about them than you first saw. I wasn't sure where the plot would go, and I like the way that Miller ended things, but I thought this was a compelling exploration of how you learn to trust what you know rather than what you're told, and how complicated it can be to find yourself and become comfortable with who you are. This was a really quick read; I read nearly the entire book in about a day.
Other than their father, it doesn't appear that anyone in their family truly believes that the Rapture will actually happen. Elise, who is secretly pregnant, hopes in many ways that it does come, so she won't have to live with the disclosure of her secret. And Jess isn't sure what she believes, about being saved, or anything else for that matter.
"That was my problem—I had no imagination—I couldn't imagine anything other than what I knew. The way time functioned, for example. Minutes. Waiting. How long a day could be. My biggest fear was that things would go on forever and there would never be any end. The idea of forever terrified me, even if we were in heaven and everything was great there."
As her family makes their way across the country, Jess confronts her insecurity with her looks and her body, and her simultaneous envy and relief that guys stare at Elise and not her. She desperately wants something to happen in her life—she wants more meaningful friendships, she wants to fall in love—but in her heart she knows she might not be as ready for these things as she thinks she is. She says, "I didn't know how I could want things so badly while making it impossible to ever get them."
Jess also watches as her parents struggle with their own relationship, with their father's inability to hold a job, their fears about money, and with Elise's erratic behavior. They also struggle with the question of whether the trip will ultimately end in the Rapture, and what will become of their lives if it doesn't occur. Elise can't face the reality of her situation, and isn't sure whether she should keep using her looks to get her the attention she craves. Jess wants things in her family, and their relationships, to remain the same.
"If I wasn't the good daughter, I wouldn't know what I was. I wasn't popular or a cheerleader or a straight A student. ... There were so many things I wasn't that I had difficulty defining myself, especially in relation to Elise, who was so many things."
Mary Miller really told an interesting story, and I found both Jess and Elise's characters to be very dynamic—you knew there was more about them than you first saw. I wasn't sure where the plot would go, and I like the way that Miller ended things, but I thought this was a compelling exploration of how you learn to trust what you know rather than what you're told, and how complicated it can be to find yourself and become comfortable with who you are. This was a really quick read; I read nearly the entire book in about a day.
May 31, 2022
I love a good road trip book. Throw in a little religious goofiness, and some rebellion and dig in for the fun. Short book, quick read, really great characters (the sisters anyway) and it felt so real. I thought the author did an amazing job conveying family dynamic.
March 12, 2014
In short, I absolutely loved this novel.
In fact, it brought me to tears (no crying, just sharp, sudden tears) no less than seven times, and for me that's ridiculously impressive.
I won't delve too deeply into the plot, but I'll say this: after reading some of the reviews, it's clear this novel's style might not be comforting or eye-opening for all. It features abrupt and brusque thinking, a narrator that sees the world in shades of grey, though wishes for color. It is sad. It doesn't offer us a perfectly happy ending. By the end of the novel, no one has improved at all.
However, Miller has done something with her writing that I'm shocked to see most long-term novelists just cannot accomplish. She has given her characters depth. She has given her characters dimension. Not just the main characters, but every single dog and human we meet (hotel dwellers, hookers, pastors, oh my!) has nine and ten sides, they are not shoved into the "good" category and they are not shoved into the "bad." Like real humans, Miller's characters have layers, they breathe to life on the page.
I underlined close to 40 lines, all of them heartbreaking, all of them true. Jess is young and wants to be beautiful, and for once, we have a character that does not resent the beauty of those that possess it. She simultaneously hates her parents and wishes she could smother them with a love she has no idea how to translate. Jess's thoughts are fascinating and pure:
"The dog looked at me and I looked at him and I had that feeling I got sometimes with dogs and babies, like they could see that I was bad, like they were waiting for me to lift my hand into the air and bring it down hard."
Who in the world can't relate to this? That serrated churning when you stare into the knowing eyes of a baby too long, the feeling they know you better than your longest friend.
The book is speckled with perfect lines like this, and it is one of the best books I have read in so long, and I am so grateful for deciding to give it a chance.
I will admit (SPOILERS) the ending, after feeling full throughout the whole book, will leave you a little empty and disappointed. Elisa's miscarriage is also oddly vague, and I thought it could have been handled better. These two issues still did not ruin my experience of this novel.
Read this book, read it now.
In fact, it brought me to tears (no crying, just sharp, sudden tears) no less than seven times, and for me that's ridiculously impressive.
I won't delve too deeply into the plot, but I'll say this: after reading some of the reviews, it's clear this novel's style might not be comforting or eye-opening for all. It features abrupt and brusque thinking, a narrator that sees the world in shades of grey, though wishes for color. It is sad. It doesn't offer us a perfectly happy ending. By the end of the novel, no one has improved at all.
However, Miller has done something with her writing that I'm shocked to see most long-term novelists just cannot accomplish. She has given her characters depth. She has given her characters dimension. Not just the main characters, but every single dog and human we meet (hotel dwellers, hookers, pastors, oh my!) has nine and ten sides, they are not shoved into the "good" category and they are not shoved into the "bad." Like real humans, Miller's characters have layers, they breathe to life on the page.
I underlined close to 40 lines, all of them heartbreaking, all of them true. Jess is young and wants to be beautiful, and for once, we have a character that does not resent the beauty of those that possess it. She simultaneously hates her parents and wishes she could smother them with a love she has no idea how to translate. Jess's thoughts are fascinating and pure:
"The dog looked at me and I looked at him and I had that feeling I got sometimes with dogs and babies, like they could see that I was bad, like they were waiting for me to lift my hand into the air and bring it down hard."
Who in the world can't relate to this? That serrated churning when you stare into the knowing eyes of a baby too long, the feeling they know you better than your longest friend.
The book is speckled with perfect lines like this, and it is one of the best books I have read in so long, and I am so grateful for deciding to give it a chance.
I will admit (SPOILERS) the ending, after feeling full throughout the whole book, will leave you a little empty and disappointed. Elisa's miscarriage is also oddly vague, and I thought it could have been handled better. These two issues still did not ruin my experience of this novel.
Read this book, read it now.
October 26, 2014
I loved the narrative voice given to Jess, and the immediacy of her story, where every moment is painted with vivid detail. Miller's dry, sometimes sardonic sense of humor gives the story just enough of an edge, and the four family members trapped in the sardine can car on a road trip to witness the Rapture in California, keep tensions simmering and nearly ready to boil. And yet the sisters' conflicts are never predictable and the parents are never the cardboard antagonists they could easily have become. We develop sympathy for the mother and the father's weaknesses and inconsistencies, even as we get to know the two sisters through their rebellions: arguments about wearing their King Jesus t-shirts and misadventures with the boys they meet along the road. If anything, I might like to see a little more resolution of the issues of underage drinking, date rape, and teen pregnancy. The issues are there and portrayed realistically, but never quite acknowledged by the characters or resolved, though a full resolution might be too much to ask of the 15-year-old narrator. We are left with haunting questions that make this so much more than the typical road-trip novel. The changing relationship between the two sisters, and their understanding of their parents' humanity provide the heart of a story that will remain with you long after the road trip ends.
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