Title: The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza
Author: Shaun David Hutchinson
Genre: Magical Realism (my best guess, this one’s hard to categorize)
Trigger Warnings: Bullying, blood, gun violence, suicide, suicidal ideation, death of parent, child abuse (mention), toxic relationship
Back Cover:
Sixteen-year-old Elena Mendoza is the product of a virgin birth.
This can be scientifically explained (it’s called parthenogenesis), but what can’t be explained is how Elena is able to heal Freddie, the girl she’s had a crush on for years, from a gunshot wound in a Starbucks parking lot. Or why the boy who shot Freddie, David Combs, disappeared from the same parking lot minutes later after getting sucked up into the clouds. What also can’t be explained are the talking girl on the front of a tampon box, or the reasons that David Combs shot Freddie in the first place.
As more unbelievable things occur, and Elena continues to perform miracles, the only remaining explanation is the least logical of all—that the world is actually coming to an end, and Elena is possibly the only one who can do something about it.
Review:
I picked this up because it was immediately available at the library and a long time ago (I don’t know how long, but I haven’t been on Goodreads in a year and a half) someone I followed on Goodreads had loved it. So I grabbed it, more because it was available than from any strong desire to read it.
Looking at it from the outside I probably shouldn’t have liked it much. It’s very slow, with hardly anything in the way of plot, but I didn’t find the characters strong enough to call it character-driven either. A good seven hours of the nine-hour audiobook is Elena trapped in decision paralysis about whether she should do what the voices want or not. The plot is determined not to give her any information that would assist in that decision to force her to make it herself, which she was expending all her effort to avoid. If there weren’t so many interpersonal things happening between characters, it would have dragged a lot.
The characters do all have good character arcs though, so maybe you could call it character-driven for that. Elena’s love interest Freddie had the strongest arc in my opinion. Elena herself and her best friend also felt like they had some kind of good arc, but I’m not entirely sure I could put into words what it was. Even Elena’s mother and ex-boyfriend got arcs, albeit smaller, simpler ones.
Looking at it from this review, you might think this is a boring book. But weirdly, it’s not. By all rights it should have been – it’s very slow, all Elena’s attempts to learn more about plot-related things are foiled, she spends the vast majority of the book avoiding the one decision she has to make. But somehow, I liked it. Elena was relatable in her fear of making the wrong decision, the complexity of the relationships between characters was good, there was enough magic to satisfy my fantasy love while still having a very contemporary vibe. I can’t really tell you why, but I did enjoy this book.
Bluejay Reads 