Recently published, this bildungsroman (coming of age), describes four days in the life of fifteen year old Jess Miller and her seventeen year old sister Elise, as they travel by car, from Alabama, to California, to participate in the Rapture which there born again father is convinced, will take place.
We are part of their family, as they travel West, handing out religious tracks about the end of the world, eating in diners, Mc Donald's, Burger King, Taco Bell, and the like, staying at night in cheap hotels in Louisana, Texas and finally Arizona, where they stay at a Casino's Hotel, the night of the coming Rapture.
The eldest, Elise, is a skeptic, baits the father and his beliefs every chance she gets, in between texting her friends and boyfriends. And she happens to be pregnant, but not sure by whom. The narrator, Jess, wants to believe but is in doubt, wants to experience life, but is filled with guilt about her desires. In the four days, the girls end up meeting numerous guys, at diners and motels, sneaking in to bars and finally, at the Casino hotel where Jess finally loses her virginity. The dialogue is spot on, the characters seem real, the long suffering mom, the rebellious daughter, the out of touch nut case of a Dad, with a good and Jess, listening, not knowing who or what to believe, hungry for life, hoping the Rapture both happens and doesn't. The ending falls a bit flat, though it's hard to come up with one if you are expecting to be raptured. Let's just say things end in Arizona, at the Casino, no big bang, just a slow fizzle, the father reconciled to life, ironically having won a jackpot at the Casino, the daughters having gained knowledge, though experience, some suffering, but they survived to live another day, as did the family. Not a great book but worth reading.
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