No Parking at the End Times
by Bryan Bliss
Publication: 24th February 2015
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pages: 272
Genre: Contemporary
Age Appropriate: Young Adult
Abigail’s parents have made mistake after mistake, and now they've lost everything. She’s left to decide: Does she still believe in them? Or is it time to believe in herself? Fans of Sara Zarr, David Levithan, and Rainbow Rowell will connect with this moving debut.
Abigail doesn't know how her dad found Brother John. Maybe it was the billboards. Or the radio. What she does know is that he never should have made that first donation. Or the next, or the next. Her parents shouldn't have sold their house. Or packed Abigail and her twin brother, Aaron, into their old van to drive across the country to San Francisco, to be there with Brother John for the "end of the world." Because of course the end didn't come. And now they're living in their van. And Aaron’s disappearing to who-knows-where every night. Their family is falling apart. All Abigail wants is to hold them together, to get them back to the place where things were right. But maybe it’s too big a task for one teenage girl. Bryan Bliss’s thoughtful, literary debut novel is about losing everything—and about what you will do for the people you love.
Abigail doesn't know how her dad found Brother John. Maybe it was the billboards. Or the radio. What she does know is that he never should have made that first donation. Or the next, or the next. Her parents shouldn't have sold their house. Or packed Abigail and her twin brother, Aaron, into their old van to drive across the country to San Francisco, to be there with Brother John for the "end of the world." Because of course the end didn't come. And now they're living in their van. And Aaron’s disappearing to who-knows-where every night. Their family is falling apart. All Abigail wants is to hold them together, to get them back to the place where things were right. But maybe it’s too big a task for one teenage girl. Bryan Bliss’s thoughtful, literary debut novel is about losing everything—and about what you will do for the people you love.
My Thoughts.
No Parking At The End Times was an interesting and intriguing story of a family who's Father sells all of their worldly possessions to make their way from North Carolina to San Francisco to join the congregation of a Brother John whom they donated all their money to and who believes the world is about to end, when that doesn't happen the family find themselves poor and living in their van, having to line up for free food wherever they can, in-between praying and mass with Brother John.Twins Abigail and Aaron are uprooted from everything, Aaron has seen the light and is sullen and angry disappearing most nights for hours at a time, Abigail is also slowly coming to the realisation that all is not right with Brother John and his beliefs, with both of their parents in a way almost brainwashed by him and their faith, Abigail and Aaron will have to find a way to leave their parents and find a way home, and to get back to a normal life.
While I'm hardly what you would call religious, I can understand how anyone can fall for these kind of people who prey on others and their faith.
A quick read that will get you thinking and will give you something different in the YA genre.
I give this 4/5 stars.
Bryan Bliss is the author of No Parking at the End Times. He holds master’s degrees in theology and fiction and – shockingly – found a professional job that allows him to use both of those degrees. His political philosophy degree, however, is still underutilized. His nonfiction has been published in Image Journal, along with various other newspapers, magazines, and blogs. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two children, both of whom wish he wrote books about dragons. Or wizards.
