Things are better now! I’ve made adjustments. Started new projects. Paid excessive attention to our younger daughter, poor thing.
Still, there are moments when I can’t believe our 15-year-old lives many states away and is figuring out a lot of the important business of life there and not here. I try to remember that I learned a lot of important things as a teenager off premises, even though I lived at home. Mary Miller’s new novel, The Last Days of California, takes me back to those days in sharp, painful, and illuminating ways. You might think twice about reading this book if you feel particularly fearful about what your teenager might try. I’m not kidding; it can be distressing. Do read this book if you want to be transported back to a time in life when everything was still up for serious consideration. It is possible that teenagers are getting a lot of things right, even while they’re getting some things really wrong. They are, by God, asking the right questions.
In The Last Days of California, a family takes a road trip from Alabama to California in order to witness the (predicted) Rapture from the
From The Last Days of California:
“She believes in it [the Rapture],” Elise said, and the boys looked at me with half-smiles.
“I don’t know if I do or not,” I said. “I might be agnostic.” I liked the way it sounded. I took a sip of beer, which tasted a little less awful than it usually did because it was so cold… I wanted to believe. I really wanted to. If the rapture was coming, I hoped our parents’ belief would be enough to get us into heaven, like Noah, whose family had been saved because he was a good man.
Charlie opened opened another beer, placing his empty on the stack. “Every group has its own eschatology,” he said.
“Its own what?” I asked.
He took off his sunglasses so we could see his eyes. “It’s how we deal with death,” he said. “It’s human nature to want to the world to end when we end.”
“Hey girl,” Gabe said, “you want another?”
“Keep ’em coming,” I said….
Keep the novels coming, Mary Miller.
Great
Betsy Wills
Thank you for your encouragement and enthusiasm always, Betsy!
I’m loving reading your posts, Jennifer, and have been bookmarking your recommendations! Congratulations on your new venture!
Sara, you are so kind! It makes me so happy to think of you reading them. I think of such happy days with you. Thank you for your message!