Review: The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza

The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"We're bobbin' along in our barrel
Some of us tip right over the edge
But there's one thing really mystifyin'
Got me laughin', now it's got me cryin'
All my life I will be testifyin'
Till I know..."
-Andy Partridge, "I Wonder Why The Wonderfalls"

Seriously, I still find it very hard to believe Shaun David Hutchinson never saw Wonderfalls, not after he wrote this book that feels like the closest thing to a YA equivalent there will ever be. A little bit of Joan of Arc (with sarcastically mouthy inanimate objects), a little bit of Jesus and the Virgin Mary (but don't ever call Elena "Mary," she hates that), and a little bit of current-America political critique (the ways Hutchinson, through his characters, makes a mockery of Der Fuehrer Drumpf must be seen to be believed.)

As is usual for Hutchinson's books (I'm particularly looking at We Are the Ants and At the Edge of the Universe here), it's a Florida-set story, largely contemporary but with genre trappings that grow ever more prominent over the course of the book. Elena may not be a gay teen boy, but she's still certifiably queer (bi, to be precise) and, like Hutchinson's last two boy MC's, has a certain amount of family trouble to be going on with. The cast in general is wonderfully diverse, with numerous races and sexualities represented and included. Bear in mind that yes, there is an instance of a trans girl being deadnamed - and since she never even shows up anywhere else other than this one mention, it's as problematic as you would think.

Then again, though, I also see it as just another sign of Hutchinson recognizing that everyone's problematic in some way or another, and it's not the only thing worth calling out among the cast in this book. Eschatology may be a major theme in this book, but it's not alone, not when it's in company with dissections of toxic masculinity - such as Javi's story arc, in which he falls back on a lot of his immature and entitled ways at first, but eventually does accept that he and Elena will never be a couple again. Also, the backstory of David Combs, the boy whose attempt to kill Elena's love interest Freddie sparks the whole plot. It reminds me a lot of discussions I've seen lately re: school shooters (such as Nicholas Cruz and the Columbine killers), challenging the suggestion that bullying them turned them rotten because too many have leaped from that suggestion to more toxic ones like, say, women having to give (fragile, white) men love just to prevent them going off the deep end.

As with Hutchinson's previous entries, it's pretty morally grey and leaves no easy answers.

I can tell you, though, it's for sure a far more satisfying ending than Ants or Universe, especially because, again, of that cheeky and on-point little allusion to Trump. It got a real laugh out of my friend at work this morning when I mentioned it to her.

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