Armageddon summer

by Jane Yolen

Other authorsBruce Coville

Hardcover, 1998

Status

Coming Soon

Call number

FIC YOL

Collection

Teen Books

Genres

Young Adult

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

San Diego, Calif. : Harcourt Brace, c1998.

Description

Fourteen-year-old Marina and sixteen-year-old Jed accompany their parents' religious cult, the Believers, to await the end of the world atop a remote mountain, where they try to decide what they themselves believe.

User reviews

LibraryThing member sara_k

Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville is a quick look at how adults' religious choices can affect their children and how teens can assess those choices to find their own ways and beliefs.

Jed's father is a Believer. He became a Believer after his wife ran off with a photographer and

alchohol did not fill the void left behind.

Marina's mom is a Believer. She has taken her 5 children firmly with her into Believing even though her husband resisted and has been left behind.

The rigid quidelines of Reverend Beelson's church appeal to both adults. So many choices are just not needed when the strict restrictions are in place for the congregation. Reverend Beelson doesn't just know The Way; he knows The Day. July 27th is the day of armageddon so the Reverend has gathered 144 Believers and they have made their way to the top of a mountain to wait for the new world.

Jed and MArina have chosen to be with their parents but are not sure about their own beliefs. Is Reverend Bleeson right about the necessity of having every one and every thing below the barrier killed? What kind of God is that anyway? There is some consolation in thinking that after the set date either nobody will care or else the worst the children will face is knowing that the adults were wrong and look foolish.

In the camp, the realities of a post-apocolypse world start to filter in. Marina struggles to make friends with girls who are so different from herself and with whom she cannot seem to make a connection. Jed worries about the electric fence and the desperation of the family members turned away from the gate. They are both shocked to learn of the plans for breeding which do not include personal decisions.

Marina and Jed are unsure of each other but start to develop a close relationship despite the anger of Marina's mother. Their trust is tested when The Day arrives and things go horribly wrong in a way that neither of them had ever imagined.

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LibraryThing member Aerrin99

A short but powerful novel about two teens caught up in their parents' cult involvement in the year of the millennium, when they believe the world is going to end and climb a mountain in preparation to be saved.

This book does a wonderful job of capturing all the uncertainties of being a teenager -

how fast things happen, how deep they feel, how it is both confusing and exhilarating to balance in that place between child and adulthood, between carefree and responsible. Most especially, it captures that moment when you start to think about a world bigger than yourself and what your parents have taught you. When you start to doubt - to doubt what you believe, to doubt your parents' infallibility, to doubt the existence of easy answers in the world. To doubt whether you want to doubt, or whether it is better, easier, safer to wrap yourself in belief.

I was a little wary going into this to see how Yolen and Coville handle the ultra-religious, but I'm pleased to say that the answer is 'deftly'. The variety of characters gives a variety of viewpoints. Our two main characters - Marina, who believes, and Jed, who doesn't - struggle with the complexities of who they are, what they believe, and what it means that the adults in their lives are so fully sold on something the rest of the world things of as crazy.

This book is sold as a romance, and there is that - but Marina and Jed are drawn to each other for bigger reasons, and those reasons are surprisingly fulfilling.

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LibraryThing member ewyatt

This book finds Marina and Jed being brought to the mountain top to prepare for the world with their parents who are Believers, with a capital B. Despite all that is going on around them in terms of faith and the preparations for the end of the world, they manage to find each other to build a

relationship and wonder about questions of faith, religion, and family.

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LibraryThing member snapplechick

This book was interesting. It had an odd plot in my opinion, but that just made it all the better. When two children are taken to the top of a mountain to await the end of the world, they are taken through internal battles that are fascinating and exciting to read about. Over all it is a well

written and thoughtful book. You may also enjoy some other books by Jane Yolen, but she has a wide range of styles and writes about many different topics. I would recommend The Devil's Arithmetic, about the holacaust to anyone.

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LibraryThing member allreb

This was one of the most compelling books I've read in quite some time. I picked it up as soon as I found it; I'd read about it at Coville's website (and he's one of my favorite authors) and was glad to find a copy. I tore through it and finished it in one sitting. Despite the fact that I'm

slightly older than the target audience, it was still very compelling.

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LibraryThing member klp_86

A boy (Jed) and girl (Marina) get dragged to a mountaintop by their parents, there they will wait for the world to end. The two fall in love with each other which is frustrating because the world will end on July 27th. Sometimes I would get a "church camp/cult feel" from the book. It's also neat

because every other chapter is written by the characters. One chapter would be by Jed and the other would be told by Marina.

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LibraryThing member kewpie

Following a cult leader, 144 people go to live on top of a mountain to wait for the earth to be smothered in fire and brimstone. Two teenagers with very different points of view on the situation meet and fall in love. This book takes a difficult subject and makes both sides of the religious debate

believable and sympathetic.

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LibraryThing member anyanwubutler

I started reading this book with my daughter, but it didn't reach her. Wanting to know what was going to happen, and finding myself reading a forgettable magic book, I read most of this wonderful YA yet mature, horror-filled yet very real novel in a few hours. Reverend Beelsen has told his

followers in Boston and Western Massachusetts that the world will end on July 27, 2000. Only the 144 followers who make it to Mt.Weeupcut will be saved. Jed and Marina, the teenage narrators, who become heroes, only come to the mountain to help their crazed parents. Like the Branch Davidians and Jim Jones, the Believers bring on their own apocalypse, perhaps with the help of the FBI. Scary, scary book.

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LibraryThing member MAINEiac4434

Pretty ok, I guess. It all seemed just a little weird, like something was off, throughout the entire book. I dunno. Not my favorite book ever, but not my least favorite, either.

LibraryThing member ZaBu1120

This is an ok book with an ending that I would not really want to happen, the whole story was good though so i might recommend it to a friend.

LibraryThing member gregandlarry

Teenage love and armageddon.

LibraryThing member SaraEllen

Not exactly your typical armageddon book. Told from two different perspectives I was impressed the writers could mesh so well.

LibraryThing member 2wonderY

This is not science fiction or fantasy. It is a treatment of a real world phenomenon of millenialism. And it is done well, with plenty of sensitivity and sympathy for all convictions. An excellent bildungsroman.

LibraryThing member Salsabrarian

Jed and Marina end up camped out on a mountain with their families as they all await Armageddon with their minister. Looks at what beliefs mean, how and why people believe what they do.

LibraryThing member kslade

Pretty good story of two teens, boy and girl, caught up with a religous cult who believe the end of the world will be on a specific date at the end of July. They spend two weeks on a mountaintop in Mass.

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