Book Review: Vivian Apple at the End of the World by Katie Coyle

Seventeen-year-old Vivian Apple never believed in the evangelical Church of America, unlike her recently devout parents. But when Vivian returns home the night after the supposed “Rapture,” all that’s left of her parents are two holes in the roof. Suddenly, she doesn’t know who or what to believe. With her best friend Harp and a mysterious ally, Peter, Vivian embarks on a desperate cross-country roadtrip through a paranoid and panic-stricken America to find answers. Because at the end of the world, Vivan Apple isn’t looking for a savior. She’s looking for the truth.

Vivian Apple at the End of the World, previously released in the UK as Vivian Versus The Apocalypse, explores religious insanity, the ties that bind us, and humanity’s varying reactions when the end of the world is nigh.

On the night of the predicted Rapture, a few hundred believers go missing, leaving human shaped holes in the ceiling and no further traces of their whereabouts. Vivian, who doesn’t share her parent’s fervent religiosity, wakes up to find her parents are part of the missing, and ends up on what is essentially a pre-apocalyptic roadtrip on a quest for answers.

There is no real sense of urgency in the beginning – indeed, there’s almost a hazy, dream-like quality to the early chapters. However, this isn’t a criticism – it reminds me of how time seems to slow down when something bad is happening, and how nothing feels real.

I love how the author took very real digs at the concept of controlling, capitalist religious groups preaching doomsday – Coyle’s Church of America is so exaggerated as to be funny, but upon closer examination, isn’t so far off from many religious sects that exist today. The church sells a special range of branded products,  boycotts critical media, implements a strict dress code whereby women must be covered up from collarbones to ankles, and generally abhors homosexuals, non-believers, and women who refuse to be subservient.

Some of the worldbuilding was a bit lacking – the increase in extreme natural disasters and violence, for example, that led to the dire end of the world predictions – how did this come about? What was the catalyst? You can’t just say it’s so without any plausible explanation.

I can forgive the lack of detail in this instance, however, because Vivian Apple at the End of the World is more of a character-driven novel, not an action-packed dystopia. It’s about how Vivian navigates the very real possibility of the end of the world, not about the impending apocalypse itself.

The novel takes a hard look at what makes us ‘good’ and worthy of being saved – and comes to the decisive conclusion that it’s not religious affiliation than maketh the man, so to speak.

“The way we live our lives is not sustainable. I don’t just mean recycling and turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth. I mean the way we treat each other. The way we pick and choose whose lives are important – who we actually treat as human. There is nobody on this earth whose life is not of value. And that includes those of us who have been left behind. Maybe they did go to some Christian heaven. But what I’m saying is, we’re good people too. We’re worthwhile people. I’d vouch for every last one of you.”

Vivian as a character is fairly likeable – while she makes some questionable decisions, there aren’t many rational options left when your days are numbered – you can pretend normalcy, sit and wait to die, or really go all out. While I admired Vivian’s strength of character in not following the cult religion just to please her parents or make her life easier, I found her somewhat lacking of empathy towards others, letting her emotions get the better of her.

All in all, an unsettling but intriguing look at doomsday cults, questionable parents and the connections you make in dire circumstances.

Rating: 7/10