No Parking at the End Times

by Bryan Bliss

Overview

Abigail's parents believed the world was going to end. And—of course—it didn't. But they've lost everything anyway. And she must 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's parents never should have made that first donation to that end-of-times preacher. Or the next, or the next. They 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 for the "end of the world." Because now they're living in their van. And Aaron is full of anger, 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 debut novel is about losing everything—and about what you will do for the people you love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062275417
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/24/2015
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	437,760
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Bryan Bliss has worked with teenagers for more than ten years. He holds an MFA from Seattle Pacific University. This is his first novel. He lives with his family in Minneapolis.

Editorial Reviews

12/22/2014
Abigail and her twin brother, Aaron, live in a van in San Francisco, begging for meals from local churches and waiting for the end of the world with their fervently religious father and dutiful mother. After their zealot preacher’s prediction falls short, the teens approach their breaking points, desperate for some semblance of normalcy. The family’s hapless circumstances provide a distinctive backdrop for this contemplative coming-of-age tale, Bliss’s debut. As a homeless teen, Abigail is unfairly and abruptly cast in a parental role when her parents fail to provide the basic necessities, selling their home and giving their money to a man who is little more than a con artist. Bliss’s languidly paced story focuses on Abigail’s internal turmoil as she questions her faith, her parents’ sanity, and her bond with her brother. But there are plenty of external events to push the story forward, from the siblings’ late-night explorations with street kids they befriend to Abigail’s jogs, which serve as much-needed escapes from her claustrophobic existence. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Abigail’s narration is smooth and authentic as she negotiates the complicated blend of anger and love she feels toward her parents.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Bliss’s debut explores family, sacrifice, and the power of everyday faith with a deft and sensitive hand.

Horn Book Magazine

Bliss has worked with teenagers, and it shows—his characters are not stereotypical “teens” but human beings who must face and overcome unique problems. A fine debut.

Minneapolis Star Tribune

This quietly powerful story of a young woman’s quest for deliverance in the face of parental failure, religious disillusionment, and self-doubt moved me deeply. I can’t wait to see what Bryan Bliss does next.

Sara Zarr

Abigail’s parents have sold all of their possessions and left their home in North Carolina to join Brother John as he and his followers prepare for the end times in San Francisco. When the end does not arrive according to Brother John’s prediction, Abigail, her twin brother, and their parents live in the family van, the only possession they have left. The family has to move their van from place to place in San Francisco, searching for places to park for the night. They are living from hand to mouth, never certain from where the next meal might come. Laundry, bathing, and the things Abigail had taken for granted are now things of the past. Abigail begins to lose hope and perhaps her faith. Bliss has beautifully captured the fear and doubt of teens in his debut novel. Abigail and her twin brother, Aaron, argue about how to handle the situation in which they find themselves. The novel manages to avoid stereotypes of the pastor and his believers and offers no easy answers to the questions raised by Abigail and her brother. Reviewer: Teri S. Lesesne; Ages 15 to 18.

VOYA, February 2015 (Vol. 37, No. 6) - Teri S. Lesesne

11/01/2014
Gr 8 Up—This haunting and elegiac tale opens with Abigail and her family living in a van parked on the San Francisco streets. Months earlier, Abby's unemployed father took the family from their North Carolina home to follow "Brother John" across the country to a place where they would all meet the end of days together. The world was due to end at midnight on New Year's Eve. Now it's January, the world did not end, and Abby, her twin brother Aaron, and her parents still have no home. With no school to attend, Abby and Aaron's only escape from the close confines of the van is the predatory self-anointed preacher's "church" (an empty store). The family is often hungry, cold, and dirty—yet do not consider themselves "homeless." Aaron has hooked up with a group of homeless teens who hang out in the park and has begun a secret relationship with Jess, a street-smart girl who left home at 14 when her mother's boyfriend sexually abused her. Abby wants to continue to be the good girl her parents expect and to protect her brother from getting mixed up in dangerous street drama, but most of all, she wants to go home. The protagonist's desperation is palpable. Readers will wait anxiously for something terrible to happen, only to come to the dawning realization that it already has. Bliss offers a stark portrayal of a family lost and a searing perspective on homelessness. An interesting choice for book discussion and recommended for readers of realistic fiction.—Tara Kehoe, New Jersey State Library Talking Book and Braille Center, Trenton

School Library Journal

2014-11-04
Even though the end of the world didn't happen, it still feels like it to Abigail.After the teen's down-and-out parents sell all their possessions in North Carolina and give the money to smarmy Brother John in California—who claims that the end of the world is near—Abigail, her twin brother, Aaron, and her still-trusting parents find themselves homeless, living out of their van in San Francisco. In this debut novel informed more by adult sensibility than teenspeak, Abigail begins to see her parents' manipulation by Brother John and questions her own faith in the world. Aaron, meanwhile, escapes the insanity by sneaking out each evening to meet up with the city's other homeless teens. As Abigail notices her once-close brother's increasing detachment from her and the family, she wrestles with a range of emotions, from jealousy to separation anxiety. Packed with some lovely phrasing, the story has good intentions, but a slow, repetitious plot and a lack of tension will keep it from fully engaging most adolescent readers. A hopeful yet too-tidy ending offers instant resolutions. Thoughtful readers may take interest in Abigail's self-discoveries. (Fiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews