Apocalypse for Beginners by Nicolas Dickner

APOCALYPSE FOR BEGINNERS BY NICOLAS DICKNER

Considering how often I go to the library here in Manchester, ie. on a pretty much weekly basis, I probably ought to have a few more book reviews up here on Moustashie, and yet for some peculiar reason I do not. Hmmmmmmm.... I suppose it's for a number of reasons, including the fact that I tend to read a lot of books years after everyone else has plus the book has to be really good in order to inspire and provoke me to write about it. 'Apocalypse for Beginners' by the Canadian author Nicolas Dickner is one of those books, which I picked up out of curiosity both because of the zesty, bright colours adorning the book cover and the rather intriguing sounding blurb. It looked like a promising read, and as a matter of fact, it was that good that I actually even managed to finish it in three days, so with that, let me tell you a little bit more about it.

Originally written in French but translated marvellously into English by the super talented Lazer Lederhendler, and of course definitely not released in 2015 but instead 2010 (writing current, highly relevant reviews unfortunately doesn't seem to be my forte), this incredibly quirky, gorgeously original, interesting little novel tells the story of Canadian teenagers Hope Randall and Michel Bauermann. Set in Dickner's home town of Rivere-du-Loup in Quebec, Canada, although later branching out to Tokyo, Japan, the story spans the time period of 1989 through to 2001, and as the title suggest focuses primarily on the idea of apocalypses. The novel is narrated in a quirky fashion by Michel, who describes to us in zany but beautiful language his unique close friendship with new girl Hope and the subsequent adventure they embark on, as well providing the third person narrative for Hope's later excursion to Japan. However interestingly, it takes a good three quarters of the novel for us to finally learn Michel's name, which only occurs when his mum calls him dinner one evening. This unique take is slightly annoying at first, as we as readers have no idea who the person telling us the story actually is. However as I progressively read the novel I realised that I actually rather admired Dickner's strange technique, as it allows the attention and intrigue original devoted towards the narrator, to instead be re-aligned towards the baffling character of Hope Randall.

Therefore with the lack of Michel's identity for a significant portion of the book, we are forced to set our sights on getting to know Hope Randall, who along with her bizarre mother Ann descends upon Michel's life and quiet Canadian town like a supernova full of light, excitement, ramen noodles, bundles of gorgeous intelligence, a racing electric mind and a history defined by a continuous series of imaginary apocalypses. The two quickly become close friends, however the beautiful, clever, independent Hope is not all that she seems, with her secret being a rather quirky, incessant family trait  that has marred and troubled her family for years. It involves each Randall being born with an compulsive need to pre-determine and contrive the date of the end of the world (aka. an apocalypse), something that Hope's mother Ann is in the midst of at the beginning of the novel, and subsequently killing themselves when their prediction doesn't come true. It sounds rather peculiar when written down, but it some how seems to make perfect sense in the novel, thanks to the quirky narrative Dickner sets up right from the very first page, which quickly informs us that this story isn't going to be quite like all the others out there.

When Ann's predicted date comes and goes, she signs herself away to a lifetime of alcohol abuse whilst Hope, who unfortunately doesn't manage to avoid inheritance of that pesky little gene, goes on to discover her own date: 17th of July 2001. Whilst initially we see Michel and Hope's relationship return back to some sort of normality, and we see them get ever closer as Michel's evidently deep awe for the magical Hope continues to grow, their friendship quickly re-aligns itself around Hope's personally predicted impending apocalypse, and when a series of fateful signs appear to confirm that Hope's predicted date could be true, the story suddenly takes an unexpected turn. As Hope jets off impulsively to Tokyo Michel is left lonesome in Canada, and although the ending did bug me a little bit at first, I have to say that upon reflection I can conclude that it's actually very cleverly done, with the novel essentially haven given you all the answers the book's ending leaves you grasping for. All you have to do is think hard enough to find them.

'Apocalypse for Beginners' is unlike anything I've ever read before. but I mean that in the absolute best way possible. It's a complete gem of a book written in such a beautiful, zany, literary manner and certainly one you'll never forget. The novel revolves around a completely unique and almost baffling main plot that is carried out by a series of cleverly constructed, truly wonderful characters and all against a back drop of perfectly described scenery, imagery and a wrought out tidal wave of emotion. Furthermore Dickner also cleverly and effectively employs such a wide range of literary devices through out the novel too, truly colouring it as a one of a kind book that's very much in its own league. It's a book that I know will stay with me for a long, long time to come and has quickly entered the list as one of my favourites. It's just fantastic! 

So whether you're into your quirky, unique stories or not, I highly, highly, highly recommend you pick up copy of 'Apocalypse for Beginners' and give it a read and make up your own mind about it (you won't regret it I promise).