Pages

Sunday, September 13, 2015

What secret asian girl is Reading




The Girl Who Slept with God by Val Brelinski.


I don't know if you have to have lived through the 1970's to fully appreciate this book or not but given the detail the author put in, it certainly felt like the time period. From the music to the character's use of Yardley lip gloss, Love's Baby Soft or even the description of sanitary napkin belts, it was clear to me - having used those products myself - that I was in the 70's. When the story takes place is crucial to the plot. Two girls, 17 and 14, Grace and Jory respectively, live with their evangelical elder father and psychologically hindered mother, along with younger sister Frances in Arco, Idaho. The feminist movement had not set foot in this strict but not overly restrictive home, but readers who are used to living in less structured times might be shocked at what these girls have never experienced. Dad, Oren Quanbeck, is also a professor of astronomy at the local college, which, one would think would serve to create conflict but instead validates Oren's already devout belief system. "Science and religion don't have to be mutually exclusive," he insists. While Oren's world is explainable and makes sense to him, Jory is not so sure. Her sister, Grace, has returned from a missionary trip to Mexico pregnant, and convinced she has been chosen to give birth to a divine child of God. The mystery of her conception, whether divine or not, is mostly inconsequential. Here's where religion and the practical world collide, as dealing with the stigma of an unwed teen, the daughter, no less, of a church elder and school professor and doing right by your own child can lead to making unwise choices. 

Pregnant Grace, along with her younger sister Jory, are sent off to live in a nearby town alone with only an elderly neighbor to watch over them. To complicate matters, 14-year old Jory is feeling the teen urges to break rules, push limits and experiment. Cue Grip, a 25-ish loner who drives the creepiest of vehicles, an ice cream truck, and seems to provide friendship and solace to Jory now beset with the trauma of moving to a new school and living with her zealot sister, who refuses to explain her behavior. Jory becomes increasingly disillusioned with her family's religion (Mom is nowhere to be seen, usually off lying down with a headache), her sister's crazy situation, and her dad's inability to see that things are not going to be "all right." Grip provides sanity for her and more importantly, friendship as she navigates her way through a secular school for which she has no proper clothes and feels like she's been living under a rock for the past 10 years. Now she's exposed to situations all teens eventually seem to face: drinking, drugs, betrayal and sex. Can she ever go back to the protected ways of her family or will she choose a life outside of her father's protection? 

Personally, I found this book so engrossing because, while I never experienced the extremes Jory did, there were some parallels to my own life, from the 1969 sea green Chevy Malibu (my sister had one) to the hospital in the book, Good Samaritan, the same name of the hospital where I was born. I like that the story asked hard questions about religious rhetoric, especially when there seems to be an uptick today toward conservatism's least favorable aspects. Feminism sacrificed much to give women a voice and much of traditional patriarchal religion threatens to silence that if we go back. Jory represents the chasm between those two worlds, back in the 1970's. The desire to express yourself pitted against what is or isn't acceptable, according to others. I've been there and have no desire to go back. Regardless of your age, I think you'll find this debut novel an often uncomfortable examination of your own beliefs, or at least open your mind to critical pause, which is what I think every good story should do.

No comments: