Reviews

This book made me revisit so many memories I have of church/youth group- especially things like church camp and church lock-ins. Even though the main character was a Southern Baptist, there was a lot of overlap with what I experienced in the Catholic Church. I could so relate to the main character’s inner monologue about guilt and being a questioning teenager.
This book will stay with me for a long time.

sch2383's review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

chichi27's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

okeefepiper's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

jacobthewilson's review

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funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’ve never read anything that so specifically nailed my evangelical upbringing.

banjax451's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I find this a difficult review to write. As a GenX person raised "mainstream Protestant (Presbyterian)" and is now a Catholic convert, there is so much about the evangelical experience that I don't understand and have no experience of (eg: my church camp experience was about riding horses, making lanyards and singing songs - not about being "saved"). When you combine that with my love of the author outside of this novel, it makes me question whether I accomplish anything by writing a review at all.

But...I need to be honest in my reviews. And this novel is a mixed bag.

Much about this book is good. Great even. It definitely gave me an inside look at a world I don't understand - and it explains a great deal about a part of America I struggle with. It is clearly a novel written with love and humor and there are portions of it that I think are incredibly strong. Combined with humor and some very good philosophical wrangling over Hell and God and religion as a whole. It fits into a time, I think, where I was already an adult and a teenage experience that I just didn't have - I value seeing that.

But man...this book needed a professional editor. Not a copyeditor - there are no spelling errors or problems with the text. But a professional publishing house editor would have trimmed maybe 50+ pages of this that needed to go. And would have cut the number of pop-culture (Christian and non) references by a factor. And maybe would have limited some of the philosophical exploration. Because at times this wants to be a standard coming of age story - but it is combined with an exploration of the evangelical youth aparatus and a deep philosophical and religious exploration of the concept of Hell that would have worked much better as a memoir or non-fiction book. There are maybe a few too many characters and some of them seem too much like stereotypes. These are all standard problems with both first novels and self-published works. Put together...there was just a jumble. And I think the love of the author and his non-book writing/podcasting/etc. as well as an exvangelical desire to see oneself in a book has somewhat inflated the ratings on this.

This isn't to say this is a bad book or that I didn't like it. I did like it and I'm glad I read it. But it is not a book without flaws. And I think that's important to state.

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