"Cross Your Legs For Jesus"
Written: Nov 21 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: beautifully-written; thoughtful; moving; profound questions posed in simple terms; important lessons conveyed subtly
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: In this the award-winning second novel in the Make Lemonade trilogy, author Virginia Euwer Wolff continues her story of teenager LaVaughn, her friends, family and community.
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| jc_hall's Full Review: Virginia Euwer Wolff - True Believer |
LaVaughn is now fifteen and working harder than ever before at school. She goes to special grammar classes to improve her English, takes a more difficult Biology class, and studies hard for a Science Aptitude Test. She’s also working at a new part-time job at a Children’s Hospital. Her teachers and the guidance counsellor all rally behind her dreams of College.
But not all is well in LaVaughn’s world. Her mom has a new man in her life. Myrtle and Annie, LaVaughn’s best childhood friends, are heavily involved with their Christian club. Even though LaVaughn feels left out, she cannot make herself join them when she finds it hard to reconcile their beliefs with her many questions on life. For example, their club song has a chorus that goes: Cross Your Legs For Jesus, and LaVaughn does not think that it’s Jesus’s job to keep her pure. Also, she does not agree with their claim that all non-Christians will go to Hell, or that evolution goes against God.
To top it off, Jody—whose mom used to exchange extra keys with LaVaughn’s mom when they were little—is back in the neighbourhood, and LaVaughn is utterly smitten with this beautiful boy with the soulful eyes. Jody and LaVaughn have this in common—they are both determined to go to college. With his part-time job at a pool, Jody has set his sights on a swimming scholarship. But though he’s friendly enough, LaVaughn has to flat out ask him to the school dance. They have a wonderful time there, and yet the evening ends strangely.
When her mom suggests that LaVaughn has a Sweet Sixteen birthday party, LaVaughn doesn’t even know if anyone will come, since she’s not on good terms with Myrtle or Annie anymore, and has alienated even Patrick, her new lab partner. As for Jody, she can’t even bear to think about him. But come they do, one and all, all the people in her life who mean so much to her, who have loved or hurt her or been loved and hurt by her. How could she possibly face up to all of them, especially Jody?
On this her second excursion into the lives of LaVaughn and her community, author Virginia Euwer Wolff moves into relationship territory—both LaVaughn and her mom have affairs of the heart that do not go smoothly and require decisive action. While each relationship reveals profound problems, they are resolved in very different ways. LaVaughn’s crisis of the heart is emotionally involving and the resolution very well written, but it is her crisis of the soul that truly demonstrates her strength of character. While someone less sure of her own thinking and beliefs would easily be drawn in by her friends, LaVaughn stands firm and true to herself despite acknowledging the loneliness and distancing from her childhood bosom buddies. For a young girl barely formulating her own belief system, this is both remarkable and impressive. Teenagers so often succumb to peer pressure that it is refreshing to read of one who does not conform just to be popular or accepted.
Best of all, the lessons learned are subtly conveyed, the author maintaining her light and sensitive touch through several weighty issues. Also, the innovative use of free verse-like prose in True Believer is as easy to read as in the first novel, Make Lemonade. In particular, LaVaughn’s stream of consciousness works beautifully in her foray into the heart’s territory, conveying both immediacy and intimacy with the character’s innermost thoughts and feelings.
My first kiss.
It was not a kiss.
Yes, it was.
Oh, no. It wasn’t a kiss.
Highly recommended, especially for teenagers, including the reluctant readers among them.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jc_hall
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Member: JC Hall
Location: Toronto, Canada
Reviews written: 199
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About Me:
Going back to Vancouver for Christmas! Happy Holidays, everyone!!
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