 |
|
Title: Jesus Land: A Memoir
ISBN: 1582433542
Author:
Julia Scheeres
Publicate Date: 2006-11-01
Publish: 2006-11-01
List Price: $14.00
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
 |
|
|
|
|
Amazon Lowest New Price: $2.50
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.38
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.20
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Customer Review: |
|
1: That's life.
You will not be disappointed with this book; I was glued to it all weekend. I really admire Julia for her honesty and her courage to let the reader into her life. I can't begin to imagine how hard it was to write this memoir.
|
2: Reporting Live From Inside Jesus Land
This book reduced me to tears at several points, probably because of my several shared experiences with the author. Jesus Land is the well written story of growing up under an oppressive, twisted, and abusive form of religion in America's Heartland. It's the story about how religion can bring out the best and the worst in people -- although mostly the latter is drawn out of the characters in this book.
Scheeres story takes her from the Hoosier State to the Dominican Republic with only one constant in her life: her beloved brother, David, her adopted black brother. Not only is this memoir about the effect abusive religion can have on a young psyche, it's about the bond that develops between two people who go through that experience together.
|
3: A Must Read Memoir
Jesus Land is Julia Scheeres' memoir of her childhood, with the main theme being her relationship with her adopted brother David. It has witty prose and graphic reality, leaving you with the haunting feeling that there are places in the world where things are terribly wrong.
The majority of the book is set in mid-80's rural Indiana. Julia lives with her father, who is a doctor, her stay at home mother, and her adopted brother David, who happens to be black. There is another adopted brother, Jerome, who occasionally makes appearances. Julia's parents are devoutly religious, preferring mission trips and Bible studies over their children.
This is not a feel good book. Julia's father, who is absent through most of the book, beats Jerome and David. Jerome rapes Julia, yet her relationship with her parents is so bad that she feels she cannot tell them. There are frequent encounters with racism, as most people at the time were not comfortable with siblings of different races. David and Julia are shipped off to the Dominican Republic to attend Escuela Caribe, a fundamentalist school outside of U.S. government control for a reason. There they encounter more physical and psychological abuse, often reduced to animals in the way they are treated.
But there is plenty of good to take away from this book. It is essentially the story of the love between David and Julia. It is hard to imagine two siblings being closer, especially considering what they had to endure. They were the same age, and nearly inseparable. They were even able to develop a code of "sign language" between them during the times they couldn't speak to each other at Escuela Caribe. There is also the opportunity to learn what a home looks like when love is absent and religious rules and traditions are used instead.
I strongly recommend this book, but it is highly graphic. Be prepared to be confronted with real life, unfiltered and without apologies.
|
4: Painful on every Page.
This is a memoir of a little girl's family that adopted two little black boys. The story is disturbing about the hatred and racism that she encountered as well as her two brothers. People were cruel to black people in the late seventies and early eighties in these small little towns in the north as well as the south. This story is set in Illinois. The family was highly religious as the mother spent most of her extra time corresponding with missionaries and her father was a doctor. The father was abusive to the little boys while he was merciful to his girl. But when the boys left home, one ran away and the other was sent away, his angry and wrath turned on Julia. The book recounts the time that her and her brother David spent months at a Christian reform camp. The book was painful for me to read. People hate with gladness. There is a big difference between being a Christian in action and appearance and being a Christian in heart. This book makes you sad at how people treat one another, how Christians treat one another, and how love of one another is the strongest bond in life. This book is a page turner, in the sense of hoping for a better result, a happy ending. The book ends, but you are left to provide happiness in your own life. You will watch how you treat people, that is where the happiness is in the book.
|
5: Excellent book, but sensitive readers beware...
I found this book to be a very good read; however, I will warn - it is quite depressing. I consider myself to be an eternal optimist, but this book really threw me for a loop. I had no idea it would be so sad, especially from the reviews that I had read. Either way, it's an excellent book, and I am glad I read it!
|
|
|
|
|
