Week 48 Review: Devoted

From Goodreads:
Rachel Walker is devoted to God. She prays every day, attends Calvary Christian Church with her family, helps care for her five younger siblings, dresses modestly, and prepares herself to be a wife and mother who serves the Lord with joy. But Rachel is curious about the world her family has turned away from, and increasingly finds that neither the church nor her homeschool education has the answers she craves. Rachel has always found solace in her beliefs, but now she can't shake the feeling that her devotion might destroy her soul.

My Review:
Oh, man, this book! I loved this book about a young girl who is curious for more knowledge and that leaves her with the choice of a religious brainwashing camp or being kicked out of her home. Yeah, it was a pretty fantastic read! 

Just a little side note to start off, that I am Christian, but just the belief. I love the church that I went to as a kid, the community is great, but the group worship isn't for me. I don't know if this is a hot take or an unpopular opinion, but the bible wouldn't have been published if it wasn't a religious work. I get that it's really old, and the English versions are translated, but it's not really well written, it's got a few parts that are comparable to the experience of reading Shakespeare in that its dense and doesn't flat out say what it means. 

I felt really bad for Rachel. It's not her fault that she's asking questions, it's the religion and teachings that are at fault. But she's the one that struggles with fitting in, who ends up leaving. And that's a hard journey, basically leaving your life behind and starting fresh, with not a lot of knowledge of the outside world. But she was strong, and I loved her journey! We had glimpses of Lauren's as well, which was a good balance because while they both did the same thing, they're different people with different circumstances and so reacted differently. 

There were points where I just seethed, from their beliefs about family and religion, that women are basically to clean house and have babies. And there was this one point where the dad makes her burn a book. First off, no, book burning is bad! The Nazis did that. And I'm like, if what you teach says to limit knowledge, access to the outside world, then maybe it's not something good to teach, if it's that breakable. 

And it's frustrating that some people live like that in this day and age. A perfect quote from this book is "...a repressive religious cult that hates women and thinking for yourself and gay people." I'm so glad that Rachel breaks free, and makes choices so she'll have opportunities in the future like getting a job and enrolling in school. I'm so proud of her!

This book was such a great read, I really enjoyed it, and I need to read more by Jennifer Mathieu! 

Author: Jennifer Mathieu
Read: November 26th, 2020
Source: NetGalley
Reason Why: Sounded really fantastic (and I didn't know it was by the same author of The Truth About Alice) And it's a SAC 2020 Book and a Sophomore Challenge Book!
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Published: June 2nd 2015

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars