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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
medium-paced
I feel bad giving this book only 3 stars, because it is a really solid, good ya book. Some unreasonable kind of personal bias I’ve got just means that I will easily give 4 stars to a solid “adult” book and can only muster 3 for a solid ya one.
This is a really good book. I loved the exploration of religion and what it means to different people. I really liked how Michael got his misconceptions challenged throughout the book and think that’s an important message for us all. The relationship dynamics were well crafted and believable. All the characters were well developed.
The book was easy to read and overall quite enjoyable. Just, not much happened. There isn’t much in terms of plot, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, that clearly wasn’t the aim of the novel, but as a matter of personal preference I would have preferred to see something more.
Overall solid 3.5.
This is a really good book. I loved the exploration of religion and what it means to different people. I really liked how Michael got his misconceptions challenged throughout the book and think that’s an important message for us all. The relationship dynamics were well crafted and believable. All the characters were well developed.
The book was easy to read and overall quite enjoyable. Just, not much happened. There isn’t much in terms of plot, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, that clearly wasn’t the aim of the novel, but as a matter of personal preference I would have preferred to see something more.
Overall solid 3.5.
I had a strong feeling I'd love this and I totally did
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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
Muszę przyznać, że jest to dosyć specyficzna młodzieżówka, pełna różnorodności, a także “młodzieńczej złości”, o ile można to tak nazwać. Bardzo podobał mi się fakt tego, że mimo tak skrajnie odmiennych celów oraz wierzeń życiowych, nasi główni bohaterowie potrafili się ze sobą dogadać. Wiele z przesłanek, które towarzyszyły im w trakcie buntu, były naprawdę racjonalne, bo czy każdy z nas nie powinien mieć szansy na normalne życie i pokazywanie siebie? Bo przecież nie robią oni żadnej krzywdy innym osobom tym, że są oni odmienni od większości. Należy również podkreślić, że przez historię się wręcz płynie. Ja osobiście słuchałam jej w audiobooku i jak nigdy - przesłuchałam go w dwa dni. Pod sam koniec byłam wręcz zaskoczona, że poszło to tak szybko. Wśród minusów podkreśliłabym fakt tego, że sama fabuła bardzo szybko ucieka z głowy. Nie jest zwyczajnie niczym nadzwyczajnym, ale na przysłowiowe odmóżdżenie? Jest naprawdę dobra. Jeżeli któreś z wydawnictw zdecyduje się na wydanie innych książek tej autorki, z chęcią po nie sięgnę.
This is some good diverse religious representation. I like these kids, and I was interested in what they were doing. I love seeing teenagers taking action for change.
"A heretic is someone who has belief, but not the right kind. At least according to the Catholic Church."
Full disclosure: I would NEVER have picked this book up on my own, ever in a million years. I don't read contemporary much to begin with, and even though the cover is interesting for a contemp, the fact that it sounds religious would probably have deterred me. But, Harper sent the book to me, and I was in the mood for contemporary, and my mom read it as a guinea pig (she IS religious, I am not) and she thought I'd like it. So, I took a leap of faith and picked it up - and I was super shocked because I actually loved it!!
First of all, this book is FREAKIN' HILARIOUS. I had SO much fun reading it, especially in the first half! I was giggling out loud almost every other page because the prose is so funny and engaging. I found myself grinning like an idiot, and I don't even remember the last time I had so much fun reading a book.
But, this book isn't just a fun and fluffy book. I also loved it because it had an amazing message - tolerance and acceptance, no matter what a person's gender, race, sexual orientation, or religion. This book had such an amazing cast of diverse characters!! An atheist, a feminist, a gay Jewish guy, an Asian, and a paganist. I loved their little ragtag group of misfits, aka the Heretics Anonymous!
"The only thing more dangerous that someone who doesn't care about the rules is someone who does - and wants to break them anyway."
I adored the characters. They felt so realistic! They each had their own distinct personalities. This was a very character driven book. It also gave me feels because it was 100% relatable to my core. I'm not an atheist at all, but I am agnostic. I was raised Methodist, but I've never been particularly religious. It kinda makes me cringe? Mostly I just don't like having it shoved down my throat. This book was kind of about fighting that very thing - and going against the rules when the rules were unfair.
No matter what your religion or beliefs, I definitely recommend this book!
P.S. THE LAST PAGE AHHH *feelsfeelsfeels*
This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.
Atheist boy is enrolled to a catholic school. What could possibly go wrong?
Michael’s family moves around a lot, so he never really settles anywhere. When he starts at St. Clare’s, he soon makes friends with the other outcasts. Lucy is catholic, but also be an outspoken feminist, Avi is Jewish and gay, Max’s religion is not clear but is into wearing capes against uniform regulations, and Eden is into paganism.
As a fellow atheist, I could relate to Michael a lot. He was often asked what happened to him that turned him into one. It’s funny how a lot of people just assume one becomes an atheist by abandoning whatever religion. Not like, you know, never adopting one. Duh.
Anyway, Michael convinces his new friends to turn Heretics Anonymous from a secret after school club to a rebel group with the intent of exposing all the hypocrisy in their school. Nobody is safe.
I really liked Michael’s humour, and the whole covert operation to take down the establishment.
I didn’t particularly liked Lucy however. Considering she was Michael’s romantic interest quite a lot of the plot revolved around her. You see, she was all for letting people be and accepting them with their different religions, and yet, she seemed to be unable to accept that Michael is an atheist and gifted him a Bible with the “interesting bits” underlined and annotated… Just bloody keep it to yourself, will you?
Michael’s family moves around a lot, so he never really settles anywhere. When he starts at St. Clare’s, he soon makes friends with the other outcasts. Lucy is catholic, but also be an outspoken feminist, Avi is Jewish and gay, Max’s religion is not clear but is into wearing capes against uniform regulations, and Eden is into paganism.
As a fellow atheist, I could relate to Michael a lot. He was often asked what happened to him that turned him into one. It’s funny how a lot of people just assume one becomes an atheist by abandoning whatever religion. Not like, you know, never adopting one. Duh.
Anyway, Michael convinces his new friends to turn Heretics Anonymous from a secret after school club to a rebel group with the intent of exposing all the hypocrisy in their school. Nobody is safe.
I really liked Michael’s humour, and the whole covert operation to take down the establishment.
I didn’t particularly liked Lucy however. Considering she was Michael’s romantic interest quite a lot of the plot revolved around her. You see, she was all for letting people be and accepting them with their different religions, and yet, she seemed to be unable to accept that Michael is an atheist and gifted him a Bible with the “interesting bits” underlined and annotated… Just bloody keep it to yourself, will you?
Okay, so hear me out. This is exactly what I wanted to do in high school and probably the kind of friends I needed.
After going to a private Catholic school for four year, I related so hard to all of this. From hypocritical teachers and dress codes (totally got around the whole no converse rule by wearing converse boots, drove my homeroom teachers insane) to pervy teachers. I would have killed to have the balls to ruin our harmful sex ed presentations and the awful presenters that made me feel like I would be subhuman for questioning sexuality and the statistics that were plain wrong. Also the characters were fantastically written.
10/10, I was emotional reading this.
After going to a private Catholic school for four year, I related so hard to all of this. From hypocritical teachers and dress codes (totally got around the whole no converse rule by wearing converse boots, drove my homeroom teachers insane) to pervy teachers. I would have killed to have the balls to ruin our harmful sex ed presentations and the awful presenters that made me feel like I would be subhuman for questioning sexuality and the statistics that were plain wrong. Also the characters were fantastically written.
10/10, I was emotional reading this.