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snaillydia 's review for:
Heretics Anonymous
by Katie Henry
Heretics Anonymous is one of those books I wanted to read from the moment I read the blurb. Not much YA chooses to delve into subjects like religion, and not much YA is told from the point of view of an edgy teenage atheist in a religious environment.
I'd be a liar if I said I didn't see myself in this protagonist. I also was an edgy teenage atheist, picking fights with my theology teachers, sarcastically letting them know their saints were probably on psychedelic mushrooms when they had visions of God. And even though I didn't go to Catholic school, I went to a school where there was a daily prayer, and school trips to church, and theology teachers saying homosexuality is a sin. So as our characters vandalized and stood up to authority, I was with them every step of the way.
The characters were complex. Even though Michael is a piece of shit (I say this affectionately), everyone in this book makes mistakes. And I mean everyone. Nobody is perfect, everyone says something fucked up at some point. It is a testament to Katie Henry as an author that she could create such balanced characters without making them unlikable. They're just complicated.
Generally, I think I've grown out of high school YA, and that's why parts of this book were predictable. The structure of the plot is unoriginal, but it doesn't exactly try not to be. I think the standard YA teen angst, combined with open commentary on religion, is what made this book un-put-down-able.
Un-put-down-able. Huh. I like it. I'm keeping that.
I'd be a liar if I said I didn't see myself in this protagonist. I also was an edgy teenage atheist, picking fights with my theology teachers, sarcastically letting them know their saints were probably on psychedelic mushrooms when they had visions of God. And even though I didn't go to Catholic school, I went to a school where there was a daily prayer, and school trips to church, and theology teachers saying homosexuality is a sin. So as our characters vandalized and stood up to authority, I was with them every step of the way.
The characters were complex. Even though Michael is a piece of shit (I say this affectionately), everyone in this book makes mistakes. And I mean everyone. Nobody is perfect, everyone says something fucked up at some point. It is a testament to Katie Henry as an author that she could create such balanced characters without making them unlikable. They're just complicated.
Generally, I think I've grown out of high school YA, and that's why parts of this book were predictable. The structure of the plot is unoriginal, but it doesn't exactly try not to be. I think the standard YA teen angst, combined with open commentary on religion, is what made this book un-put-down-able.
Un-put-down-able. Huh. I like it. I'm keeping that.