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A review by book_concierge
Jesus Land: A Memoir by Julia Scheeres
3.0
3.5***
This is a memoir of growing up with parents who adhered to a religious fundamentalism but who were abusive to their children. Scheeres was the youngest child in the family, and the last biological child born to her parents, who subsequently adopted two African American boys. David, was practically Julia’s twin, with only a month or so difference in their birthdates. They grew up as brother and sister, and shared dreams of one day growing up and moving to Florida together. When David and Julia were teens, they rebelled against their strict upbringing with the result that their parents sent them to a school in the Dominican Republic – a sort of “boot camp” to get them right with Jesus.
The first half of the book details their childhood and early school experiences. The racial prejudice aimed at David, and from which Julia tried to protect her brother, with the result that she was also ostracized in their small midwestern town.
The second half of the book focuses on the time they spent at Escuela Caribe, and what they had to endure there to “prove” to the people running the school and to their parents that they “deserved” to return to their home in Indiana.
Their mother was clearly neglectful, ignoring the children’s complaints of mistreatment at school, and barely providing them with food, shelter and clothing. But their father. He may have been a surgeon, but he was physically abusive, particularly to the adopted boys. Why was he never prosecuted!?!?!
Yet the love she and David shared, the unbreakable bond of brother and sister, shine through. Towards the end of their time at Escuela Caribe, she writes:
We are young, and we have our entire lives ahead of us. Together, we have survived racism and religion. Together, we are strong. Together, we can do anything.
Life may not be fair, but when you have someone to believe in, life can be managed, and sometimes, even miraculous.
After everything else falls away, we shall remain brother and sister. Family.
This is a memoir of growing up with parents who adhered to a religious fundamentalism but who were abusive to their children. Scheeres was the youngest child in the family, and the last biological child born to her parents, who subsequently adopted two African American boys. David, was practically Julia’s twin, with only a month or so difference in their birthdates. They grew up as brother and sister, and shared dreams of one day growing up and moving to Florida together. When David and Julia were teens, they rebelled against their strict upbringing with the result that their parents sent them to a school in the Dominican Republic – a sort of “boot camp” to get them right with Jesus.
The first half of the book details their childhood and early school experiences. The racial prejudice aimed at David, and from which Julia tried to protect her brother, with the result that she was also ostracized in their small midwestern town.
The second half of the book focuses on the time they spent at Escuela Caribe, and what they had to endure there to “prove” to the people running the school and to their parents that they “deserved” to return to their home in Indiana.
Their mother was clearly neglectful, ignoring the children’s complaints of mistreatment at school, and barely providing them with food, shelter and clothing. But their father. He may have been a surgeon, but he was physically abusive, particularly to the adopted boys. Why was he never prosecuted!?!?!
Yet the love she and David shared, the unbreakable bond of brother and sister, shine through. Towards the end of their time at Escuela Caribe, she writes:
We are young, and we have our entire lives ahead of us. Together, we have survived racism and religion. Together, we are strong. Together, we can do anything.
Life may not be fair, but when you have someone to believe in, life can be managed, and sometimes, even miraculous.
After everything else falls away, we shall remain brother and sister. Family.