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A review by srirachareadsalot
Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry
3.0
hmmm....
I'm not entirely sure what to say about this book, mostly because of my impartiality. As a Catholic, I can't help but feel slightly distraught by this book. Sure it's not meant to be a conversion story, but is it bad that I feel like it slightly does?
I think it's mostly because of the fact that my life as a Catholic is extremely different from this book. I was born and raised Catholic and though through thoughts of "Is this who I truly want to be?" I've decided that it's not simply something I was born into, but something I enjoy being. I attended Catholic school for two years before prioritizing my french language education over my Catholic one, and further convincing my parents to send me to a public high school so that I could remain with my friends.
Though Catholic, I wasn't raised that strictly. I was expected to live modestly and I went to church a few times of the year. I have NEVER hated or judged someone for something that falls outside the scope of my religion such as being queer, polyamorous, sexually active regardless of their religion. The importance of religion to me was the lessons that I was able to learn from God. Jesus is in everyone, therefore it means everyone has good intentions and should be treated as such. To have faith in the Lord when times get tough because He has a plan for you which has helped me immensely through my mental illness, and even my childhood priest was well-known for having joined priesthood to battle his crippling alcoholism.
Catholicism is more than just homophobia and strict ideals, and I think that was told through this story, that religion or even the lack thereof is not inherently bad. This story was about acceptance and tolerance and I think the message was broadcasted but with all the "good guys" having some sort of problem with the Catholic ideals it was hard to feel but slightly downtrodden by the story and feel misrepresented. I felt Lucy misrepresented how it felt to be Catholic and her character seemed messy with conflicting ideals, and fit the strict Catholic stereotype a little too well. Sure, maybe my experience with it was different from most, but isn't that what we're trying to preach these days; that religion and it's people are not all the same?
Overall, this book was worthwhile to explore a new perspective on religion, and it tackled such subject with both care and delightful humour, but I can't help to feel this book was still somewhat anti-Catholicism and I'm still slightly disappointed in that
I'm not entirely sure what to say about this book, mostly because of my impartiality. As a Catholic, I can't help but feel slightly distraught by this book. Sure it's not meant to be a conversion story, but is it bad that I feel like it slightly does?
I think it's mostly because of the fact that my life as a Catholic is extremely different from this book. I was born and raised Catholic and though through thoughts of "Is this who I truly want to be?" I've decided that it's not simply something I was born into, but something I enjoy being. I attended Catholic school for two years before prioritizing my french language education over my Catholic one, and further convincing my parents to send me to a public high school so that I could remain with my friends.
Though Catholic, I wasn't raised that strictly. I was expected to live modestly and I went to church a few times of the year. I have NEVER hated or judged someone for something that falls outside the scope of my religion such as being queer, polyamorous, sexually active regardless of their religion. The importance of religion to me was the lessons that I was able to learn from God. Jesus is in everyone, therefore it means everyone has good intentions and should be treated as such. To have faith in the Lord when times get tough because He has a plan for you which has helped me immensely through my mental illness, and even my childhood priest was well-known for having joined priesthood to battle his crippling alcoholism.
Catholicism is more than just homophobia and strict ideals, and I think that was told through this story, that religion or even the lack thereof is not inherently bad. This story was about acceptance and tolerance and I think the message was broadcasted but with all the "good guys" having some sort of problem with the Catholic ideals it was hard to feel but slightly downtrodden by the story and feel misrepresented. I felt Lucy misrepresented how it felt to be Catholic and her character seemed messy with conflicting ideals, and fit the strict Catholic stereotype a little too well. Sure, maybe my experience with it was different from most, but isn't that what we're trying to preach these days; that religion and it's people are not all the same?
Overall, this book was worthwhile to explore a new perspective on religion, and it tackled such subject with both care and delightful humour, but I can't help to feel this book was still somewhat anti-Catholicism and I'm still slightly disappointed in that