Brande, Robin - Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature

[oyceter]

Mena is hated by everyone in her church, including her best friends and her parents, for doing something she thought was right. Unfortunately, the result was getting her church sued. Her first day of high school is downright miserable, except for biology, she's assigned to a geeky lab partner, Casey, who seems to really love the teacher and the subject.

Soon, the school, Mena, Casey, their biology teacher, and Mena's old friends are embroiled in a debate about evolution and its place in the curriculum. Mena finds herself even more confused as she lies to her parents, falls for Casey, and starts to think out her own religious beliefs.

I liked this, though I didn't love it, and I found the handling of evolution and religion to be fairly good, with the caveat that I'm an atheist. I don't know... I think I wanted a less extreme church. I do like that the author doesn't back away from how Mena's faith informs her life, but I'm not sure I was entirely convinced by her eventual reconciliation with her parents. And I'm not sure her relationship with Casey will work out in light of aforementioned religious and parental conflicts.

Links:
- buymeaclue's review

Comments

[larryhammer]

I also liked but didn't love this, for pretty much the same caveats.

---L.

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

The handling of religion seemed a little bit simplistic to me, in that--I feel like Mena came up with some easy (maybe too-easy) answers that were then accepted as Obviously Right And Common Sense, and I think the questions were harder than that. But I think doing anything else might have completely changed the tone of the book.