Devoted

De: Jennifer Mathieu

Narrado por: Jennifer Grace

Rachel Walker is devoted to God. She prays every day, attends Calvary Christian Church with her family, helps care for her five younger siblings, dresses modestly, and prepares herself to be a wife and mother who serves the Lord with joy. But Rachel is curious about the world her family has turned away from and increasingly finds that neither the church nor her homeschool education has the answers she craves. Rachel has always found solace in her beliefs, but now she can't shake the feeling that her devotion might destroy her soul.

©2015 Jennifer Mathieu (P)2015 Recorded Books

It was interesting and frustrating at the same time

I was interested to hear a story from the perspective of a girl who came out of a toxic fundamentalist Christian church system. The subject is intriguing but the story felt like it was plodding for the first half. I found myself frustrated with the main character’s angst and anguish about every little thing. It got more interesting once she left home, and then at the end when she went back to visit, it was driving me crazy again how naive she was. I wish there was more of her life after she went to school. I also wish there was a rating system for audiobooks like there is for movies. This one had some strong language in it.

A Different Spin on Coming-of-Age

Would you listen to Devoted again? Why?

Yes, I will listen to this story again. I grew up around families who held similar beliefs to Rachel's family, so her story resonated strongly with me.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Devoted?

Many of the memorable moments for me are spoiler-y, but I loved the relationship between Rachel and her next-younger sister, Ruth. I also loved the relationships she built with people outside her family (trying to stay spoiler-free here), and also how the story shows us several very different reactions to growing up in such a strictly religiously fundamentalist lifestyle.

Have you listened to any of Jennifer Grace’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't believe I've listened to Jennifer Grace narrate another book, but she did an excellent job with this one.

Any additional comments?

I'm honestly curious to see how someone unfamiliar with the Christian fundamentalist/patriarchy/homeschool culture would react to this story. The way Rachel was raised felt very familiar to me--as I said earlier, I had a number of friends raised in similar circumstances--which made me resonate strongly with the story. Mathieu's writing and character development is so strong, however, that I think people unfamiliar with Rachel's culture would still enjoy this book.

Thoughtful

5 of 5 A++++

At age seventeen, Rachel Walker begins to question the strict rules of her fundamentalist puritanical church, where fear and shame are preached from the pulpit and at home. She's homeschooled, prevented from reading books other than textbooks and the bible. When rumors that a troubled girl named Lauren is back in town, Rachel sneaks onto the computer and finds Lauren's blog about running away and leaving the church she calls a cult. For the first time, Rachel imagines a life where she's free to read books, and learn, where she isn't subservient to men and where she can become something other than a wife and mother. But, if Rachel gets caught emailing Lauren, she might just be sent away to a christian labor camp where she'll be brainwashed into submission.

I felt like I won the ARC lottery when I received the email from Net Galley this morning saying I was selected to read DEVOTED, Jennifer Mathieu's second book, in exchange for my honest review. I postponed my todo list and hunkered down with my Kindle and my cat. I normally never read books with religious backdrops, but after Mathieu's stunning debut THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE, I wanted to read everything she wrote, including her grocery list.

A few pages into reading, realized DEVOTED wasn't a story with religious themes, but a breathtaking coming of age novel about family, loyalty, judgment, independence and what we owe ourselves vs what others tell us we owe them. The first half of the book reads with the level of intensity of a good thriller. I found myself holding my breath, worried at any minute Rachel would be caught using the computer and when caught would she be beaten, shamed in front of the church or sent away to labor camp. While the second half was purposely less intense, the pace was still fast, because I couldn't wait see what happened next. Rachel is an incredibly complex and easy to fall in love with from the get go. DEVOTED is very much a character study on her coming of age. Lauren is also multilayered, full of anger at her former church and full of love in mentoring Rachel. Rachel's family were more one dimensional, though each of her nine siblings had unique qualities, including her closest sister Ruth.

I would give DEVOTED more than five stars if I could. DEVOTED has my highest recommendation. Mathieu's sentences practically sing off the pages in the way that made me feel sad when I knew the end was near. I wanted the story to go on and on, already hoping that there could be a follow up. I'm eagerly awaiting her next book, which she's probably/hopefully still writing.