I just don't get the whole religion thing. And by "the whole religion thing" I really just mean "religion, generally speaking". I don't get it at all. There are parts of it that make sense to me. I can understand wanting to believe in some kind of higher power, and even actually believing in one. And I can understand wanting some kind of explanation of the unexplainable. I don't understand all the bizarre rules and restrictions though. I know that not all religions have crazy rules, but a lot of them do. Mormonisn definitely does.
No drinking, no drugs, no caffeine, no swearing, no sex before marriage (actually, according to Elna Baker, no being aroused before marriage). Those are the main ones. Pretty standard, I guess, within the stricter Christian religions.
TNYRMSHD is about Elna Baker living in New York trying to navigate all the rules. I really liked it. I liked Baker's writing and I liked her. But I also found it incredibly frustrating at times because the rules do not make any sense to me at all, and a lot of the time is seemed like they didn't make sense to Baker either. She breaks almost all of them (or pushes them to the furthest and most liberal stretches of there interpretations), at one point or another. Except for the drug one. She remains kind of tangled up in it all, though. The reason she sticks with it is because of her family, and because she really does believe in, and has a relationship with, God. He-with-a-capital-H is a positive force in her life. I get that, and am even kind of envious of that, but it's unfortunate the the God thing comes a long with so much arbitrary bullshit, you know?
Anyway. This was a good book. You would like it, I bet. And if you read it then we can talk about it for real. So read it, okay?
Or, at the very least, listen to this TSOYA interview Elna Baker did. She's funny. I bet you will end up having kind of a crush on her.
Page count: 272
Up next: The Night of the Gun by David Carr
2 comments:
No arousal? But I LOVE arousal.
P.S. Way to put up a billion book reviews all at once, Writey McWriter.
It's on my list! Then we'll really talk about it. Not like this.
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