The Book: Jesus Land, by Julia Scheeres
The Story: I’ve been on quite the little memoir kick, huh? I guess it’s because it’s easy-access non-fiction and that’s kind of what I’ve been in the mood for. If you can think of any good ones that I haven’t reviewed, let me know. I’d love to get my hands on them.
The title “Jesus Land” is a little jab at the town that Julia and her family moved to when she was in middle school. Her parents had adopted two black kids when they were very young and raised them along with Julia and her four older siblings. By the time this book starts, only Julia and her adopted brother David are still living at home. Her family moves to a small town that has a sign declaring itself “Jesus Land” while housing some of the most racist, awful kids that you can imagine.
Julia’s parents are none to nice to David either. Maybe because he was adopted or maybe because he was black or maybe just because they were cold, they ignored him and harshly disciplined him in about equal measure while treating their biological children much different. Julia and David were the closest of friends/siblings you can imagine but it was easy to see that this made David bitter towards their parents and towards her.
When he was in high school, their parents decided to send him to the Dominican Republic to a “Christian boot camp” called Escuela Caribe. Not long after, Julia got in some trouble and had to pick between other punishments and joining her brother at Escuela Caribe. She picked Escuela Caribe. The description of what that place was like and the people that led it was almost unbelievable. They were subject to crazy rules, back-breaking labor, insane punishments and true humiliation… all in the name of Jesus. Because David was male and Julia was female, although they were siblings they were not allowed to talk for a long time into their stay. When they could talk, they became super close again and helped each other get through that nightmare of a place.
What I Thought: This book kind of chewed me up and spit me out again. I always get a little bit irate when crazy “Christians” mess up the name for all of us. Julia & David’s mom seriously made me gag a little bit. She was like a real life version of Carrie’s mom, and if you’ve seen the movie or read the book, you know that that isn’t a good thing. Crazy. Same with the school that they went to in the Dominican. It made me so mad that they were made to memorize scripture and have it thrown in their face by leaders who were living in a way that was just so far from a true Christian life. Having been in Christian communities that are very much like this, I get really offended by things like this so parts of this book were genuinely hard for me to read.
That being said, this was an incredibly honest, true story told by a woman who had been through hell and back and decided that other people needed to hear about it. Her ability to recall these crazy events and record them is pretty amazing and I just imagine that it was just as hard to write as it was to read. I could tell that, while it probably took a long time, Julia’s wounds are healed. She approached her story with humor and honesty, and she did a darn good job.
David and Julia’s friendship and love for each other was really what did it for me. Seeing them support each other and stand up for each other in school, at home and then at their crazy school was a beautiful thing. For them, race had nothing to do with it. They just loved each other and rebelled with each other and stood together. There is something so innocent and wonderful about that. It made this book, that could have been sad from start to finish, have a ray of hope.
Wonderful.
Conclusion: Like I said, this is a tough read. It deals with touchy subjects and made me righteously angry. I guess, though, that that is a good place to be sometimes. I would recommend this without hesitation.