The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

"...I dress my thoughts in the clothing of a poem."

The Poet X is about a young girl's struggle with faith and identity and trying to find her own voice. Fifteen-year-old Xiomara Batista lives in Harlem, N.Y. Xiomara means "One who is ready for war."  Unlike her older twin brother Xavier, Xiomara had to be delivered by Caesarean because she tried to enter the world feet first.

Xiomara is struggling with her Catholic faith and this is complicated by her strained relationship with her mother. After managing to dodge confirmation classes for the past two years, this year she has been signed up along with her best friend Caridad. But Xiomara doesn't really want to be confirmed. She doesn't believe she needs Jesus in her life and she feels that the church doesn't value her and that God doesn't seem to be watching out for her. However, when Xiomara objects, her mother tells her she will send her to the Dominican Republic "where the priests and nuns know how to elicit true piety."

Xiomara's mother is overly pious. This began after their birth. Her parents had given up  hope for children. Their conception and birth was considered miraculous by their friends and changed her parents; her father became more serious and her mother began to attend Mass daily. Xiomara's mother had wanted to be a nun. Instead she was forced to marry Xiomara's father in the hopes they would eventually travel to the United States.

The first confirmation class finds Xiomara more interested in talking to Caridad about boys and struggling to accept the idea of accepting Christ into her life. Caridad is the exact opposite of Xiomara; she recites Bible verses, wants to wait for marriage for sex, respects her parents. However, she's accepting of Xiomara and "tells me that she knows ...I'll figure it all out."

The first day of high school finds Xiomara liking Ms. Galiano her first period English teacher.  She's young and she pronounces Xiomara's name correctly on the first try. Xiomara is impressed with Ms. Galiano because although she is petite, she "carries herself big ...Like she's used to shouldering her way through any assumptions made about her." Their first assignment is to "write about the most impactful day of your life."  What Xiomara wants to write about is how her period came in fifth grade and she did not know what to use nor how to use the tampons. When her mother learned that she was using tampons she scolded her, telling her to skip church and to use pads. What Xiomara actually writes about is her brother gifting her a leather bound journal which she records her thoughts.

At Mass on Sunday, Xiomara doesn't want to receive Holy Communion but her mother forces her. Xiomara feels that girls are given a list of rules they cannot break. She's told to have faith in men but men harass her and make her feel small. As punishment for refusing to receive Communion, Xiomara is made to attend Mass with her mother every evening of the week. After receiving Holy Communion from Father Sean, Xiomara sacrilegiously spits out the host and hides it beneath the pew. commits a sacrilege by spitting out the host and hiding it beneath the bench.

On September 17, Xiomara discovers a poster at school for the Spoken Word Poetry Club. It is run by Ms. Galiano on Tuesdays after school, which unfortunately conflicts with her confirmation class. Xiomara knows her mother will never let her skip the class. However, that night her twin brother encourages Xiomara to join. The next day Xiomara questions Ms. Galiano before class about the club. Watching a video of a poet reciting thrills Xiomara. 

Xiomara's life begins to change when a classmate, Aman is assigned as her lab partner.  She is immediately attracted to Aman and decides she wants to get to know him. Eventually Xiomara agrees to spend time at the park with Aman listening to music even though she knows her parents will not approve.As their friendship blossoms Xiomara finds ways to spend time with Aman, sneaking to a Halloween dance and going skating. But when she's seen kissing Aman on the train Xiomara's world comes crashing down. Her mother brutally punishes her by making her kneel on rice in front of the Virgin Mary and forces her to talk to Father Sean. But Xiomara is not sorry and Father Sean believes that she should wait to be confirmed.

As the crisis between Xiomara and her mother deepens, she realizes she must either find her voice or lose herself completely.


Discussion

Slam poet, Elizabeth Acevedo has crafted a powerful novel about the importance of words and finding your own voice. Her debut novel, The Poet X tackles a wide range of themes about coming of age that include identity, the role of faith, first love and independence.

In the novel the main character, fifteen-year-old Xiomara Batista is struggling to figure out who she is, what she believes and to give a voice to her feelings and beliefs. Because her parents consider Xiomara and her twin brother to be a miracle, her mother zealously attends daily Mass. However, unlike her best friend Caridad and her twin brother Xavier, Xiomara feels marginalized by the Catholic faith, the church and God. Forced to attend Mass nightly in preparation for her confirmation, Xiomara repeatedly commits an act of sacrilege by receiving Holy Communion and discarding it beneath the pew, her "hands shaking less and less everytime..."

All her doubts and anger lead her to publicly confront Father Sean in confirmation class about the creation account in Genesis. Father Sean's failure to answer Xiomara simply deepens her rebellion, misunderstanding, her loss of faith and encourage her to respect him. Father Sean however does seem to understand that Xiomara's conflict is not so much one of faith but of identity. And it is Father Sean who helps Xiomara and her mother Altagracia put their broken relationship back together.

Xiomara is shown to be a deeply conflicted young woman. She is conflicted about her body which she considers a source of trouble based on how men react to her. She is by her own description, tall and well built and men are attracted to her. Her mother tells her that she'll "have to pray extra so my body didn't get me into trouble."

"And I knew the what I'd known since my period came:
my body was trouble. I had to pray the trouble out
of the body God gave me. My body was a problem.
And I didn't want any of these boys to be the ones to solve it.
I wanted to forget I had this body at all."

Xiomara's solution is to hide her body in big sweaters, "trying to turn this body into an invisible equation." Xiomara's view of her body is merely reinforced by her mother's violent over-reaction when she sees her kissing Aman. Her mother hits her, calls Xiomara a "cuero" (slut) and makes her kneel on rice in front of the Virgin Mary statue while she mother prays. Xiomara is forced to go to confession to Father Sean, whom she tells that she is not sorry. Father Sean understands some of the conflict between Xiomara and her mother and her struggle with her Catholic faith. At this point in time he is Xiomara's voice, telling her mother that she is not quite ready to be confirmed yet. It is a message Xiomara cannot tell her mother.

Xiomara's journey towards finding her own voice is gradual and painful. At first she is not even remotely interested in taking part in the poetry club even though a poetry video makes her realize that others have the same thoughts she has. Xiomara thinks
"she can't think that I,
who sits silently in her classroom,
who only speaks to get someone off my back,
will ever get onstage
and say any of the things I've written,
out loud, to anybody else."

However, Xiomara's feelings about Aman lead her to write pages of poetry, "writing pages and pages about a boy and reciting them to myself like a song, like a prayer." Still she pretends to forget about the Spoken Word Poetry Club but Ms. Galiano isn't fooled; she considers Xiomara a poet based on her assignments submitted for English and continues to encourage her to attend.

During this time, Xiomara doesn't write what she really wants to say for her English assignments, but instead gives Ms. Galiano what might be considered more acceptable. For example when she has to write the last paragraph of her biography she wants to write about becoming "the warrior she wanted to be" but instead writes about what she might be expected to accomplish; creating a nonprofit organization that helps first-generation girls date, go away to college and move out when they turn eighteen and buying her parents a house in the Dominican Republic.

At first when Xiomara is brutally punished for kissing Aman she withdraws into herself, speaking to no one. With many of her privileges withdrawn and despite the fact that her mother still expects her at confirmation class, she decides she will attend the poetry club because she now feels ready.
"...I have so much bursting to be said,
and I think I'm ready to be listened to."
It turns out Ms. Galiano was right - Xiomara finds her groove in the club. After reading her poem  she feels validated.
"I can't remember
the last time people were silent
while I spoke, actually listening...

My little words
feel important, for just a moment.
This is a feeling I could get used to."

For Xiomara, "...it feels like an adult has finally heard me." The poetry club changes Xiomara's attitude towards everything. She begins to answer questions in English class. Xiomara agrees to Caridad's suggestion and participates in an open mic night at the legendary Nuyorican Poets Cafe, impressing the host who invites Xiomara to the poetry competition. Attending poetry club and reading her poems to Ms. Galiano results in Xiomara "blossoming"; she's proud of her poetry, proud how the words "connect with people" and "how they build community." Over the Christmas holidays Xiomara fills her journal with poetry about her mom, Aman and her twin brother.

The crisis between Xiomara and her mother pushes Xiomara to finally speak up.  Xiomara's mother reads her journal and angered by her daughter's poems tries to burn it. Xiomara's first reaction is to runaway from home but Ms. Galiano tells her she must talk to her mother and work out their relationship. With the help of  Father Sean Xiomara finds her voice to work with her mother "to break down some of the things that have built up between us." and to accept that this relationship will not be a typical mother-daughter relationship. With the help of Ms. Galiano, Xiomara performs at the poetry competition. Xiomara is reluctant at first because her poems are personal, but Ms. Galiano tells her that
"words give people permission
to be their fullest self. And aren't those the poems
I've most needed to hear?"

In the end Xiomara discovers that "learning to believe in the power of my own words has been the most freeing experience of my life. It has brought me the most light."

The Poet X - the title being a reference to the name Xiomara gives herself, is a well written novel that hits the mark. There are plenty of nuances to explore in Xiomara's relationship with mother, her brother and her friend Aman. Readers will easily identify with at least some of Xiomara's struggles. Acevedo is a National Slam Champion who placed 8th in the 2016 Women of the World Poetry Slam.

Book Details:

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
New York: Harper Teen    2018
361 pp.

Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi

This is the first in a trilogy of books written by Sook Nyui Choi who was born in Pyongyang, North Korea in order to share her experiences in this turbulent period of history. Choi writes, "Having lived through this turbulent period of Korean history, I wanted to share my experiences. So little is known about my homeland, its rich culture and its sad history." Choi wanted "to write this book to share some of my experiences and foster greater understanding."

It is 1945 and World War II continues to rage on. For the Koreans, it means continued occupation by Imperial Japan, which is fighting against the American's to retain control over much of the Pacific and South Asia.

Nine year old Sookan lives with her family in Kirimi, Pyongyang. Her father and older brothers, Hanchun, Jaechun and Hyunchun have been taken away, while her younger brother, seven year old Inchun lives with her and her mother and her Aunt Tiger. Her older sister, Theresa is a nun in a convent just outside of Pyongyang.  Sookan's grandfather is a Buddhist but her mother is Roman Catholic. 

Sookan's Grandfather has been teaching her to read and write in Korean and Chinese  and she has also been learning about the ancient Korean kingdoms - all for this forbidden by the Japanese. Instead they are forced to worship at the Shinto temple and to pray for victory over the "White Devils" - the Americans.

In the backyard of their home is a large wooden shack which was built by the Japanese and serves as a factory making socks for the Japanese soldiers. Sookan's cousin, Kisa is a mechanic who greases the knitting machines so the "sock girls" can churn out the required quota of socks for the Japanese. Captain Narita comes daily to inspect the factory and the workers. Sookan is friends with many of the girls including Haiwon and Okja. Sookan, her mother and Aunt Tiger work with the sock tubes, cutting them and turning them in to tube socks.

In June, 1945, Sookan's mother returns from a visit with Theresa with a small Christian book as a gift for Haiwon's birthday. The next day during her birthday party and before the workday starts, Captain Narita arrives earlier than usual. He takes Haiwon's birthday gifts as well as Sookan's mother's brass dishes.Aunt Tiger is certain this is not the end of it when Narita leaves. That afternoon two Japanese-trained Korean police arrive and chop down Grandfather's pine tree that he meditates under. This is so devastating to Grandfather that he never leaves his bedroom and eventually dies. Before he dies he asks his daughter, Sookan's mother to tell them about their family.

Sookan's mother tells how Grandfather was a scholar before Japan occupied Korea. Once occupied, all Koreans were encouraged to dress like the Japanese and to speak Japanese. Sookan's mother tells them that after the Japanese cut off Grandfather's topknot, they burned their village, resulting in the death of her two brothers and her mother. They escaped to Manchuria where her grandfather and Sookan's father  where part of the independence movement and where they published a newspaper in Hangul. She met Sookan's father in Manchuria and they were married there and had the four oldest children then. Only Inchun and Sookan were born in Korea. Father Carroll an American priest said Mass for all the Korean Catholics who were forbidden to go to church. He baptized all of Sookan's family but eventually he was discovered and had to leave Korea.

Grandfather's death is not the only terrible event to happen. Several days after his death, Captain Nakita comes to inspect the factory and tells Mother that the girls are not working hard enough and that they will be sent to "help the soldiers fight better". Sookan does not know what this means but her mother his horrified as are Haiwon and Okja. Sadly this comes to pass, and one night Captain Narita shows up with a truck and the girls are forced into the truck and taken away.

Sookan is sent to school after this only to discover that it is nothing more than indoctrination and a work camp. She is not allowed to use her Korean name, speak Korean or help other students. However, her time at school is shortlived and Sookan is quickly expelled.

In August, with the defeat and surrender of the Japanese, they begin to leave Korea. It is an anxious time for Sookan and her family as they await the expected arrival of the Americans and hope to hear about husbands, fathers and sons. They soon learn that the Americans and Russians have divided Korea at the 38th parallel with the Russians taking the northern part of the country.

At first the Korean people welcome the Russians, however, Sookan's mother is skeptical. Sookan remembers Grandfather's distrust of the Russians who he felt wanted to "own Korean just as the Japanese and the Chinese had."  Mother learns from the nuns at the convent that many Koreans are now attempting to flee to the south.

As the Russian Communists settle in and begin indoctrinating the local Korean population, it becomes evident that Sookan's family must leave. With the help of Kisa they make arrangements to flee to the south. Kisa tells Sookan's family that their father and brothers have fled to the South safely and that they will meet them there. Arrangements are made and tearful goodbyes made to Kisa and Aunt Tiger who must remain behind to deflect suspicion away from Mother, Sookan and Inchun. Will they be able to make the treacherous journey south across the 38th parallel to freedom?

Discussion

Choi's short novel for children effectively portrays life in a country long under foreign occupation. The children suffer just as the adults do from privation, lack of education and destruction of their culture and their links to their past. In spite of this, Sookan's family secretly tries to preserve their culture, teaching the younger children their language and history and hiding important keepsakes and heirlooms. The Japanese however, make this increasingly difficult by starving the Korean population so that eventually all of their most precious links to their past are given up in order to survive.

A strong theme throughout the novel is perseverance. All of Sookan's family persevere through the  terrible living conditions and the loss of family and the sock girls. This perseverance is demonstrated most admirably at the end of the novel when Inchun and Sookan are abandoned by the "guide" who is supposed to lead them across the border. Despite losing their mother, and desperate to get to freedom, they overcome starvation, physical exhaustion and injury, and emotional trauma, against enormous odds.

The themes of faith and forgiveness also permeate the novel. Sookan's mother is Catholic and she has continued to pray for the safety of her husband and sons. When Kisa tells her they are safe, Mother states, "I knew my God would not desert me. I knew He was listening to all our prayers."  Despite the terrible things done to them, Grandfather and Aunt Tiger manage to forgive. Grandfather tells Inchun and Sookan "I do not feel bitter about what happened. I am not angry anymore." after what happened to his beloved pine tree. It is more important that his grandchildren learn about their family and their past. Aunt Tiger tells Sookan's mother that when she came to her house she was bitter and angry but with the help of Sookan's mother, she has been able to move past her feelings of revenge and to help others, "to do some good".

Written from Sookan's first person point-of-view, Year of Impossible Goodbyes is a poignant, stirring account of events that happened a world away during the early twentieth century. Most young people study World War II from the perspective of events that happened in Britain and Europe and only rarely learn about events that occurred at the same time in other parts of the world such as Asia. Although the book is not autobiographical, the events that happened to Sookan in Year of Impossible Goodbyes are likely very similar to what Sook Nyul Choi experienced as her family fled North Korea.

 

http://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/korea/maps/images/establishing.gif

Korean culture has been strongly influenced by China. Many parts of Chinese culture, including its writing, political systems and architecture were adopted by the Korean people and made their own.  It is this ability to adapt foreign ideas and make them their own that is a defining characteristic of Korean culture. Korea's neighbour to the west, Japan, annexed Korea in 1910 and began to force Japanese culture and language onto the Korean people. As Japan continued to solidify its rule over Korea, gradually all forms of Korean culture were prohibited. By World War II, As Sook Nyul Choi writes in her novel, it was forbidden to speak Korean and Korean's were forced to worship at Japanese Shinto temples. Much of the country's cultural history was either destroyed or removed to Japan. During the war, men were conscripted to fight in the Japanese military and women were taken from villages to be used a "comfort women", a Japanese euphemism for sex slavery which was gently alluded to in Choi's novel.

Unfortunately the end of World War II did not bring a reprieve for Koreans living in the north. They now faced a new occupying army, the Communist Russians.When the Japanese retreated from the Korean pennisula, the two occupying armies, the Americans in the south and the Russians in the north divided Korea into two temporary zones. However, as the superpowers of the Soviet Union (Russia) and the United States could not agree on a government for Korea, it became impossible to set up a new government for all of Korea. The Korean War was instigated when the North attacked the South. The war ended in a stalemate in 1953 with the Communist North supported by the Soviet Union and China and the South gradually adopting a free-market democracy towards the end of the 20th century. North Korea has been in the news in the past decade because of the restrictive regime of Kim Jong-il who has led the country to brink of starvation and the implementation of large scale work camps. There is little doubt that the Korean people have suffered terribly over the past century.

Author Sook Nyul Choi was born in North Korea in 1937 and emigrated to the United States to attend college. Year of Impossible Goodbyes is the first book in a series, followed by Echoes of the White Giraffe and Gathering of Pearls.

Book Details:
Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyui Chol
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company            1991
169 pp.

Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams

No one talks to me.
They don't even look my way.
There's a death bubble around me and I know it. It's
a thin film, one that only I can see through, and I have
proof no one can see me, because they never look in
my direction
and I refuse to look in theirs.

London Castle's family is trying to cope with the tragic death of her older brother Zach. Her mother won't speak to her and spends her time in her bedroom alone, on her knees weeping. But even worse, London's mother won't speak to her and blames her for what happened to Zach. Her father is seemingly oblivious as to what is going on between the mother and daughter. He is always absent, working too much. London states that "At home, all life has stopped, even though it's been awhile." It seems London has been left to cope on her own with her feelings of guilt and loss.

Through Williams evocative combination of prose and poetry,  the awful circumstances behind Zach's death are revealed. Having gotten his girlfriend Rachel pregnant, the two were planning to marry. But both sets of parents step in and the young couple are separated. Rachel is taken miles away by her parents and pressured to get an abortion. During a fight with his mother, Zach learns that Rachel will be aborting his baby. Devastated and without hope, Zach hangs himself in his bedroom. London hears Zach dying and she and her mother race against time to save him. At the end of the book we learn what really happens with Rachel, and this makes his death all the more tragic.

Seventeen year old Taylor Curtis was London's boyfriend before he broke up with her and started a short-lived relationship with another girl. He was also Zach's best friend. He begins to renew his friendship with London. However, London finds it difficult to restart their relationship because so many memories of Zach are tied to Taylor. But Taylor offers London the support and caring she so desperately needs and she grasps at it.

Meanwhile despite London's numbness and difficulty in dealing with her brother's death, she does notice a new boy in class, Jesse Fulton, who turns out to be the brother of her classmate, Lili whose been trying to befriend her. Lili and Jesse become an important part of London's life and she forms a strong friendship with both of them and they too help her come to terms with Zach's death.

As London struggles to deal with her mother's silence and anger, she uses her relationships with both Taylor and Jesse to help her feel alive and to find the strength to confront her mother. London finally confronts her guilt and realizes that she did the best she could. She is not responsible for Zach's death. The living must go on living.

Discussion

Waiting tells the intense, tragic story of a family broken apart by the stigma of teenage pregnancy, the aftermather of a forced abortion that results in needless death of a young man. The suspense of not knowing the circumstances behind Zach's death and learning halfway through the book that he might have been a suicide, effectively draws the reader in. The end of the book, although somewhat predictable because the author does drop a hint,  leaves the reader sad but hopeful.

Waiting succeeds because it evokes powerful emotions; empathy for London who is being punished by her shattered mother for something she had no part in and because her mother is crushed by guilt for provoking Zach; sympathy for the young couple who are betrayed by the very people who had a duty to help them in such a crisis but who instead were more concerned about saving face; pity and anger for a mother so wracked by guilt over provoking her son that she can no longer love anyone; sadness for Zach who saw no hope in his future and who made a terrible mistake.

Maybe nothing could have saved Zach.
Maybe things were too messed up before he ever met
Rachel. Maybe he was too sad since we were little.
Maybe he had faith in everyone but himself.
Or...
Or maybe he just made a mistake and realized moments too late.

It also touches albeit obliquely, on the abortion issue and how it relates to men. Zach's suicide is directly related to the belief that Rachel will abort his baby. This leaves Zach in despair and the terrible fight with his mother provokes him into making a terrible choice. Fathers are often forgotten in the abortion debate. However they do suffer from unacknowledged loss, betrayal and guilt.
 
Waiting also explores the role of faith in personal tragedy. London's father, who is a missionary, has told her that "God answers our prayers through Jesus Christ". But, long before Zach's death though, London was beginning to doubt.

Daddy doesn't know. Mom doesn't know. But on those
trips, I think I started wondering about a god that would 
let all this bad stuff happen. All of it is so awful. I was
changing. Stretching from my old religious skin. Feeling
itchy with the worrying and the cracking free.

London is in so much pain that she wants to die but she knows she cannot do this because she will cause her parents even more grief. She also feels that if she were to try something now, Jesus would not stop her. She's the daughter of a missionary, and "a missionary's kid can't kill herself". London feels God has abandoned her and her family. However, near the end of the book, London comes to the realization that she cannot live without God.

Waiting is a superb novel with lessons that many parents, especially Christian parents need to learn. Some parents will face a crisis with a daughter or son and parents need to be there for them and with them. Parents need to use their wisdom and life experience to help their children through the difficult times. Young people will make mistakes, sometimes mistakes that cannot be easily undone and they will need guidance, forgiveness and love.

This is a novel that touches on many themes: redemption, loss, guilt, friendship, faith and family.

A brilliant book, highly recommended, especially to reluctant readers, and those who have experienced a loss through suicide.

Book Details:

Waiting by Carol Lynch Williams

New York: Simon & Schuster Children's  2012

335 pp.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

...just my mind going blank and thoughts reaching up up up, me wishing I could climb through the ceiling and over the stars until I can find God, really see God, and know once and for all that everything I've believed my whole life is true, and real...Not even half. Just the part about someone or something bigger than us who doesn't lose track. I want to believe the stories, that there really is someone who would search the whole mountainside just to find that one lost thing that he loves, and bring it home.

Once Was Lost follows the life of 15 year old, Samara Taylor over a two week period in early August. Sam's world is unraveling. Sam is the daughter of Charlie Taylor, pastor of one of the numerous churches in Pineview. Her beautiful mother is in rehab after being arrested for driving under the influence. Sam and her father are having a difficult time coping with her absence as well as relating to one another. Sam's father is emotionally distant, doesn't really listen to her and isn't able to maintain the home in any way.

Sam is depressed and lonely, missing her mother and is gradually drifting away from her classmates and her best friend, Vanessa Hathaway. Although Sam is part of her church's youth group, she feels alienated from her peers because of how people relate to her due to her being the daughter of the pastor. Sam notices that she is treated differently and that people behave differently around her. Friends go to parties but don't always invite her. She is also struggling to understand what has happened to her family, especially since her father has never explained to his congregation her mother's absence nor has he talked much about her going into rehab. Her father's inability to show leadership in his personal life is what is truly crushing Sam.

Set against this backdrop is the disappearance of 13 year old Jody Shaw one day off the streets of Pineview. Jody's disappearance is the last straw in Sam's struggle to believe in a God who cares. "...Perfect love drives out fear, is what it says in the Bible. Perfect love. And who, my dad included, really knows anything about perfect love? Anyway, if God loves Jody so much, how could he let this -- whatever it is -- happen to her? And what else is he going to let happen to me?"

Sam narrates her story told over the course of sixteen days in diary form. She relates how the town comes together to try to locate Jody with searches and bake sales. This is set against the backdrop of Sam's own personal life spiraling downward as she struggles to cope with the loss of her mother to rehab and her father's possible involvement with his church's youth minister, Erin. Her father seems oblivious to Sam's personal struggles with her faith, and is unable to relate in any meaningful way to Sam. "What's the point of being a pastor if you can't tell when your own daughter needs helps?"

But as Sam watches her father struggle to cope with the loss of his wife all the while helping a family deal with the loss of their daughter, she comes to realize that maybe it isn't just because he doesn't care. "Looking at him, I realize for the first time that it's possible he feels as lost as I do. Maybe what I've been thinking of as him being clueless is actually him not knowing what to do."

Discussion

Once Was Lost is a book about being lost on many different levels. Sam has lost her mother to alcohol addiction and rehab. She has also lost her faith in God who seems not to care about what happens to people. The Shaw family has lost their daughter Jody. But through all these losses, there is restoration. Sam's mother is gradually healing and recovering in her rehab at New Beginnings. Sam's faith grows throughout her Job-like experience.

Once Was Lost is a great book that explores a young teen's questions about faith and God when times are tough  and when it seems like there is no hope left. Through the eyes of Sam, we see one person's struggles when the adults around her have made and continue to make bad choices.

Book Details:

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr
New York: Little, Brown and Company 2009
217pp.

Soul Surfer - the movie

Last night I had an opportunity to finally watch Soul Surfer on DVD. Unfortunately, where I live, this movie was only in theatres for a very short time and I missed that window. Most unfortunate, because this is a movie worth watching.

Soul Surfer is an exceptional movie about an exceptional young woman - Bethany Hamilton. It traces the sequences of events that led to that fateful day of Halloween, 2003 when Bethany was attacked by a On that day Bethany and her best friend Alana Blanchard and Blanchard's father and brother went surfing at Tunnels Beach on Kauai. Bethany had her left arm over the surf board in the water when she was attacked by a 14 foot tiger shark. It is unlikely she would have survived if it were not for Blanchard's quick action of improvising a tourniquet out of a surfboard leash to stem the loss of blood.

There are two things I especially liked about this movie. The first is that there was less focus on the dramatic attack and more on Bethany and her experience after the attack. The drama of the attack lasted only seconds and the race to get her medical help was well done, intense and frightening. But Bethany Hamilton is not to be defined by the attack but instead by her response. She showed herself to be remarkably poised and courageous.

That she survived at all after having lost 60 per cent of her blood, amazed doctors and her friends and family alike. God, in His providence, reminded her during the ambulance ride that he would not abandon her. One of the paramedics whispered this reminder in her ear during the run.

One of my favourite parts of the movie occurs when Bethany goes to see Sarah Hill (Carrie Underwood), her youth minister not long after she is out of hospital. When Sarah asks Bethany how she is, Bethany replies, "I'm good. Yeah. Everyone is doing real good." At that point Sarah tells Bethany that she can level with her and tell her how it REALLY is. Bethany tells Sarah that she has been trying to get some perspective, to step back and see things how they really are. She asks Sarah, "How can this be God's plan for me. I don't understand." Sarah replies, "I don't know why terrible things happen to us sometimes. But I have to believe something good is going to come out of this. I don't know what that is."

Of course, this is the struggle all believers eventually experience because all of us will experience something bad in our lives at some point. It wasn't God's plan for her to be attacked, but he had a new plan when that happened and she allowed God to work in her life. Her mother, in one of the special features on the DVD, relates that during the month prior to the attack Bethany and her family had been praying to understand what God wanted of Bethany in her life. This film does portray their strong faith and commitment to Christ, but not in an overhanded manner. It's subtle and believable.

Much of the actual surfing in the re-creation of the competitions was done by Bethany. This was apparently another of the Hamilton's goals in the movie, to demonstrate good surfing to those of us who know nothing about the sport. The surfing shots were brilliant and exciting. I can understand why Bethany felt such a desire to return to the ocean. The beauty and power of ocean was both awesome and inspiring.

This movie was well done and nice change from the usual Hollywood fare. Bethany's book of the same name continues to be a popular choice for teens, although it is written for very young teens and tweens.

You can catch all the latest on Bethany Hamilton at her website, including information on her injury to her right arm this summer.