The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta
Posted: Monday, March 31, 2008
by Hannah Quinn
Too-Write! Professional Services
This review may be reprinted provided the author's name and link are included and the author is notified.
Reviewer: Hannah Quinn Ruth Ramsey believes in teaching her Health & Family Life class honestly and openly, something she has done for 15 years. When the ‘new' brand of sex education allows only the teaching of abstinence, and involves untruths, she finds it a hard pill to swallow, and more than once has to go to a ‘retraining' session. She is a very reluctant and less than perfect abstinence teacher.
After The Stars win, leading up to the championship match, Tim and assistant coach, John Roper, sit on the ground with the girls and lead them in prayer – much to the horror of Ruth.
The pressure Ruth has been under for the previous six months with the evangelical right directing how she teach her class, wells up and she unleashes on Tim.
Despite the title, this book is a story of two protagonists; both with a variety of problems, including divorce and custody issues and developing crises in faith; one with his religious belief and one with her life's direction.
Tom Perrotta starts the story with Ruth, then introduces the life of Tim. In my opinion, he stays too long with Tim for the rest of the book and not enough with Ruth – which only matters because the title makes the reader expect a different view. However, the richness of detail and struggle of all the characters are very real and highly believable.
The basic premise of where the US education system is headed with the rise of evangelical outspokenness and direction, remains strong throughout, without ever getting in the way of a very human story, which touches on other issues concerning the religious right, such as gay marriage and a Christian marriage.
This book could have done with a slight reworking of the structure, and the ending was perhaps too predictable, but for the depth of characterisation and detail, and an overall good story, it's a worthy read.
© Hannah Quinn 2008
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Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)hi hannah, thanks for a well written article. this book sounds interesting. thank you for bringing it to our attention, best regards, sue thomSusan, Thank you for taking the time to comment on my review. Cheers, Hannah
A bit of background in the actual article would have been helpful. I read many articles and I was lost at first. Once I realized it was a book review I started over and it all made sense to me. Thanks for the article. Mr. KeithMr Keith, I can imagine it was quite confusing at first. Book reviews and articles are quite different, aren't they? Thanks for taking the time to sort it out. I appreciate it. Cheerio, Hannah
Hannah-Interesting review. I am curious about the book to see how it all plays out. Good job!-LauraLaura, I hope you enjoy the book if you read it. It's very interesting and raises many questions and thoughts. The characterisation especially, is very good. Cheerio, Hannah
Hannah, great review and interesting book. Your review was a good mix of summary and critique. It made me want to find out more.Stephany, That's just what I was setting out to do, so thank you for the positive feedback. Book reviews can be tricky things to write. Cheerio, Hannah
Thanks for the book review. Sounds like a good read. I hadn't heard of it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the plot. TeresaTeresa, It is, indeed, a very interesting read and quite thought provoking. I hope you enjoy it if you read it. Cheerio, Hannah
Good review Hannah, succinct and easy to understand, just the way a review should be.Ben, Thank you for the positive feedback. It is too easy to give away the plot in a review, so succinct is good! Cheerio, Hannah
Once again we see the difficult issues all mankind must face which even between good people can divide. How very sad we do not leave the call to God.
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