Saturday, September 15, 2007

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature, by Robin Brande


Mena has gotten in a lot of trouble. Because of her whistle-blowing, her church and its members have been sued and she fears that her parents will lose their business. None of her old friends are speaking to her. But a new lab partner in her biology and her ex-friends' campaign against the teaching of Evolution in that class, trigger a series of changes and a crisis as she struggles with questions of faith and values.

The story makes very clear who the good guys and the bad guys are and never really lets up. The mean kids are just mean and the good ones good. The parents are not just annoying, they are as abusive and mean as the Evil Stepmother of a Grimms Tale. In sum, the story may be a breezy read, but you don't really buy any of it. I found that in itself annoying enough to not recommend this. There was plenty of conflict to make good drama here without painting the bad guys as cruel as Brande felt the need to do.

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