Jesus Land: A Memoir
by Julia Scheeres
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
The credulous
Yeah, it was entertaining, the way a Lifetime movie is entertaining. I read it in about three hours, and I'm a slow reader. Scheeres's writing is catchy, if a bit high falutin' in parts. I had to occasionally put this book down, roll my eyes, and laugh.
Such dysfunction! Every childhood abuse you can imagine is superficially touched upon here. Scheeres was molested by her bad adopted black brother (whereabouts unknown), Scheeres's dead, good, adopted black brother was beaten like a slave...more
Such dysfunction! Every childhood abuse you can imagine is superficially touched upon here. Scheeres was molested by her bad adopted black brother (whereabouts unknown), Scheeres's dead, good, adopted black brother was beaten like a slave...more
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Read in July, 2007
As posted in www.amazon.com:
Oh. My. Goodness! Julia writes this honest memoir of her Christian childhood. However, the Christian family is nothing but a facade to impress the members of the local Calvinist church. Julia's mom is obsessed with missionaries and constantly plays Christian music. Her eyes is like those of a hawk, always watching the kids...and spying with the intercom as well.
Julia's surgeon father is worse. He's the one t...more
Oh. My. Goodness! Julia writes this honest memoir of her Christian childhood. However, the Christian family is nothing but a facade to impress the members of the local Calvinist church. Julia's mom is obsessed with missionaries and constantly plays Christian music. Her eyes is like those of a hawk, always watching the kids...and spying with the intercom as well.
Julia's surgeon father is worse. He's the one t...more
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Read in November, 2007
A gift from my dear sister to give me insight into my new home -- Indiana. I haven't met any folk that resemble those depicted in this book yet, but I wonder if I'd recognize them if I did - they seem somewhat caricatured in the book.
This is a memoir of a woman whose family adopted two black children, grudgingly, and proceeded to treat them badly and tolerate their poor treatment by everyone around them in rural Indiana, including the author herself. The author loves her adoptive brother, b...more
This is a memoir of a woman whose family adopted two black children, grudgingly, and proceeded to treat them badly and tolerate their poor treatment by everyone around them in rural Indiana, including the author herself. The author loves her adoptive brother, b...more
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I cried when I read the last line of Julia Scheeres tragic and touching memoir. Scheeres sucked me into her life and I couldn't put the book down for a second. My blood boiled at several points through out the book. Is it truly possible that people can be so heartless and cruel? Is it truly possible that while I was living a carefree childhood, Scheeres (who is only two years older than me) was living in a private hell? Jesus Land reads like a well paced, well written novel but I had to keep rem...more
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Julia Scheeres's memoir is perhaps one of the most haunting, powerful memoirs I've read. She details the heart-wrenching abuse she endured at the hands of her Christian family and the abusive reform school she attended with her adopted African American brother in the Dominican Republic. Her tale of severe sexual, emotional, physical, and religious abuse highlights issues of power and domination that are sometimes present in the American church. However, even as I wept for her and her brother whi...more
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This memoir points out a lot of the problems I have with certain religious types. The author's parents adopt two black children in the name of charity but then proceed to neglect all of their children, trying to substitute their own lack of ability to love with God's love.
Things get to a point where the author passively experiences racism, rape and complete subjugation of her free will in a very matter-of-fact and observational way. She's numb to what's happening even as she tells it in he...more
Things get to a point where the author passively experiences racism, rape and complete subjugation of her free will in a very matter-of-fact and observational way. She's numb to what's happening even as she tells it in he...more
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Read in August, 2007
I had a lot of trouble finishing this book. First of all, I was surprised that considering how bitter and jaded the author was against Indiana, that this book would be considered for an Elliot Rosewater nominee. The author paints a very grim picture of the Lafayette area. I was shocked at the racist portrayals that seemingly everyone in the area suposedly has. Even her school teachers were openly anti-semetic and racist against African Americans. I worked really hard to get through her awful de...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2008
recommends it for:
?? only to people who like memoirs
Holy cow, I'm really having a problem rating and reviewing this book. I would have to compare it to a car wreck---something horrible and tragic but often we feel compelled to watch. I took this book on a plane with me wanting a simple, easy read. It wasn't difficult in the ability sense but horribly draining in the emotional sense, I still felt a need to finish it. So many horrible things happen to the two main children in this book, (David's story especially broke my heart)***spoiler alert**: ...more
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Read in November, 2007
Many people on this forum say it was hard or impossible to believe that all of these things could have happened to one person. But I have no trouble believing these things could have happened - in my job I hear these kind of stories every day. One person said that the author should have kept these stories to herself or only shared with her mental health counselor. But if she chose to break the silence of her ordeal I see nothing wrong with that. And I liked the fact that her relationship...more
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Read in December, 2006
Other reviewers have used the word “caricature” in discussing this book, and they may be right. I assume it’s an attempt at an accurate portrayal of the author’s extraordinarily evil family (and other “resources”), but wouldn’t be surprised to learn that she’d embellished things a bit. With the possible exception of Becky, there is not even one responsible/virtuous adult in the entire saga.
That said, it’s a very simple story, probably on the YA level. The author stays in th...more
That said, it’s a very simple story, probably on the YA level. The author stays in th...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone who is naive enough to believe that dogma doesn't have a negative effect.
This book was really wonderful, but also very very heart wrenching. It's a great book for Christians to read. While it's a depressing glimpse into what happens when one takes his beliefs into his hands and selfish ambitions rule, it's also an necessary eye-opener.
It's not only about faith run amok, but also about racism in some-what modern culture. It's about family too, and what family really means. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who takes issue with Christianity on a whole. It won'...more
It's not only about faith run amok, but also about racism in some-what modern culture. It's about family too, and what family really means. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who takes issue with Christianity on a whole. It won'...more
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Read in March, 2008
I don't remember why I wanted to read this book, and I sort of wish I hadn't, mostly because of how incredibly depressing it is. After getting part way through, I figured I had to read through to the end because I needed to see some sort of redemption. I also had become very emotionally invested in the author's brother. The author and her brother went through really awful things, and I just wanted a glimmer of hope at the end, but no. It's so weird for me to critque memoirs and autobiographies, ...more
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Read in June, 2007
Very good and very depressing. It's the true story of a white girl and an African-American boy, sister and adopted brother, living in a fundamentally Christian household in Indiana, and then the Dominican Republic to serve time in a correctional school.
The racism the boy suffers is heartbreaking, and makes me glad I did not grow up in middle America. I haven't been exposed to much racism (if at all, growing up in Southern California), so it made me angry and frustrated to read about the rac...more
The racism the boy suffers is heartbreaking, and makes me glad I did not grow up in middle America. I haven't been exposed to much racism (if at all, growing up in Southern California), so it made me angry and frustrated to read about the rac...more
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Read in April, 2008
I thought this was an amazing book. This memoir is the story of Julie (a white girl) and her two adopted black brothers. Her parents (dedicated Christians) horribly mistreat both of the brothers, but Julie, for the most part, remained unharmed. However, this "preferential" treatment (she wasn't physically abused, but living in that house still wasn't a cake walk) caused rifts between her and David, the brother with whom she was closest. In their mid-teens, David and Julie both find the...more
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone interested in the perspective of siblings of transracial adoptees
The first half of the book was very good -- Scheeres really does a wonderful job of getting inside the power dynamics of a multiracial family in which race, adoption and gender are never discussed, and religion is always discussed (although in a very limited way). I was quite impressed by the way she shows that each member uses their own source of power to survive -- ultimately hurting each other in the process.
But the second half of the book was quite disappointing. I did not understand wh...more
But the second half of the book was quite disappointing. I did not understand wh...more
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This book is the account of the author's childhood/adolescence in a very conservative household. (The social worker in me sees more than just fundamental Christianity, I'm sure there are some mental health issues too). She is then sent to a boarding school in the Dominican where her adopted brother is.
The book was very well written and very interesting/important to read. The entire second part is the account of the boarding school time and I found it very difficult to read. Halfway through I...more
The book was very well written and very interesting/important to read. The entire second part is the account of the boarding school time and I found it very difficult to read. Halfway through I...more
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Read in October, 2007
Such an amazing story. I cant tell you how frustrated I was reading this story. It is painful to see children going through these atrocities committed by their own parents. A poignant story. I have read some reviews of this book recently that make me feel the need to edit my own. It angered me so much to see so many people saying things like they find it hard to believe. This is a MEMOIR! If you dont believe it its because you're a person who didn't have to experience it. Also you people...more
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
atheists
The events in this memoir are incredibly tragic, as is the approach to explaining them. Overall, a compelling childhood presented in a childish way. The relationship between David and Julia is heartbreaking. A black adopted brother, the privileged white biological daughter that loves him. It took me a long time to finish this book. It was interesting enough, and well written, but there was something terribly offensive about it. The author tried very hard to be casual about things that were obvio...more
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Read in March, 2008
Memoir of a seventeen year old Hoosier girl being raised in a strict rural Christian family with two adopted African American siblings, one very close to her in age. Time period is the 1980s. Although the tone is often bitter, it rings true for someone that age, in that place, in those circumstances. The strong brother-sister bond is what drives the book, as superficial family images and community bigotry are stripped away to reveal many painful truths. The story takes a major shift midway, ...more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
Everyone
I thought this was a thoughtful and harrowing memoir. As a transracial adoptee who was adopted into a fundamental Christian home and who also had siblings "homegrown" to my a-parents, I found this memoir quite interesting - especially the first half dealing with their teen years in a small farming community in Indiana.
I would have liked to have read more about Julia's other older siblings and I thought the second half (about Julia and her brother's experiences at a reform school i...more
I would have liked to have read more about Julia's other older siblings and I thought the second half (about Julia and her brother's experiences at a reform school i...more
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