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The Abstinence Teacher

by Tom Perrotta

3.22 · rating details · 8,387 ratings · 1,681 reviews

“Some people enjoy it.”

That was all Ruth had said. Even now, when she’d had months to come to terms with the fallout from this remark, she still marveled at the power of those four words, which she’d uttered without premeditation and without any sense of treading on forbidden ground. (p. 11)

Thanks to an off-hand remark made during a class discussion of oral sex, sex-ed tea...more“Some people enjoy it.”

That was all Ruth had said. Even now, when she’d had months to come to terms with the fallout from this remark, she still marveled at the power of those four words, which she’d uttered without premeditation and without any sense of treading on forbidden ground. (p. 11)

Thanks to an off-hand remark made during a class discussion of oral sex, sex-ed teacher Ruth Ramsey finds herself a target of the Christian evangelicals who are increasingly influencing the schoolboard of suburban Stonewood Heights. Forced to attend remedial sessions with a smug “Virginity Consultant,” Ruth is isolated and alone, caught in the polarized red-versus-blue landscape of present-day American suburbia. It’s like “living in a horror movie,” she thinks, “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or something. You never knew who they were going to get to next.” Divorced and sharing custody of her daughters with her ex, and sometimes attempting a futile date, Ruth spends many a lonely weekend wondering how her bleak existence came to be.

Then one morning at her daughter’s soccer game, Ruth meets Tim Mason, a cute forty-something volunteer coach. Ruth feels an instant attraction to Tim, but when he draws the girls together for a spontaneous prayer circle after the game, she angrily yanks her daughter away from the proceedings, placing herself once again in the sights of the evangelicals.

But Ruth has another unexpected problem: she can’t seem to get a handle on Tim, her supposed adversary, who keeps appearing at her front door. A recovering addict whose bottoming-out cost him his home and his marriage, Tim found his way to the Tabernacle of the Gospel Truth through the intervention of Pastor Dennis, the charismatic preacher who put Tim’s shattered life back together in an approximation of happiness. Thanks to Pastor Dennis, Tim is now married to Carrie, a fellow Tabernacler who is attractive and attentive, if robotic. He plays guitar at the weekly prayer sessions in a sanitized reenactment of his days in a Grateful Dead cover band. He holds a respectable if unfulfilling job as a loan officer, well aware of the irony of the post for a man with his history. He is grateful for the help he has received from his church community and Pastor Dennis. But he can’t shake the yearning for something more, and a nagging attraction to that troublesome sex-ed teacher....

With The Abstinence Teacher, Tom Perrotta wades into the murky waters of contemporary American suburbia, fully deploying his proven gift for describing the panic lurking beneath its seemingly placid surface. Already widely known to book and movie audiences for his scathing satire mixed with remarkable compassion in works including Election and Little Children (both adapted for film, Little Children garnering Perrotta an Oscar nomination), this novel once again proves, as declared by the Los Angeles Times, “Perrotta’s balance of humor and pathos has no equal.”(less)

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published October 16th 2007 by Random House Canada (first published January 1st 2007)

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Feb 25, 2009

David rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009

JESUS WANTS YOU ........ TO GROW A PAIR.

Tommy, Tommy, Tommy! How did such a promising young literary stud like yourself turn out to be such an emasculated whore? When did things start to go so horribly, horribly wrong?

Let me be clear. When I picked you up at the airport in San Francisco, it was with entirely clear-eyed, realistic expectations. Let's face it. I wasn't looking for the literary love of my life. Just a two-plane romance - enough to while away the time it ta...more JESUS WANTS YOU ........ TO GROW A PAIR.

Tommy, Tommy, Tommy! How did such a promising young literary stud like yourself turn out to be such an emasculated whore? When did things start to go so horribly, horribly wrong?

Let me be clear. When I picked you up at the airport in San Francisco, it was with entirely clear-eyed, realistic expectations. Let's face it. I wasn't looking for the literary love of my life. Just a two-plane romance - enough to while away the time it takes to get from SFO to Madrid. Maybe a little bathroom nookie during my stopover in Dulles. And believe me - I'm no snob about this shit. I think there's everything to be said for the fleeting joy of airplane lit. Done right, it can be one of life's great pleasures. And the possibility can never be ruled out that it may lead to a deeper and more passionate commitment. I mean, look at Nate and Brenda in "Six Feet Under", and how well it worked out for them. Even the briefest of airport bathroom encounters is pregnant with possibility.

So I'll admit to a certain nervous excitement as I boarded the plane at SFO, your manly bulk in my pocket, pressing against my crotch in mute promise of pleasures yet to come. And for the first 20 pages or so, you didn't disappoint. There was wit, a sense of direction, a certain ability to nail characters with brisk efficiency within a couple of snappy paragraphs.

But I should have heeded the warning signs that were obvious right there in the book store. Even if the appalling cutesy biographical sketch could be excused as a horrendous contrivance foisted upon you by your publicist, there was that truly worrisome 'author portrait', which presumably you had to have approved at the very least. You know the one I'm talking about. The one where your desperate need to be liked permeates every line of the simpering come-hither rictus of a wistful little-lost-geisha-boy pout that you project to your potential johns. It might as well have been subtitled "me make you happy long time".

Did they teach you that at geisha school, Tommy? To try to be all things to all men? Because, here's the thing, eunuchboy. Let me let you in on a little secret. Nowadays even the sweatiest of Japanese salarymen no longer finds the response "Who would you like me to be?" even faintly arousing in answer to the question "Who are you?".

So that, when your thin excuse for a bold courageous novel touching on polemic issues degenerated into an incoherent mess of not wanting to offend anybody under any circumstances, frankly my frustration increased in direct proportion to the flaccidity of your prose. What was particularly weird was that you were hardly fooling anyone with your lethally boring 150 pages of padding trying to cover up the moral vaccum at the heart of your cardboard ex-stoner Jesus freak.

And what about plot, Tommy? Do castrati get a pass?

WARNING....... POSSIBLE SPOILER AHEAD .... BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE REALLY, REALLY STUPID ... AS STUPID AS THE AUTHOR ... WHICH SEEMS UNLIKELY ...

Or is that what passes for resolution these days? Fading to black as hormonal Barbie and stoner Ken get it on. Despite the well-documented lack of genitalia of said eponymous action figurines.

And apparently of the author of this excessively wordy piece of trash of a book, devoid of almost any smidgen of intellectual content. Guaranteed to offend nobody. Unless, of course, you have a brain.(less)

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Feb 07, 2008

Jason Pettus rated it

Shelves: contemporary, character-heavy, religion

(My entire review of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

As I've mentioned here a couple of times before, I've recently become a fairly big fan of movie-friendly author Tom Perrotta; for example, I found his breakthrough 2006 novel Little Children to be a surprisingly complex and subtle look at just what a horrific place the suburbs can be to some people, a stifl...more(My entire review of this book is much longer than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find the entire essay at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com].)

As I've mentioned here a couple of times before, I've recently become a fairly big fan of movie-friendly author Tom Perrotta; for example, I found his breakthrough 2006 novel Little Children to be a surprisingly complex and subtle look at just what a horrific place the suburbs can be to some people, a stifling environment that squashes all yearning for something beyond the lowest common denominator as thoroughly as a Communist cultural crackdown. Ah, but then I read his latest, 2007's similarly-themed The Abstinence Teacher, and realized something I think I knew all along but that I hadn't wanted to admit to myself; that Perrotta in fact dances on that thin little line between being a good movie-friendly author and a bad one, and that even a small amount of seemingly inconsequential bad decisions on his part concerning character and story will eventually amount to one giant stinker of a book by the end, even with such a book still being 92-percent exactly like the other book that's great and that everyone loves.

Like Little Children, for example, The Abstinence Teacher is also set in a repressive McMansion-happy middle-class suburb in the American Northeast; like Little Children, it's also supposed to be about a subversive sexual tension between people on opposite sides of an arbitrary issue that is arbitrarily important in this gossipy hothouse suburban environment. But see, here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about, because in Little Children Perrotta makes such a relationship work, by making the supposed opposites actually two sides of the same coin; in that book, it makes sense that the former radical-feminist academe and the former frat-boy football hero would have a charged illicit affair, because it was the Kafkaesque environment they were in that brought an end to both their individual hopes and dreams. In his newest book, though, Perrotta tries to use a Fundamentalist Christian church as the catalyst bringing two people from opposite sides of the fence suddenly and unusually together; but in this case such a thing simply doesn't work, because of the church and its actions causing a legitimate rift between anyone who falls on either side of the fence, too big to be overcome in a cutesy romantic way like Perrotta tries to do.

In fact, this is the question I kept coming back to, over and over and over again as I read this novel; of why the main Christian character, former rock star and wicked addict Tim Mason, so thoroughly devotes his life to a cartoonishly evil Evangelical church to begin with. Perrotta tries to explain that it was the church who helped him overcome his addiction, and so Tim feels an irrational fear of falling off the wagon if he were to ever stray from their mustache-twirling neocon activities, but I'm not buying it; I myself am an atheist who's never been through a recovery program, and even I know that there are literally hundreds of politically moderate religious organizations out there designed specifically to help recovering addicts. (This is even a basic precept of...(less)

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Aug 07, 2008

Michael rated it

I really enjoy Tom Perrotta's writing style, and this book is no exception. His prose is smooth and easy, the kind of writing that pulls you into the story and makes you forget you're reading a book. I would compare reading Perrotta to watching an engaging movie. He's just an excellent storyteller.

That said, I have some issues with his latest, The Abstinence Teacher. The book is about a woman named Ruth, a sex ed teacher in Suburbville, USA, who sparks a controversy by responding...moreI really enjoy Tom Perrotta's writing style, and this book is no exception. His prose is smooth and easy, the kind of writing that pulls you into the story and makes you forget you're reading a book. I would compare reading Perrotta to watching an engaging movie. He's just an excellent storyteller.

That said, I have some issues with his latest, The Abstinence Teacher. The book is about a woman named Ruth, a sex ed teacher in Suburbville, USA, who sparks a controversy by responding to a question by one of her students about oral sex. Her student thinks that oral sex is like kissing a toilet seat. Ruth replies that oral sex is safe and can be made safer with certain devices, and that some people even like it. Well, this sets off the local Christian right and a movement starts that results in the school's adoption of an abstinence-only sex ed program (hence, the title). Needless to say, Ruth doesn't believe in the program, but she's stuck in a tough position.

On the other side, the story is also about Tim, a member of the ultra-conservative Tabernacle church, led by religious zealot Pastor Dennis, a former Best Buy employee who found Jesus and then smashed up the store's most expensive merchandise. Tim is a former minor rock musician, alcoholic, and drug addict, and he is recovering now that Pastor Dennis has introduced Jesus into his life. Tim's obvious conflict is between his sinful urges and his desire to lead a Christian life. Is Jesus just another outlet for an addictive personality? You decide.

Ruth and Tim come into conflict at a soccer game. Tim coaches the local girls' soccer team, on which both Ruth's daughter and Tim's daughter play. Following one particularly emotional win, and with Ruth in the crowd, Tim sits his team down in a circle and leads them in a prayer of thanks. As you can imagine, Ruth does not take kindly to the decision, and the real path of the story begins from there.

Of course, there are a lot of other things going on, too. Perrotta is a master of highlighting the little conflicts that plague everyday families in suburban America, as well as the small victories. And this book was going just great up to the point that Ruth's and Tim's worlds collide.

But here comes the major storyline of the novel that I just couldn't buy, and that really messed up a lot of moments for me: Perrotta introduced sexual tension between Tim and Ruth. Wait, what? Ruth just saw this religious nut (the same kind of nut that has cost her her curriculum) leading her daughter in an unsanctioned prayer, and then loudly berated him for doing it, and rightly so. And now you're telling me she wants to sleep with him? Even date him?

I don't have kids yet, but I'm only a couple of years away from that point of my life, and I can picture myself in the situation. Here I am, a nice Jewish guy who's raising his kids to be nice Jewish kids. They happen to play for a soccer team coached by a desparately hot woman who happens to be a religious fanatic (as yet unknown to me). At the end of the game, this beauty sits down my kid, MY KID, and leads him/her in a prayer of thanks to Jesus. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm pissed just thinking about it, and I don't care how hot this coach is, I'm certainly not getting over my righteous indignation about her interference with MY CHILD just because she has a great butt. So naturally, when I read that Ruth is having feelings for Tim, and vice versa, well, I'm just not buying what Perrotta's selling. I can see Tim being interested, but reciprocation of that interest doesn't fit the Ruth character that Perrotta had already introduced me to, and that lingering attraction messed up a lot of the story's credibility. It's hard to enjoy a book fully when there's such a major disconnect, and I couldn't help but close this book with a sense of dissatisfaction at how Perrotta chose to lead his main characters.(less)

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Nov 13, 2007

David rated it

My dad sent me this book, and also the DVD of "Little Children", which is based on his novel of the same name. Here's what I wrote him after reading it:

I went to the theater but it was packed, so I opted out, went to a coffee shop and read Perrotta's book, which I finished this morning. Really bad. If you haven't read it yet, I wouldn't bother. There was something that bothered me about Little Children that I couldn't put my finger on until now. Perrotta is trying to be...more

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Feb 03, 2009

Morgue Anne rated it

When it comes to my sex life, there’s a lot my parents don’t need to know. They don’t need to know that I was deathly afraid of sex until I was almost 18 – not because of those “abstinence only” education documentaries that made sex seem like a death warrant – but because it was me giving something of myself to someone, letting them have a power over me that I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. They don’t need to know who I lost my virginity to, or what my current boyfriend and I do behind closed...moreWhen it comes to my sex life, there’s a lot my parents don’t need to know. They don’t need to know that I was deathly afraid of sex until I was almost 18 – not because of those “abstinence only” education documentaries that made sex seem like a death warrant – but because it was me giving something of myself to someone, letting them have a power over me that I wasn’t entirely comfortable with. They don’t need to know who I lost my virginity to, or what my current boyfriend and I do behind closed doors.There are, however, some things they deserve to know, even if I’m never going to be the one to bring it up. They deserve to know that I am happy with my partner, and, if and when we are sexually active, that I am on the pill, he’s wearing a condom, and I get tested every three months. They deserve to know these things because they are my parents. They love me, and want me to be safe, happy, and not in a situation I will regret later.
This is a book about sex. It's one of the better books on the "Abstinence only" education I have read, because it doesn't display everything in black and white. Each side isn't pointing to finger to the other and screaming "They're trying to ruin our children!". Everyone's just scared. The teachers are scared because they aren't allowed to give the students the information they need to be safe, and the parents are scared because they don't want their children to need this information in the first place. The main characters of this story do a fantastic job of portraying this to the reader, but Perrotta also makes a point of showing the negative effects of the "Virginity Consultant" and her "Safe Choices" program for teenagers.
Abstinence only education is, as my social psychologist boyfriend would put it, "Empirically verified as ineffective". The information is crap (condoms failing 1/3 of the time, EVERYONE who has sex will get a disease, that hot girl with teh A&F model boyfriend is content in her life without orgasams, etc), the teachers don't believe it and are teaching it to a group of students who, rather then listen, are eyeing that cute girl in the second row. I try not to be forceful with my opinions, but this is something I feel strongly enough about to share. I was fortunate enough to have parents and teachers who gave me the information I needed, and trusted me to be smart about making my own choices. My mother made sure I was covered for birth control on our insurance plan, My teacher told me in confidence that Lover's Package had the cheapest condoms (and the employees were the most knowledgable about which brand was more effective), and the testing once every three months, that was my idea. Because, believe it or not, an 18 year old can make responsible choices about sex. When given the *correct* information. (less)

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Nov 06, 2007

Abby rated it

Shelves: fiction

Well.

I'm rather Tom Perrotta-obsessed. I've been known to babble on about him...over and over and over again.

I was really excited for this book to come out. I loved the concept of Ruth, a Human Sexuality teacher, being called into question for something innocent, a casual remark, and how the hyper-Christian population attacked her like she had horns and had the middle name Lucifer. And the connection between Tim, her daughter's born-again soccer coach, and Ruth are great....moreWell.

I'm rather Tom Perrotta-obsessed. I've been known to babble on about him...over and over and over again.

I was really excited for this book to come out. I loved the concept of Ruth, a Human Sexuality teacher, being called into question for something innocent, a casual remark, and how the hyper-Christian population attacked her like she had horns and had the middle name Lucifer. And the connection between Tim, her daughter's born-again soccer coach, and Ruth are great. The scene where Ruth realizes that Tim is praying on after a particularly invigorating game is so well-done.

But. And there's a but. It's well-written, because, of course, it's Tom Perrotta and he's wonderful. However, this book was so lackluster compared to his other great books (Little Children! The Wishbones! Election!) that is was almost reminiscent of Joe College, the only book of his that I didn't devour in a single sitting. And it was really disappointing.

Maybe I should blame myself. After reading Little Children two years ago, I was already impatient for his newest book to come out. And with the startling way Christianity has dominated our politics, I think it's absolutely necessary for a satirical book to make light of it and show how RIDICULOUS it all can be through every day circumstances. Every day circumstances and satires are, after all, what Tom Perrotta does best.

But this book falls flat in several ways. Character development, for example. Ruth was two-dimensional, at best. Sure, she had her moments of fire and anger concerning her curriculum and maybe her daughters (and of course, Tim's choice to pray after games), but then what? There was no depth to her, so different from the female protagonist Sarah in Little Children. And Tim...I understood why Tim had a bigger role in the book than Ruth; it was crucial for the reader to understand how one gets to be a born-again and the doubts/uncertainties that he/she has after the fact. Which, of course, is Tim.

The soccer scenes were long and drawn out. I skimmed through them. They reminded me of the ONLY thing I didn't like in Little Children, which were the football games. Maybe it's because I just don't really care about sports and don't really care to READ about sports, but I just turned my brain off during those parts.

There were so many things I wanted to see expanded, mostly that I wanted more Ruth. I wanted more Ruth and her daughters. More about her divorce, beyond the fact that she thought her marriage to Frank was always a mistake. I really liked her; it was sad to not see more of her. And what about JoAnn? GOD, would I have loved to see her got some form of comeuppance!

The ending suited me just fine. I've read reviews so far where people thought it was blah, not good, and I found the opposite. I enjoyed it a lot.

I still really liked the book, despite my observations. It's still Tom Perrotta, and it's still good writing. And I still laughed out loud several times. And I will still probably re-read this book a few times, because that's how I roll.(less)

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Aug 21, 2008

Stuart Nachbar rated it

· review of another edition

The Abstinence Teacher Gets an A in My Grade Book

Tom Perrotta and I have two things in common: New Jersey roots and novels about sex education; his latest work, The Abstinence Teacher is the only other novel, besides my own, The Sex Ed Chronicles, that I have read which covers a subject that is still considered taboo in some social circles.

The Abstinence Teacher has two main characters: Ruth Ramsey, a divorcee’ and high school sex educator who makes one inappropriate comm...more

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Jul 05, 2008

Matt rated it

After LITTLE CHILDREN, this book seems totally light-weight. Definitely not a bad book, but the characters were painted a little too broadly for my tastes (Ruth's gay best friends, for example, or the stereotypical "ms. perfect" abstinence pusher).

Perrotta tries his best to present both sides of the religious debate as equally valid, but his heart really isn't in it (not that I blame him). While none of the religious characters come off as complete left-wing stereotypes, n...more

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May 11, 2008

Sarah rated it

Recommends it for: Laura, Lynne, Toni

Shelves: general-fiction

The story unfolds...It sounds like such a cliche but that truly is the best way to describe this absorbing read. Perrota does an excellent job of reeling the reader in, slowly disclosing background information and details about the main characters, all the while allowing the story to be told. Perrota never hints at his own personal position on the controversial issues raised by this novel (i.e. educating high school students about abstinence, public prayer, Christianity.) Both of the main charac...more

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Jan 31, 2008

Michael added it

Shelves: unfinished

It took me two months to NOT read this book. I don't make enough time for reading as it is and chasing a 19 month old around the apartment most days isn't helping me carve into my to-read stack. That said, and while I am a Tom Perrotta fan, I had some problems with this book. I read a couple of excellent short stories published in the last couple years that had me thinking he was headed into some seriously vaunted territory with his fiction. Say, inching toward Raymond Carver type stuff. (Mind, ...more

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Mar 09, 2009

Cher rated it

The obvious confrontation in this story is between the Christian's perception of the "godlessness" and the non-Christians who perceive the Christians as zealots who push their beliefs down other's throats. However, religion aside, the bigger point seems to be an overall lack of tolerance for diversity. Aren't we all tempted to justify our own convictions and values? And in doing so, aren't we somewhat blinded to the fact that our adversaries are just doing the same?

Each ma...more

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Jul 26, 2008

Tony rated it

Shelves: read-2008

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book was well-reviewed by the NY TIMES. Well-reviewed enough that I was convinced that I wanted to read the book, even after finding the film version of LITTLE CHILDREN to be rather uninteresting. I am well aware that films of novels leave a lot to be desired, but the story in LITTLE CHILDREN didn't even make me curious enough about the book to want to read it. I figured that "better than the movie" would still be kinda bad.

But, I said, "Yes," to THE ABSTI...more

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Jul 18, 2008

Kit rated it

Shelves: peanut-m-ms

I'm about halfway through this, and am not loving it. Maybe the ending will pull thigns together (and pull this off).

Where I am now: characters are stock characters, so am assuming the point is not character or character development, but some larger point about our culture and its issues about the roles of sexuality and religion.

A parent is shocked/distressed that their child's health ed (sex ed) teacher says that some people like oral sex (and, presumably, not so happy ...moreI'm about halfway through this, and am not loving it. Maybe the ending will pull thigns together (and pull this off).

Where I am now: characters are stock characters, so am assuming the point is not character or character development, but some larger point about our culture and its issues about the roles of sexuality and religion.

A parent is shocked/distressed that their child's health ed (sex ed) teacher says that some people like oral sex (and, presumably, not so happy that the teachers flips diaphragms around the classroom like tiny frisbees) -- feels that's an abuse of the teacher's authority, that it crosses the line into what the parent should be responsible for teaching her child.

Another parent (who just so happens to be that sex ed teacher) is shocked/distressed that her child's soccer coach has the kids join hands and pray (very ecumenically, as best we can tell) after a big game win --- feels that's an abuse of the coach's authority, that it crosses the line into what the parent should be responsible for teaching her child.

Sooo..... is there a moment of revelation waiting in the wings for the characters? For us?

I don't care much about the characters, actually, so don't feel invested in whether or not they have a revelation moment. And I'm thinking not-so-much for us, because it's so broadly drawn. But will keep reading, just in case.
----

OK, I finished it. Bleh.

Maybe this is a draft of a screenplay? Maybe if you had compelling actors take on these characters, the characters would be more 'real' and more interesting? Maybe if you had a strong editor you could structure the storyline so that it, um, worked?

Disappointing. But a fast read, if anyone's got it in his or her tote bag for the beach.....

----
P.S. Because this bugged me so bad -- but stop reading right now if you don't want anything 'spoilerish' --- I couldn't stand the scene where the health teachers go in for re-indoctrination in the abstinence curriculum. The facilitator tells them to write down their sexual experience they're most ashamed of and then they're supposed to read these aloud to the group.

Hello? Wouldn't a group of experienced sex ed teachers know how to just say NO to being 'coerced' into sharing a private experience? Couldn't one of them have gracefully objected to the assignment on the grounds that they see their sex lives as their personal business and not fodder for the abstinence curriculum? (less)

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Jun 11, 2008

Heather rated it

Shelves: literary-novels

hmmmm. Not scathing, not laugh-out-loud funny; comic in the positive, compassionate sense. I missed the outrageousness of some of the things Little Children. ("Slutty Kay!" still laughing over that subplot!) these characters seem real in an ordinary, everyday way. I cared about them and wanted their lives to become happier, without feeling any urgency about it. There's almost no plot; nothing dramatic happens. Fairly superficial action setpieces (busy but without much at stake dramat...more

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May 25, 2008

Yosafbridg rated it

"A stranger might have mistaken him for a dedicated Information Sciences professional getting an early start on some important research,
but Ruth knew that he was actually scouring eBay for vintage Hasbro action figures, a task he preformed several times a day."
(wilely creatures, those (or should i say, we?) Information Sciences professionals.)
The Abstinence Teacher is the first Tom Perrotta novel i have read (though i loved the movie Election) and i quite enjoyed th...more"A stranger might have mistaken him for a dedicated Information Sciences professional getting an early start on some important research,
but Ruth knew that he was actually scouring eBay for vintage Hasbro action figures, a task he preformed several times a day."
(wilely creatures, those (or should i say, we?) Information Sciences professionals.)
The Abstinence Teacher is the first Tom Perrotta novel i have read (though i loved the movie Election) and i quite enjoyed the experience (but then, i am a sucker for a well-done satire)~one of those books i read (almost) straight through. Ruth Ramsey teaches high school Health & Family Life in the lovely suburb of Stonewood Heights, and during the Human Sexuality unit she makes the rather fatal error of observing that she has heard that some people actually enjoy oral sex (oh, my). When one student reports this to her parents it sets off a maelstrom resulting in a pilot Abstinence only program taught at her school, she being required to attend "remedial" sexuality teachers' training, and having a companion "teacher" (a blonde and sexy virgin who is an expert in abstinence, natch).
Stonewood Heights has recently seen the addition of The Tabernacle of the Gospel Truth a "diverse" evangelic church rapidly gaining in popularity and influence. Tim Mason is a recovering drug addict who has found his recovery in God and and The Tabernacle. His pastor has talked him into a second marriage with a sweet girl who he is not sure he is happy with. Ruth, divorced, unwillingly practicing an abstinence of her own feels a certain attraction to this unlikely man who insists on closing prayer at her daughter's soccer games. Will these these attracted opposites connect? Can Ruth's tolerance extend to her daughters' desire to attend to church? Will Tim relapse? These and many more exciting questions May be answered in the first installment of The Abstinence Teacher...
Sometimes i have to ask myself if i am a shallow reader (person) for not getting (much) more than sheer pleasure out of certain reading experiences (or is it that i am just SO deep and SO clever that i have already thought out all those thoughts? hmmm...)
(and i absolutely loved the ending...)(less)

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May 25, 2008

Lorraine rated it

Recommends it for: Christians in book clubs

Recommended to Lorraine by: AnnaVR

A friend suggested I read this book and tell her what I thought, because "it's different" and it was. It warrants discussion, because I don't think I can fully appreciate all of it on my own (yet I didn't like it enough to want to reread it). 3 stars because I'm torn between liking it and not liking it.

I thought the book would be more focussed on the abstinence teacher's struggles with her sex ed curriculum, but that wasn't really the focus of the book at all. It starts ...moreA friend suggested I read this book and tell her what I thought, because "it's different" and it was. It warrants discussion, because I don't think I can fully appreciate all of it on my own (yet I didn't like it enough to want to reread it). 3 stars because I'm torn between liking it and not liking it.

I thought the book would be more focussed on the abstinence teacher's struggles with her sex ed curriculum, but that wasn't really the focus of the book at all. It starts the book off, and produces the most entertaining stories and quips about sexual experiences, but it seems to me that the main protagonist is Tim, the 'saved from drugs and rock'n'roll born-again Christian.' It's his struggles to continue life with the right-winged evangelicals and not fall off the wagon that seemed to take centre stage.

I was scared the book would turn out to be Christian fiction at its worst: typical Christian conversion story in which everyone sees the Light (ie God) at the end is on their knees praying for forgiveness. Instead it went the other way and satirized that type of story (I certainly hope the preacher is a parody, because that guy's wacked).
Instead, I think, the story suggests that the gung-ho for Jesus life of the Christian fundamentalists is not really effective in changing a person long term. For Tim, it gets him out of his drug addiction, but only replaces the high with a euphoric Jesus glow. When the glow fades, he doesn't know where to go (this is illustrated through Jay). The pastor pushed him into marrying a 'good Christian girl' with the expectation that just because they were both Christians, it would work out.
The black and white legalism of the Pastor must also be satirical (or critical), though with an addict temptation is probably more present than others. Tim's past meant he couldn't be near any of his past demons, yet he wasn't really given any forms of entertainment to replace them; it seems inevitable that he would get bored with his new life and slip. Maybe it was more the way the pastor responded to Tim's shortcomings and struggles that was problematic, rather than Tim himself.

The book does not reject Christianity completely -- just fundamentalism. It's a liberal Christian novel, maybe? My grounds for A) Christian because: Ruth's girls go to church with the Korean family and there are no negatives put on that development; Tim does seem to be lead by God at the end (though I suppose this could be argued) and he never rejects God -- he doesn't go to the strip club with Jay, and he still prays -- he just rejects the Pastor and admits his marriage failed. B) liberal/left-winged because: the Joann character is made to look dumb and her approach to sex (abstinence) is rejected (the book is not clear in its stance on sexual encounters, though it does suggest people be informed and personally discerning and never really disputes sex ed teacher's motto); the book is clearly unambiguous in its acceptance of homosexuality (maybe the only point it is clear about); a lot of sex stories and presence in the story. I'm not sure why sex is such a big part of the secondary plot -- maybe I'm misreading the book by putting Tim's story as primary and the sex ed teacher's as secondary. There must be a reason for the two plots intersecting, right? In Shakespeare the minor plot is commentary on the major plot, but I can't see how the work together, other than the main characters of the two are connected.

I'll have to puzzle over this one longer.(less)

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Jan 24, 2008

Elysabeth rated it

Shelves: book-club

What I loved about The Abstinence Teacher:

I absolutely love shifting points of view, most especially when the writer does it so deftly that we gain important details about characters through others' observations. This is especially present in Tim's observations of Ruth and vice versa.

I also loved the way that Perrotta weaves very current, very real pop culture details into how the characters operate and go about their lives. (i.e., Ruth looks up her first lover on www.c...more

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Jan 14, 2008

Maggie rated it

Perrotta's latest installment uses public school health teachers and suburban soccer moms and dads to examine the war between liberals and evangelicals. For over ten years Ruth Ramsay let her motto of "Pleasure is good, shame is bad, and knowledge is power" guide her teaching of human sexuality; in her classroom no subject was forbidden, but the envelope is eventually pushed too far when, in response to a student's vocal disgust over oral sex, she replies, "some people enjoy it."...more

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May 05, 2008

Charity rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: wtf

Once again Tom Perrotta manages to capture the essence of suburbia with a little controversy thrown in to boot...and I always like my Anytown, USA with a side of controversy.

Ruth is a high school sex education teacher who becomes the target of a group of evangelicals. These high-strung fundamentalists are seeking total control over the children in the community and will do just about anything to get it...from banning Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret to teaching abstinence educati...more

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May 21, 2008

Bree rated it

Shelves: fiction, 2007

So, just finished this book and I have to say that I actually enjoyed it. I had read Little Children by this author a while back and hated it so much, but I put that aside to read this one for a bookclub.

There were so many issues going on at once in the book, and I just don't know where to begin. First of all, I *do* believe in abstinence HOWEVER, I don't believe that it should be taught in schools, that is something that a parent should discuss with their children...the schools sh...moreSo, just finished this book and I have to say that I actually enjoyed it. I had read Little Children by this author a while back and hated it so much, but I put that aside to read this one for a bookclub.

There were so many issues going on at once in the book, and I just don't know where to begin. First of all, I *do* believe in abstinence HOWEVER, I don't believe that it should be taught in schools, that is something that a parent should discuss with their children...the schools should be giving the fact, not warped facts.

Second, I absolutely HATE how religion takes over everything and changes it. I believe that if there is something you do or don't do because of your religion, you shouldn't make everyone else change, just remove yourself from the situation and respect everyone else's rights to do as they please. The more I think about it, the more it irritates me - from religion in schools to boycotting stores for saying "happy holidays" because not everyone believes in Christmas. In general in society it's getting WAY out of hand, nobody knows how to use their rights without stomping all over the rights of someone else...when common sense dictates that perhaps instead of worry ing about YOURSELF, you should worry about the other person. Duh.

Wow, kinda got on a rant there...see, that's why this was such a great book to me...it really got me going, invested emotionally and I wanted to really PUNCH Pastor Dennis in the face for forcing his own religion on everyone else, and thriving on the attention brought on by the fights they picked.

I really felt the rage that Ruth felt when her life was turned upside down not once but TWICE by Pastor Dennis' group, but then could understand the struggle that Tim was going through as a member of that church. The other sideline characters I didn't really think were necessary to the plot (ie the gay friends of Ruths - they didn't add anything to the story other than they were her only friends, basically that was all - I'm not sure what their little sub-drama was all about, or how it fit into the story at all).

But anyway, overall...it's an excellent read. :)

(less)

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Jan 30, 2008

Erica rated it

Recommends it for: people who don't want to think

Shelves: 2008

I saw this book on the "new" stand at Barnes and Noble and was intrigued. Not because I'm into abstinence or because the title had the word "teacher" in it, but because I liked the movie Little Children which was based on Tom Perrotta's novel.

This novel is about Ruth, a high school sex ed teacher who is divorced and trying to deal with her school administration's policy on teaching abstinence, her youngest daughter's Christian born-again soccer coach, and her newf...more

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Dec 05, 2008

David rated it

I think what I most enjoyed about this book was simply the craft of it--backstories told within the course of the chapters, histories and motives established--it's all just very enjoyable for me (especially studying it coming off the Nanowrimo month long novel writing challenge where backstories were a big feature of my story). And as a new reader of Tom Perrotta, I found a lot to enjoy here. His descriptions of infidelity and religion and drug addiction all make for an absorbing read. It is ...more

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Oct 20, 2007

Gina rated it

· review of another edition

It's kind of odd having read this right after the Tony Parsons, because there are a lot of the same themes (family/isolation from loved ones), just looked at differently by an Englishman and an American.

I think this is my favorite of Perrotta's books, because this is the one the rings most true with me--it feels really honest. Ruth and Tim, the main characters, are both still trying to figure out where they fit in their lives, and who they fit with.

I like Ruth's strong p...more

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Nov 05, 2007

Kikuko rated it

There's a wonderful, realistic portrayal in this book of the 'culture war' from both sides of the equation--a man who was messed up, but was reborn again in Christ and is trying his damndest to be a 'better person' despite his very human desires; which to him is based in saving others through his religion, and a female Sex Ed teacher forced to teach an abstinence-only school curriculum which she knows is feeding dangerously inaccurate information to her students about sex and sexual safety who b...more

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Jul 03, 2008

Katie rated it

This book was great. I love Ruth. I completely identified with her frustrations toward the abstinence only garbage that some schools teach. The "Wise Choices for Teens" lady was so easy to despise and the seminar she taught all the Health Ed teachers was comical.
The characters personalities ring true. Even though coach Tim seemed like someone I would write off in real life (ex drug addict, male slut...) I liked him in the book. The fact he coaches soccer and you saw he had a ...more

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Aug 20, 2007

Aileen rated it

A spontaneous prayer after a girls’ soccer game polarizes a small town. Ruth, the most vociferous opponent of the prayer, inadvertently extols the pleasure of oral sex in her human sexuality class. The soccer coach spirals off his bandwagon and faces demons he had renounced before being born again. Perrotta deftly weaves multiple stories in this powerful parable of the religious clash in the U.S. Loneliness plays a central theme for all the characters, even Pastor Dennis, who resorts to bull...more

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Dec 08, 2008

Marie rated it

Shelves: fiction, spirituality-religion

In the spirit of "Little Children," this book explores the secrets and lies hidden in suburban America. A sex ed teacher is forced to teach an abstinence curriculum to her charges, and a troubled former drug addict turned soccer coach has turned to fundamentalist religion to help him battle his demons. Perrota does a fine job of creating multidimensional characters who are struggling with their past and what they have made of their present lives. He also examines the conservative Chris...more

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Oct 29, 2008

Johnny rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, marriage, family

This was a great book, even though I feel like Perotta has this way of making every day things totally horrifying. I do disagree with the reviews of this book that say it presents this wonderfully unbiased discussion of the evangelical right in suburbia by presenting both sides clearly. This is clearly a liberal-loving secular-world-promoting novel. But it is scary to read about the absolute conviction that evangelicals have in trying save kids like my daughter from the fires of hell. Anyhow...more

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Jan 01, 2012

Frederick Bingham rated it

· review of another edition

Ruth is a teacher in a small town New Jersey high school. She is teaching sex ed, when one day she makes the mistake of telling her class that some people enjoy oral sex. This incurs the wrath of the local holy roller community, who force the school district to adopt an "abstinence only" curriculum. Ruth is required to teach this curriculum even though it is filled with misinformation and half truths. Ruth is divorced and has two kids. She is unwillingly abstinent because she cannot fi...more

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Mar 15, 2009

Kendra rated it

Recommended to Kendra by: Kristina

This was another book that was handed to me with a “must read” label attached.

I was dubious.

For most of the book, honestly.

The reason? It made me uncomfortable. This is a really good quality. But it’s hard to recognize (and admit).

In any event, the storyline follows 2 distinct characters. One is a divorced mom/high-school sex ed teacher who has been forced into an “abstinence curriculum” as a result of the influence of a distinctly cult-like churc...more

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About Tom Perrotta

Tom Perrotta (born August 13, 1961) is an American novelist and screenwriter best known for his novels Election (1998) and Little Children (2004), both of which were made into critically acclaimed, Golden Globe-nominated films. Perrotta co-wrote the screenplay for the 2006 film version of Little Children with Todd Field, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay...more

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