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Feb 10, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

At Reading Rants:

http://www.readingrants.org/2009/02/10/t...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2011

Shelbi rated it:

Let me start off by saying that I did like this book...I thought that Roose had some interesting insights into evangelical Christianity and this wasn't the "Evangelical Bashing" I thought it would be. I laughed at some of his confusion over things I grew up with...I understood how some things looked to him as an outsider. All in all, I think the book is a fascinating read.

With that said...here is what inherently bothers me/concerns me about the book:

1. Roose was c More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 19, 2010

La Petite Américaine rated it:

So, you know what happens when you take a liberal arts school student and throw him in the mix with the boys at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, a school where the dorms are segregated and residents have a curfew? Well, gee, whaddaya know, "what boys always do" happens: they sit around and play video games, talk about women and sex, they do their homework and contemplate their futures. Oh, and throw some prayer in, too, because it's a Christian University.

And what a shock More...

4 comments like (7 people liked it)

Apr 23, 2009

Aaron rated it:

Ten years ago Rob Suskind's A Hope in the Unseen followed a poor, religious inner-city kid's struggles at Brown University. Now Brown U. is back with another hip-hop, flip-flop comedy. This time around, we get to see the hijinks of a Brown student going to a religious Southern school. And Kevin Roose manages to learn a lesson of tolerance and hard-fought understanding during the era of the culture war. Yay.

The problem is this book strikes me as incredibly cynical. In part, Roose as a More...

9 comments like (16 people liked it)

Apr 23, 2009

Heather rated it:

When A.J. Jacobs was writing The Year of Living Biblically, he took on a slave (unpaid intern). The slave was Kevin Roose. After visiting Thomas Road Baptist Church (sanctuary of Jerry Falwell) with Jacobs, Roose decided to take a semester off at Brown and enroll undercover at Liberty University (Kingdom of Jerry Falwell).

What Roose finds at Liberty is an anomaly that changes his world. There is overt (faculty-encouraged) homophobia, antiquated views on race, and an emphasis on de-in More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 15, 2009

Karina rated it:

I like this book. It's got good story-telling and a lot of humor. It was nearly impossible to put down. I guess they wouldn't consider me a Christian in that University either, since I'm Catholic, not Evangelic Christian. In some of my beliefs, I'm more like the author than the Liberty students. For instance, I too would find the Life History lessons preposterous (I know because just the other day I got a free book offer in the mail arguing for geocentricity with some sprinkling of Bible quotes More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 02, 2012

Cheryl rated it:

After recently wondering aloud what book I should read next, my sister (we’re both agnostic) recommended, yet again, that I read The Unlikely Disciple. I basically know nothing about the Bible or Christianity (I groan and can’t even begin to guess at the correct answers when “The Bible” is a category on Jeopardy), so I thought this book might be mildly interesting and entertaining, but worried it would be a long, slow read. Boy, was I wrong. I found this book fascinating and finished it in two d More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 27, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

I love immersion journalism when it's done well. I'm mightily impressed by this Kevin Roose kid. He's funny, respectful, bold, thoughtful, and a darned good writer.

At age 19, Roose decided he wanted to cross the "God Divide" that separates secular kids from ultra-religious ones. After a crash course in evangelical culture from a formerly evangelical friend, he spent a semester undercover at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University (a misnomer if ever there was one). He complete More...

5 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2010

Marie rated it:

I could not put this book down.

Kevin Roose, an Ivy League-educated liberal agnostic with a Quaker upbringing, decided that instead of doing a semester abroad like everyone else at Brown University, he would explore a different culture right here in the U.S.A., that of evangelical Christianity.

He spent a semester somewhat undercover at Liberty University, which was founded by Rev. Jerry Falwell. His parents and in particular, his lesbian aunts, were very worried about his More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 22, 2009

Elpheaba rated it:

How do I know I went to Liberty University?
Well, I do know all the verses to Victory in Jesus
I do know more about tithing than my major,
and I laughed over this book, cried over this book,
and understood what he was trying to say.

0 comments like (20 people liked it)

Apr 10, 2009

Staci rated it:

This book was so good. I cannot believe he was 19 when he thought of this and started writing. Really interesting and well done.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2011

Ryan added it

This was a really great book. Generally I sort of meander through several books over a period of time, but this one was hard to put down. The author's experiences and story are compelling. He is authentic, genuine, and likable which makes the book all that much more interesting. In addition he gives his work the most fair and balanced review imaginable. I probably wouldn't have been as fair as the author about the experiences he wrote about, which speaks volumes. Christ followers everywher More...

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Dec 31, 2011

Carre rated it:

OK, to be clear, I'm only giving this 4 and a half stars. Once again Goodreads, about that half-star option you might want to [but clearly aren't ever going to] consider...

Read the summary, because I'm not going to reproduce it here. But here are my foremost reactions:

1) I'm embarrassed that Liberty University was the medium chosen to represent evangelical Christianity to Kevin. Mr. Roose, please give us the benefit of the doubt: Jerry Falwell's private sub-culture is not the More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 07, 2011

Trisha rated it:

I really enjoyed this book. The author has/had questions about what it means to be immersed in Christian culture, and so decides to transfer from a "liberal" college to "America's Holiest University," AKA Liberty University. When I first started reading this, I geared myself up to hear a lot of Christian bashing in general, but was pleasantly surprised to read Roose's account of what he experienced. He was really fair, in my opinion, and treated the people he met with respect More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2011

Vicki added it

A very good book. It was very intriguing to hear an "outsider's" view of a typical Bible College. While Liberty is neither the most conservative nor liberal college of its kind, I found it fascinating at how much secular culture is present at the college. I have some friends who also attended Liberty and was able to have a discussion with her about the college and her own problems with it. I think that Kevin did a very good job of assessing the college, in regards to both its pros and More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 20, 2011

Nancy rated it:

Ah, now. This is more like it. Kevin Roose, a sophomore at Brown University and the son of Quaker liberals, decides to spend a semester at the jewel in the crown of Jerry Falwell's empire: far-right, fundamentalist Liberty University. (In passing, have you EVER HEARD of such an ironic name for a school? *loves it*) He makes a conscious decision to fit in by talking the talk AND walking the walk - he stops cussing, tries mighty hard to stop masturbating, prays daily, even joins the choir and More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 20, 2011

Elliot rated it:

“Evangelical College Student Like Me”—Roose, a Brown U. sophomore, transfers to Jerry Fallwell’s Liberty University for a semester, partially to investigative the lives of the young and the saved, partially to embark on a spiritual quest. Roose discovers that LU students are mostly like any other (mostly white) college students with a diversity of politics, purposes and personalities. LU students are ambivalent about the Big Issues, even with LU’s founder Jerry Falwell. What shines in this book More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 03, 2011

Nikitabanana rated it:

What would happen if a liberal Brown University student spent a semester at the world’s largest evangelical Christian university – a 10,000-student training ground for the next generation of America’s Religious Right and Reverend Jerry Falwell’s “Bible Boot Camp” for young evangelicals, Liberty University? The setup for this book sounds like a joke. But Kevin Roose manages to pull it off without caricatures or condescension, and with a whole lot of humor and soul-searching. Roose, an aspiring jo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 27, 2011

Margaret rated it:

I enjoyed this book on two levels: First, Kevin Roose writes well, certainly better than his youth would indicate (written in his young 20's). Second, it was fascinating to be a voyeur along with the author at the fundamentalist Christian university, Liberty University, founder: Jerry Falwell. This book is his account of a semester at Liberty U., and the fact that he treated this essentially as the equivalent of a semester abroad in a foreign country (much cheaper than going overseas!) cracke More...

1 comment like

Apr 17, 2011

Adam rated it:

Building bridges of understanding is so important, but so hard sometimes. Especially when you run into people on both sides who seem so interested in throwing stones without any desire to seek mutual understanding. And when there is so much of that going on, it becomes more difficult to not pick up stones yourself. I really was impressed with a book I read recently called "The Unlikely Disciple." I think it should be on everyone's required reading list. In it, a young man who is a stud More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 31, 2011

Kimberly rated it:

I love memoirs and I love books that give me an "undercover" or "insider's" view of a place that I know nothing about. The Unlikely Disciple is the story of Kevin Roose, an undergrad from Brown University who decides to take a semester off and go "undercover" at Liberty University, the conservative Christian college in Lynchburg, VA founded by Jerry Falwell. Kevin comes from a very secular school and a very liberal family (his lesbian aunts are concerned that the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2011

Brian rated it:

Liberty's far more interesting from the inside than out

Roose's primary aim was to humanize Liberty students and I think he absolutely succeeded. Primary drawback for me was that his style and lack of organization are very college-student-esque--though if you asked him, it was probably by design. Getting past that though, I definitely enjoyed the read and the insight that even at Liberty there are people who doubt, who rebel, who question. Definitely an entertaining (and quick) read.

More...

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Feb 06, 2011

Patrick rated it:

From the liberal, secular halls of Brown University to the hub of Evangelical higher education and back again, it seems like an unlikely journey. Kevin Roose, a sophomore at Brown, decided that instead of the ubiquitous semester abroad, he would explore, up close and personal, a particular strata of American culture. And so Roose, raised Quaker in a not very religious household, transferred to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, the conservative Baptist school founded by none other than J More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2010

Joanne rated it:

Roose decides to spend a semester abroad, so to speak, on leave from Brown University to Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. He states good motives - he wants to know more about how conservative Protestant evangelicals, a hefty segment of the U.S. population, live and think. He's particularly interested in their political aspirations. What he ends up with is a kind of undercover ethnography of evangelical culture, which is fascinating. He addresses everything from campus dress code and learn More...

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Dec 02, 2010

iubookgirl rated it:

I was distracted from my reading of Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel by a piece on NPR. Two weeks ago, I heard an interview with Kevin Roose about his book, An Unlikely Disciple. The story sounded familiar so I went back to my stacks of ARCs and found that I had picked this up at ALA Midwinter in January. I am very impressed with Kevin Roose, who spent a semester at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University in 2007. At the time, Roose was only 19 years old. An Unlikely Disciple is extremely well written f More...

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Dec 01, 2010

Tiffany rated it:

This isn't generally the type of book that I'd go out of my way to read, but I came across it while browsing the shelves at Barnes & Noble, read the first chapter, and decided to download the rest on my iphone to save some money. The author--still a senior at Brown University at time of publication--posed as a transfer student at Liberty University (the proudly right-wing, evangelical institution founded by Jerry Falwell)in order to better understand the mindset of young evangelical Christians. More...

1 comment like

Nov 30, 2010

Rachel rated it:

First of all, this book is incredibly entertaining. I ripped through it in a day. Roose's writing is well-paced, funny, and warm. It's easy to see how he made himself popular at both Brown and Liberty University.

Yeah, that's right. Liberty. Where Roose spent a semster "abroad," getting to know people his age, from his own country who seemed, in many ways, like they were from a different planet. Roose's stated goal is to try to see across the "God Divide" that sepa More...

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Nov 20, 2010

Joy rated it:

Roose is a liberal sort-of-Quaker pacifist student at Brown who went undercover at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University for a semester to write about his experiences there as an outsider. I got this book on a Friday and showed it to my friend a friend on Sat. night who reminded me that I know someone who went to Liberty at the same time Roose did. Having grown up steeped in evangelical subculture, I was interested in the take of an outsider who could approach the project charitably, and Roose did More...

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Oct 22, 2010

Paul rated it:

This was surprisingly engaging...Roose is an interesting author, and manages to create something part way between personal autobiography and anthropological narrative, while including suspense and insight. Note: There are sort of spoilers below, but only about general issues rather than particular plot elements.

As someone at a Christian school (that has many of the social norms as Liberty--but that prides itself on openness and academic excellence, and no they don't always go togethe More...

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Aug 18, 2010

Kathy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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