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6th out of 33 books
—
66 voters
Keep Sweet
Alva Jane has never questioned her parents, never questioned her faith, never questioned her future. She is content with the strict rules that define her life in Pineridge, the walled community where she lives with her father, his seven wives, and her twenty-eight siblings. This is the only world Alva has ever known, and she has never thought to challenge it. But everythin...more
Hardcover, 215 pages
Published
March 9th 2010
by Simon Pulse
(first published February 24th 2010)
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I'm beginning to feel like stories of young women in oppressive FLDS sects are getting rather repetitive - that the publishers keep putting them out there just so there'll be a new one every year (and every publisher has one), but they're really all telling the same story.
The last two YA stories in this vein I read were Sister Wife and The Chosen One. Those two had a lot of uncanny similarities - Keep Sweet changes up some of the details, but the broad strokes of the story are exactly the same -...more
The last two YA stories in this vein I read were Sister Wife and The Chosen One. Those two had a lot of uncanny similarities - Keep Sweet changes up some of the details, but the broad strokes of the story are exactly the same -...more
Keep Sweet is a story about a young girl born into a fundamentalist Mormon polygamist cult, rife with domestic abuse, rape, and child abuse. It was stomach-churning to read parts of this book that showcase the way that women are treated, and even worse to read how the women buy into it and think that they literally have no other option but to live this way (either for salvation or because they are forced to stay).
This wasn't the best book I've ever read, but I couldn't put it down. I read it al...more
This wasn't the best book I've ever read, but I couldn't put it down. I read it al...more
Alva’s mom has always been a Favorite Wife, which means life in the FLDS community has always been pretty good for Alva. Lots of food, living in a house instead of a super-crappy trailer out back, Dad actually pays attention to her, etc. She doesn’t necessarily understand all the negative aspects of the place where she lives—she’s instead very content to pray and study and be a good girl and prep for being the bestest wife ever, because clearly she’s going to marry the boy she likes. The realiza...more
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For some reason, it seems that fringe societies are the popular topic this year. From memoirs retelling stories of life in a strict religious group or escape from such a group to young adult fiction depicting the same, everyone is interested in these groups. This book was just one of about half a dozen such books on the "new young adult fiction" shelf at the library. I chose this book because it discusses the FLDS, a group about which I have read recently.
Alva is a daughter of her father's favor...more
Alva is a daughter of her father's favor...more
Dec 01, 2011
Yvonne
added it
Keep Sweet by Michele Dominguez Greene
Genre; Teen Drama
Today’s belief is that God is to remain by your side as to which path one chose’s to follow regardless to anything. Here, their paths have been made for them and to remain to be followed. In the Mormon community of Pineridge, they go by the sacred prophet to maintain their faith. Although the feelings of jealousy, tragedy, and being deceitful occur, they are not to be acknowledged and to keep sweet.
Being in a closed up private community, i...more
Genre; Teen Drama
Today’s belief is that God is to remain by your side as to which path one chose’s to follow regardless to anything. Here, their paths have been made for them and to remain to be followed. In the Mormon community of Pineridge, they go by the sacred prophet to maintain their faith. Although the feelings of jealousy, tragedy, and being deceitful occur, they are not to be acknowledged and to keep sweet.
Being in a closed up private community, i...more
I'm glad I read this hugely spaced apart from The Chosen One because there are a lot of (unintentional, I'm sure) overlaps. Ultimately they cover a lot of the same ground, and while I think The Chosen One is the superior book - and the one to read if you only want to read one book about a girl in a Polygamist Mormon sect, if your choices are limited that way - there is some ground covered in Keep Sweet I appreciated.
Really loved the Mrs. Norton storyline, and appreciated that Dominguez Greene le...more
Really loved the Mrs. Norton storyline, and appreciated that Dominguez Greene le...more
Alva Jane's life is sweet at Pineridge, the gated Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints community in which she lives. Her mother is the favorite of her father's seven wives, and that means a nice home and plenty of food for her and her siblings, even if she has to contend with her father's spiteful first wife and her sister. Alva Jane looks forward to when she will become a woman and hopefully marry her crush, Joseph John. And for a little while, it seems like that might happen—until she is caught gi...more
Keep Sweet.... it's what every girl is taught who is raised in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints community. No impure thoughts, do as you are told, give into the hand of man to quench his desires.
Kids... I was raised in a different way... but that shouldn't persuade my review.
This book gives you a glimpse into the life of a 14 year old FLDS girl who lives on a compound in Utah with her father and his seven sister-wives and his 20-something children. Most girls her age are already married off...more
Kids... I was raised in a different way... but that shouldn't persuade my review.
This book gives you a glimpse into the life of a 14 year old FLDS girl who lives on a compound in Utah with her father and his seven sister-wives and his 20-something children. Most girls her age are already married off...more
Alva Jane, 14, lives inside the gated community of Pinecrest, a FLDS (Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints) stronghold. She lives with her mother, Maureen and father Eldon Ray, and all the sister wives of Eldon. As she approaches her inevitable marriage to a member of the community, she sees her world crumble and fall apart with the decree that she will not be marrying her childhood friend, Joseph John. Instead she will marry Wade, a wicked, abusive man nearly 35 years her senior.
She starts to ques...more
She starts to ques...more
So I was thinking, yay another creative polygamist book cover featuring a girl and her lanky hair hiding her face. How innovative, these covers get better and better - like Christmas!... But this one was creative and different, the girl didn't have a blonde braid swishing down her back, her hair was red and splayed across her face ;) ahahahaha (sorry, I'll stop with my book cover fetish). Anyway let me review, and like the title of this book. I'll keep it short and I'll keep it sweet - as candy....more
Title: Keep Sweet
Author: Michele Dominguez Greene
Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)
Is it just me, or are former television stars really enjoying the YA book world? We have Lauren Conrad (who I still need to try out) and her L.A.Candy novels, Carolyn Henessey from That 70's Show with her Pandora series for Middle Grade students, and in the future, Hilary Duff with Elixir. Naturally, picking up this book came with slight fears of bad writing and a cliched storyline. No offense to these...more
Author: Michele Dominguez Greene
Publisher: Simon Pulse (Simon & Schuster)
Is it just me, or are former television stars really enjoying the YA book world? We have Lauren Conrad (who I still need to try out) and her L.A.Candy novels, Carolyn Henessey from That 70's Show with her Pandora series for Middle Grade students, and in the future, Hilary Duff with Elixir. Naturally, picking up this book came with slight fears of bad writing and a cliched storyline. No offense to these...more
I found this book hauntingly accurate. The author has done her research and has told a tale of a fictional young woman with a story very similar to many others who have told their story of FLDS women in the culture.
I was a little disappointed with some of the improbable scenarios as I think she may have gotten the LDS church confused with FLDS church which are very, very different. The FLDS don't actively proselyte. The FLDS do not attend BYU because it is difficult to get admitted and they woul...more
I was a little disappointed with some of the improbable scenarios as I think she may have gotten the LDS church confused with FLDS church which are very, very different. The FLDS don't actively proselyte. The FLDS do not attend BYU because it is difficult to get admitted and they woul...more
Mar 14, 2011
Carissa
added it
Alva Jane is a 14 year old girl who lives in the oppressive world of the FLDS Church, a product of the polygamist environment that surrounds her. Her life revolves around cooking, cleaning, and minding children. She had a talent for math which the family uses for teaching the children and helping making purchases in town.
Because this is a young adult novel (but I think adults would enjoy it too), Alva has the beginnings of romantic feelings with John Joseph, an up-and-coming potential star in t...more
Because this is a young adult novel (but I think adults would enjoy it too), Alva has the beginnings of romantic feelings with John Joseph, an up-and-coming potential star in t...more
This is a pretty quick read, but one that is hard to read in some parts. Although this book is fiction, the sad thing is that the events are really going on for the people who live in these places and this is not fiction for them. It was really hard to read Alva's beating and even more so her wedding night. It is so hard to believe that people actually live that way and think it's okay to have those kind of rules and that multiple wives and children will secure their place in heaven. The idea of...more
I found this young adult novel about life in a polygamist cult to be an incredibly compelling read. Alva Jane is the oldest daughter of a favored wife, and has enjoyed her childhood on the compound, oblivious to the darker tones that underpin her life. She is looking foward to marrying a young man in her community until one innocent stolen kiss shatters all their dreams. Married off to a violent abusive older husband, Alva Jane is forced to take a new look at her life and the lives of those arou...more
Growing up in the small FLDS community of Pineridge, 14-year-old Alva Jane has never questioned the world around her and seems to be headed into a wonderful future. She and the mother are the favorites of her father, she excels at school and gets to work at the small community store. Even more important, her crush returns her affections and plans on taking her as his first wife (as long as it's okay with the prophet).
However, Alva Jane's beliefs are shattered after she is disciplined not only fo...more
However, Alva Jane's beliefs are shattered after she is disciplined not only fo...more
love this book, it is really in a different perspective. Where im from if you have more than one wife than there is something wrong with you. We think that it is wrong to have more than one wife if you have more than one wife than we think you wont go to heaven. Bu in the polygamy world they think it is right to have more than one wife, They think you have to have something like 5 wives to get into heaven. This is pretty much a conflict of opinions. Now i think neither one is right or wrong. I t...more
I found this book in the library catalogue when I was looking up the tag "polygamy" so... There's that. Anyway, this book actually inspired my career choice (of the month) so I'll have to thank it if I ever win an award or something. Anyway. Keep Sweet is a good book and while I did start ranting a lot while reading it, I suppose that isn't a bad thing. I kept thinking about The Chosen One while reading it, which is fitting since they're practically the same thing. (Minus some minor (major?) cha...more
Feb 17, 2011
Jenny E
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
on-my-kindle,
young-adult
This story read more like a dramatized documentary. I swear I saw an A&E documentary about two girls who escaped a polygamy compound and it went over the social heirarchy in that sect... Or maybe this story was just really well researched. Either way, the story got lost in the details, and I really wish there would have been a reuniting scene at the end instead of just the news report and a more definite future for her established. I don't know if this means there's a sequel in the works or...more
Having read Sister Wife by Shelley Hrdlitschka and The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams, I was definitely interested in reading another YA novel about polygamous societies. Keep Sweet is just as good as both of these books.
Keep Sweet is about a girl named Alva, living in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints community of Pineridge. She never questions her faith, or the fact that her dad has seven wives. She is a perfectly respectable young woman, but all that changes when she is caught giving h...more
Keep Sweet is about a girl named Alva, living in the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints community of Pineridge. She never questions her faith, or the fact that her dad has seven wives. She is a perfectly respectable young woman, but all that changes when she is caught giving h...more
Although The Chosen One is the vastly superior book (the gold medal in the FLDS teen book Olympics), Keep Sweet does have a lot going for it too. Alva Jane is a likable, confused but ultimately brave fourteen-year-old protagonist. The sister wives of her mother are very interesting--although I do wish I knew more. And Alva parent's are really scary...like psycho scary.
As several other readers have already identified, the narrative voice does seem a lot older than a scantly educated, young teenag...more
As several other readers have already identified, the narrative voice does seem a lot older than a scantly educated, young teenag...more
In my opinion, this book was much too graphic and sexual to be considered YA, but not "adult" enough in the writing style, voice, and complexity to be shelved with the adult fiction.
Obviously this is a story that needs telling, but at the same time, it made me wonder if the author ever felt bad about profiting from the pain and misfortune of these poor people. Other reviewers have pointed out novels like it, and I worry it's going to turn into a craze like anorexia-themed memoirs.
Of course, if y...more
Obviously this is a story that needs telling, but at the same time, it made me wonder if the author ever felt bad about profiting from the pain and misfortune of these poor people. Other reviewers have pointed out novels like it, and I worry it's going to turn into a craze like anorexia-themed memoirs.
Of course, if y...more
"Keep Sweet" explores a polygamist community that is anything but sweet. Narrated by fourteen year old, Alva Jane, this novel describes the complicated lives of sister wives and harsh punishments endured from acts of disobedience. After a failed attempted escape, Alva Jane is forced to marry a man much older than her. Along with marriage to a man she finds repulsive, Alva Jane begins to plan her second escape. This novel is a powerful description of polygamist community based on actual accounts...more
This short, harrowing young adult novel tells the story of Alva Jane, a fourteen-year-old girl living in a Fundamentalist Mormon community. The story is familiar to anyone who's previously read on the subject, and while the pages turn quickly, as you worry for Alva's safety and sanity, the overall experience leaves something to be desired. Alva's voice is inconsistent; sometimes she seems to know nothing about the "Gentile" outside world, at other times she explains her religion and community as...more
First read about this book in a magazine article (Bust? Bitch? One of those two. I always confuse them.) about the "quiverfull" movement among some evangelical Christian sects - however, this novel is set in an FDLS community (resembling Colorado City, I presume). Based on my reading it appears to be geared toward young adults, but there's a fair amount of violence, especially against women, which would make it inappropriate for most twelve and unders. Based on other things I've read (including...more
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Keep Sweet tells the story of Alva Jane, a girl who is initially happy with her polygamist life as she faces the realities of her community. The author tells a very realistic tale of life for a girl in a FDLS community with a character that middle school girls can relate too. The book opens with a happy girl, her fathers favorite, who has the same hopes and dreams that all girls have. Alva likes math and she's got a crush on a boy who likes her back. When she's caught giving the boy a kiss her w...more
This book tells the story of Alva Jane, a teenage girl living in a polygamous community. She lives in Pineridge, which is a gated (ie, fenced in like a prison) Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound. Alva Jane’s father has seven wives and 29 children; the latest wife was just 16 when she joined the family. Alva Jane has a crush on a boy her age, though she is not yet ready to be married – that is, she hasn’t had her period yet. Naively, Alva Jane thinks that the prophet will assign her to the...more
Dec 21, 2010
Infinite Playlist
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who want to read another The Chosen One
Inhalt
Alva Jane wächst in einer Gemeinschaft namens Pinerdige in der Wüste Utahs auf. Die Bewohner haben sich der Fundamentalistischen Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage verschrieben und führen ein streng geregeltes Leben. Alva Jane lebt mit ihrem Vater, dessen 7 Frauen und ihren insgesamt 28 Geschwistern zusammen. Polygamie ist in ihrem Dorf eine Pflicht, da sonst weder Mann noch Frauen die Chance auf den Eintritt in das Heilige Reich haben. Sobald Mädchen ihre erste Periode beko...more
Alva Jane wächst in einer Gemeinschaft namens Pinerdige in der Wüste Utahs auf. Die Bewohner haben sich der Fundamentalistischen Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage verschrieben und führen ein streng geregeltes Leben. Alva Jane lebt mit ihrem Vater, dessen 7 Frauen und ihren insgesamt 28 Geschwistern zusammen. Polygamie ist in ihrem Dorf eine Pflicht, da sonst weder Mann noch Frauen die Chance auf den Eintritt in das Heilige Reich haben. Sobald Mädchen ihre erste Periode beko...more
As interesting as a topic as this is to read about, and believe me, it is, something about this book fell flat for me. Maybe it was the inevitable comparison to The Chosen One, which I loved. Maybe it was just the book itself. But something failed to suck me in completely, so I felt more like I was watching Alva's story from a distance.
Something about Alva's transformation from the completely innocent, 100% faithful girl to one who dreams of escape didn't flow for me. And I'm not saying that I d...more
Something about Alva's transformation from the completely innocent, 100% faithful girl to one who dreams of escape didn't flow for me. And I'm not saying that I d...more
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