The Book of Jude

by Kimberley Heuston

In 1989, when fifteen-year-old Jude's mother wins a Fulbright fellowship to study art in Czechoslovakia, the family postpones a planned move to Utah to join her, but the political situation and the move itself are too much for Jude, who is overwhelmed by a previously undiagnosed psychological disorder.

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fiction

232 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Kimberley Heuston was born in Provo, Utah and grew up in New York City. As a child, her family frequently visited St. Johnsbury, which became the setting for The Shakeress. She teaches school in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she lives with her four children.

Kimberley is also known as Kimberley Sorenson and Kimberley Burton Heuston.

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, what I liked. It takes place in Czechoslovakia in the late 1980's. Cool. Surprise! It's about a mormon family by a writer with absolutley no ax to grind! I had no idea about that when I picked it up at the lib. That was also cool. The writing flowed. The characters worked. Okay, what I didn't like: Why the mental illness? It was like two different stories. I'm a mormon who got uprooted to Czechoslovakia for a year, I have to sneak around to practice my faith, there's all this political upheval. Then story #2, suddenly I'm in a mental institution and dealing with my new diagnosis, the end. I liked it a lot up until story #2. It just did not ring true for me or seem necissary when the plot was moving along so well. There was enought conflict and interest without throwing that into the mix. BUT I did like it. It was good, and three stars is for "liked it", and I did.

[Melonie · Rating 3 out of 5]

well-written, interesting look at a teenagers descent into bipolar disorder and her family's reaction. I would like to have seen more interaction with Jude's twin sister.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

A teenage girl in the late 80s is upset at her family for moving to Czechoslovakia for a sabbatical year. Didn't care for the characters at all or the writing. The last third of the book was more interesting as it unpacks some of the challenges of mental illness.

[Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the author's acknowledgment at the end, and from further reading on-line, I know that the genesis for Heuston's novel "The Book of Jude" was her late sister's heroic struggle with borderline personality disorder.

Crafting a story from that would have been ambitious and daunting enough without adding (and this is the short list) the historical events of Prague Spring in 1989 Czechoslovakia, an historically resonant hospitalization for the hugely precocious, mentally ill 15-year-old Jude(!) in Nuremberg, Germany; the fall of the Berlin Wall; cameo appearances by Alphonse Mucha, the German Occupation during WWII and the subsequent Communist takeover, along with snapshots of the family's Mormon faith, which make this novel, for me, too freighted with history and significance to be a success--though I certainly understand the impulse to give such a profound personal story so much significance. The laying-on-of-hands cure by the Mormon bishop seemed more wishful thinking than a credible close.

Anezka is an especially wonderful, moving character, as is the splendid but all-too-brief Mrs. Montgomery.

[Portia H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had me in fits trying to find its flow. I wanted to abandon it, but trudged through as bread crumbs of interesting tidbits kept falling through the yawning moments.

Finally, once the discovery of a diagnosis was revealed for main character/narrator Judith Grace Weelock, the jumbled beginning half of the book seemed to make more sense.

If in fact it was the author's intention to have the reader experience the turmoil of the 'stream of consciousness' loose narrative as Jude struggles with confronting her emotions and the blurred edges of navigating her sanity and perspective then this approach was brilliant. If not, then it was just way too confusing and a long unnecessary journey to get to the peak of the plot.

After the diagnosis (Borderline chapter) the book fell into a steady more comprehensive pattern which was much easier to follow.

I liked very much the description of Czechoslovakia and when other characters got to relay their stories, the writing was brilliant!

This one is a difficult one to rate, but out of 217 pages, the wait until page 164 and more steadily after 178 for stability - I can't help but give it only a 2 of 5 stars.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jude (short for Judith) is 15 when her family moves from New York City to Prague for her mother's Fulbright. The move is more problematic for Jude than for her two sisters, and she begins to struggle with her mental health. She is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and learns about the problems she will face as she moves forward and heals. The ending is hopeful but fairly unresolved.

Heuston's writing is lovely, like her other novels. The characters are well-drawn, and the story pulls you in from the beginning and compels you through to the last page. Jude's family is mormon, and there are a couple of scenes where their mormonism is featured and might not be understood by readers not of that faith. However, I don't think the mormon elements will make the book unpalatable to non-mormons. I have heard Kimberley Heuston speak a couple of times, and I know that this book is based on her sister, who also suffered from borderline personality disorder.

My vote is for more books from Kimberley Heuston!

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Summary: In 1989, when fifteen-year-old Jude's mother wins a Fulbright fellowship to study art in Czechoslovakia, the family postpones a planned move to Utah to join her, but the political situation and the move itself are too much for Jude, who is overwhelmed by a previously undiagnosed psychological disorder."

This is the second of five books that I plan to read because of an article that appeared this fall in School Library Journal regarding depictions of Mormonism is young adult literature. This one is excellent in realistically depicting lifestyle and values of LDS families: blessings, testimonies, Word of Wisdom and sabbath day issues, scriptures. The story interweaves several story lines, and at the same time is historical fiction, realistic fiction regarding Borderline Personality Disorder, and LDS fiction. It's very well written and would appeal to a wide audience, unlike many of the LDS YA novels that are so didactic or heavy-handed with doctrinal reminders that it wouldn't be of interest to youth of another or no religion.

[Ricki · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book tries to tackle too many things in my mind. It begins as a story of a girl struggling with her family's move to another country. It then switches to communism, gypsies, and the government of Czechoslovakia. I also didn't think it explained communism enough to the readers. Then, the author flips the plot to focus on Jude's new struggle with Bipolar Personality Disorder. I didn't feel like the plot flowed enough. There were insertions of things that surprised me. For example, 80 pages into the book, the reader finds out that Jude's sister Merry is her twin, and that the prayers they have been doing are a part of their Mormon religion.

I did enjoy the historical aspects of this book, and I wished it had given more background. I understand that Heuston was trying to show her sister's stuggle with BPD, but I wish she'd saved that for a separate book, as I feel she tried to tackle too much.

[Meaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the first half of this book much better than the second half. In the first half, Jude seemed like a quite normal teenager, unhappy about having to move to another country, and the suffocating environment of Communist Czechoslovakia was vividly described. Then she just goes stark raving mad, and I'm like, what? The diagnosis given was borderline personality disorder, but it really didn't seem to fit. I think the author rushed it; it was like she didn't really care to describe Jude's symptoms but only wanted to write about her recovery and everything, which left me blinking and wondering why Jude was diagnosed with BPD in the first place.

I think this was worth reading, but only because there are so few YA books about the Prague Spring and the affects of Communism in Czechoslovakia.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

I checked this book out of the library totally forgetting why I had it on my list. The Book of Jude is a fictional story of a young LDS teenager who struggles with a personality disorder. The writing was good and I think the book had potential, I just didn't think the story was developed enough for the complexity of the topic. However, since it is YA fiction, maybe a teenager reading this book would have a different perspective and wouldn't expect much more. I also thought the LDS aspects of the book really narrowed the audience for the book. There were no explanations of LDS life or culture. It seemed the author just assumed the reader would know about priesthood blessings and LDS beliefs.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, written for young adults and perfect for book groups. It's by a Mormon author about a Mormon family who moves from New York City to Czechoslovakia in 1989 because the mother gets a Fulbright scholarship to study there. The story is mainly about the 15-year-old daughter, Jude, and her mental illness. I liked the way her issues coincide with the Berlin Wall coming down. Great historical fiction that gives a good window into that time period in that country.

[Daria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going with 2.5 here. I liked most of this book. Some of the historical parts seemed a little forced and the ending was a bit abrupt. I did like that, since Jude was narrating the story, we didn't know until she did that she had a personality disorder. I think that's really what it must be like for people with mental illness--that's their world and they don't realize that it's not the way all people experience the world.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elements just don't work together, setting, characters and religious elements don't fit together and in the end it just does not work

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it as an ARC --What at first seems to be an unreliable narrator is actually the point of view of a young girl who is mentally ill.

[Paige · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat hard to get into, confusing, too "LDS" fiction for my taste...

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a nightmare.

[Nia Vestal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting plot but I felt Jude's character was weak and it was too much of a Girl Interrupted plot but with the Mormon religion

[Devi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am usually a fan of books that dabble in psychology but not with this one. At the very end, I was left uncertain whether the book is about the character or about the setting.