Jesus Land: A Memoir (Alex Awards (Awards)) (ISBN 1582433380)

A Must Read Memoir:
Jesus Land is Julia Scheeres' memoir of her childhood, with the main theme being her relationship with her adopted brother David. It has witty prose and graphic reality, leaving you with the haunting feeling that there are places in the world where things are terribly wrong. The majority of the book is set in mid-80's rural Indiana. Julia lives with her father, who is a doctor, her stay at home mother, and her adopted brother David, who happens to be black. There is another adopted brother, Jerome, who occasionally makes appearances. Julia's parents are devoutly religious, preferring mission trips and Bible studies over their children. This is not a feel good book. Julia's father, who is absent through most of the book, beats Jerome and David. Jerome rapes Julia, yet her relationship with her parents is so bad that she feels she cannot tell them. There are frequent encounters with racism, as most people at the time were not comfortable with siblings of different races. David and Julia are shipped off to the Dominican Republic to attend Escuela Caribe, a fundamentalist school outside of U.S. government control for a reason. There they encounter more physical and psychological abuse, often reduced to animals in the way they are treated. But there is plenty of good to take away from this book. It is essentially the story of the love between David and Julia. It is hard to imagine two siblings being closer, especially considering what they had to endure. They were the same age, and nearly inseparable. They were even able to develop a code of "sign language" between them during the times they couldn't speak to each other at Escuela Caribe. There is also the opportunity to learn what a home looks like when love is absent and religious rules and traditions are used instead. I strongly recommend this book, but it is highly graphic. Be prepared to be confronted with real life, unfiltered and without apologies.

Underrated:
Julia Scheeres' memoir has easily become one of my absolute favorites. The reader should be warned: this book is incredibly painful to read and will leave the reader feeling rancorous for the entire Midwest, every religious fanatic, and inevitabley Julia Scheeres, but above all else this beautifully chronicled story of the unbreakable bond between her and David, her brother and best friend, will be one of the most rewarding and life-affirming experiences ever.

That's life.:
You will not be disappointed with this book; I was glued to it all weekend. I really admire Julia for her honesty and her courage to let the reader into her life. I can't begin to imagine how hard it was to write this memoir.

Reporting Live From Inside Jesus Land:
This book reduced me to tears at several points, probably because of my several shared experiences with the author. Jesus Land is the well written story of growing up under an oppressive, twisted, and abusive form of religion in America's Heartland. It's the story about how religion can bring out the best and the worst in people -- although mostly the latter is drawn out of the characters in this book. Scheeres story takes her from the Hoosier State to the Dominican Republic with only one constant in her life: her beloved brother, David, her adopted black brother. Not only is this memoir about the effect abusive religion can have on a young psyche, it's about the bond that develops between two people who go through that experience together.

poorly written:
This is just another memoir written for shock value. Just like "A Million Little Pieces" incidents are embellished and exaggerated to gain sympathy from the reader. It is not believable, and certainly not accurate. Reader Beware!