Review: Keeping yours sins, um, straight
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 24, 2013
When a small town preacher's son commits suicide in the sanctuary of their tiny church, posed as for The Passion of Christ, the community is out for the blood of the high school music teacher they insist corrupted him.  Most intent on his removal is the preacher himself stunned not only by the death but by the revelation that his son was gay, and, as he discovers other local boys are likewise gay, he is certain that God wants him to root out the evil.  Young Jonah is as shocked as anyone about the boy's death, and as shocked that the boy whom he'd been lusting after was gay all along.  In the meantime the music teacher is torn how to cope to the threat to his career and, unbeknownst to him, h is life.This is an intelligent, compassionate and unflinching look at homophobia in a small town.  At any point the novel could have descended into cartoonish characters, but Fascenden has crafted real human beings with conflicts that are not simplistic or easily resolved.The names of characters who are the crux of the moral and religious conundrum are a subtle part of the novel.  Daniel, the name of the boy who kills himself, means "God is my judge", hinting at the nature of "that sin" by which Lucifer and the angels fell, pride.  "Judge not that ye be not judged" is one of the most overlooked tenets in the Bible.  Jonah, who finds Daniel's body, is the dove, perhaps of peace and reconciliation, and his friend Eric has the last name Jacobs, "Jacob" referring to one who holds another by the hand, leading him on his way.  The preacher's name, Isaac, is a puzzle for the reader to piece together, meaning "he will laugh".  Is it Isaac's prideful laughter at God's word, or a redemptive promise?  The teacher, Terry, and others not central to the religious conflict have names that are not Hebrew.Two other insightfully used symbols are the hand painted image of Jesus and the willingness to sacrifice.  The preacher painted the image, just as he created his own son, and both the Jesus in the painting and the son (of God?) resist the preacher's interpretation and understanding.  In the character of the teacher, Terry, the sacrifices he is willing to make to his own security ultimately lead to the resolution of the novel's relentless plot.My favorite character in this novel is Jonah's mother's younger boyfriend, Bill.  He is an Everyman, on the surface a hedonist and, therefore, a sinner, but someone who naturally does the right thing, acknowledging his own prejudices but realizing to insist on them as objective truth is prideful.  He cares about Jonah and his mother and is always there when common sense and hard work are called for.  He is also Adam, innocent of true sin, open and nonjudgmental.You won't get simple answers in this novel but will puzzle along with the characters as they try to understand the moral dilemmas they are faced with.  One thing for certain, this is one of the least predictable books I have read.  Predictable can be comforting, reliable, but this book keeps you off balance, as any exploration of the human heart should.That's All I Read [...]