119 of 135 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"If it upsets people to hear the truth, so be it.", October 24, 2007
This review is from: The Abstinence Teacher (Hardcover)
Ruth Ramsey has been teaching Health and Family Life (Sex Education) to teenagers for more than ten years. Her credo is: "Pleasure is Good, Shame is Bad, and Knowledge is Power." She tries to demystify sex by giving her students the information they need to live fulfilling and healthful lives. Unfortunately, some candid remarks that she makes in class offend a student whose parents worship in an evangelical congregation. Ruth's open and frank approach to sexuality is incompatible with the Christian family values that have taken root in the increasingly conservative "sleepy bedroom community" of Stonewood Heights. Ruth's supervisors insist that she adopt a new curriculum in which abstinence, rather than safe sex, is promoted.
In "The Abstinence Teacher," Tom Perrotta focuses his analytical and satirical eye on the mores of suburban life, with a fresh and timely twist: How does a community react when fundamentalist Christians try to impose their views on their fellow residents? When soccer coach Tim Mason prays with his team after a game, Ruth, whose daughter Maggie is a star player, is enraged. How dare anyone try to brainwash her daughter? Mason is a musician, former addict, and recovering alcoholic who found salvation in the Tabernacle of the Gospel Truth, presided over by Pastor Dennis; Tim now lives a staid life with his submissive wife, Carrie. Dennis is elated that Tim is proselytizing among young people; however, some townspeople contend that it is inappropriate to conduct prayer sessions with impressionable teenagers without parental approval. Stonewood Heights is about to experience a confrontation in which ardent churchgoers, who are anti-evolution, pro-censorship, and against what they perceive to be "godlessness and moral decay," clash with those who cherish their right to reject religion.
Perrotta's central characters are flawed and vulnerable individuals. Ruth is intensely lonely. In spite of the fact that she is a forty-something woman who is still attractive, she has not had a long-term romantic relationship since her divorce. Mason left behind years of earthly pleasures and debauchery to embrace a restrictive lifestyle that, so far, has helped him stay clean and sober. Unfortunately, he is bored with Carrie, and he harbors lustful feelings for his ex-wife, Allison. He is also beginning to question whether he can continue adhering to the Tabernacle's stringent code of behavior. Although he is tempted to start drinking again, he fears that going down that road will undo everything that he has worked so hard to achieve. Above all, Tim is determined not to jeopardize the fragile relationship that he has developed with his daughter, Abby. Although Tim and Ruth argue bitterly over his insistence that praying with his team after a soccer game is no big deal, the two have an undeniable chemistry between them. Can they reach across their religious divide to find common ground?
Ruth's witty gay friends, Randall and Gregory, alas, are pure stereotypes. Randall is "a cultured gay man, an opera-loving dandy with a fetish for Italian designer eyewear." "[He] set his cup down on the Wonder woman coaster he kept on his desk, next to an autographed picture of Maria Callas." Randall and Gregory freely dispense advice to Ruth while they squabble about their own troubled relationship. With them, Ruth feels comfortable enough to reveal her most embarrassing thoughts and feelings. Another hackneyed portrayal is that of twenty-eight year old JoAnn Marlow, a smug and condescending visitor to Ruth's high school who boasts that she is a virgin who "can look myself in the mirror and honestly say that my mind and body are one hundred percent intact." She is there to convince the students that they need to arm themselves against a toxic culture by rejecting premarital sex.
To his credit, Perrotta offers no pat answers to the provocative questions that he raises: What influence is evangelical Christianity exerting on American society? Can a person who has lived solely for instant gratification successfully adjust to a conformist and traditional lifestyle? How can a teacher who has taught youngsters to enjoy safe sex bring herself to disseminate what she considers to be misinformation? Perrotta is a clear-eyed and dispassionate observer who skillfully addresses these and other controversial and emotionally charged issues. In a key scene, Tim attends a gathering of the "Faith Keepers," an organization that is devoted to winning "a historic battle in the ongoing war for the hearts and minds of our children." In the hands of a lesser writer, this scene could have been a laughable display of out-of-control zealotry. Instead, Perrotta depicts the men who attend the convocation as mostly regular guys seeking stability and peace of mind through membership in a close-knit religious and social group. "The Abstinence Teacher" is a sharp, fast-paced, tightly focused, humorous, and involving story that works on two levels: It is a thought-provoking novel about social mores in modern suburbia and the ways in which each of us tries to find happiness and fulfillment without sacrificing our most cherished ideals.
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42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Where's The Beef?, November 14, 2007
This review is from: The Abstinence Teacher (Hardcover)
I really enjoyed Tom Perrotta's Little Children and I was looking forward to The Abstinence Teacher. And let me say straight off that I enjoyed it; the pages flew. But afterwards, I was left with that feeling you get when you head straight for the dessert and find that you're still hungry. The writing was fine -- but where was the beef?
The story centers on Ruth, a 40-something divorcee and a sex education teacher, and Tim -- an ex-druggie who has replaced his drug addiction with a Jesus addiction. The issues are delineated: do we give our kids what they need in the real world to avoid pregnancy and disease? Or do we aim higher and try to teach them self-respect and a connection with God's love (a Christian God, of course).
The problem is, the characters are not rounded out enough. After a two-year dry spell, Ruth seems perpetually horny. Why would she fall for a man who embodies everything she despises about smug Christianity -- a man who happens to be married and an ex (and possibly current) drug abuser? Especially with two children in her care? The answer is only obliquely alluded to. And Tim. Does he truly understand the tenets of his faith or is this just another crutch? And what is it about this faith that is so very appealing? The reader finds it difficult to understand why a controlling pastor and his sycophants are so desirable to Tim.
I wanted to feel conflict. I wanted to view depth. I wanted to understand the tug-and-pull of these characters' dueling desires. Instead, I got top-of-page headlines. And for this reader, that wasn't nearly enough.
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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A very timely topical novel, February 11, 2008
This review is from: The Abstinence Teacher (Hardcover)
Tom Perrotta really has his finger on the pulse of life in suburbia. I first felt it when reading Little Children and experienced it once again with this novel. He understands the minute dramas that take place behind each and every pleasant facade in an everyday neighborhood and he does a wonderful job of putting them into words. Never one to shy from controversy, he deals with some pretty controversial topics in this novel--namely the abstinence only education movement and the rise of the Christian right wing. It goes without saying that this work will offend some but it will resonate with others. If you haven't read the novel be forewarned that this review will contain some spoilers.
I thought Perrotta did a really great job with Ruth. He had a good feel for how teachers sometimes must adhere to a curriculum with which they may vehemently disagree and what this novel has to say about this type of sexual education is certainly worth considering. I've had an insider's view of a district that taught an abstinence only program and Perrotta does a great job of highlighting its deficiencies. While there is certainly nothing wrong with encouraging kids to wait to have sex, it is naive to deny that some of them won't. I'll never forget listening to one of the Health teachers talking about the ridiculousness of not teaching kids about contraception while a pregnant student sat in her class sipping Coke. Perrotta nicely captured Ruth's inner struggle as she strove to subvert the curriculum in the subtlest way possible. As tempted as she is to stand up for her convictions, she has to face the practical and think of the repercussions it would have. Who among us hasn't been in the position of doing something that we didn't really want to do and perhaps found morally repugnant because we were too worried about the dire consequences if we didn't?
As for the rise of the Christian right wing, Perrotta has some provocative scenes. The prayer at the girls' soccer match is symbolic of the increasing pressure these days to allow things like prayer in school. While the coaches and Pastor Dennis attempt to justify their actions by saying that if it makes the girls uncomfortable they don't have to participate, they are missing the point. Situations like these are exclusionary for people who follow other faiths or who don't believe in God so to conduct such a prayer session is to impose Christian beliefs on others. While the character of Pastor Dennis is a man of conviction, he is also blinded by that conviction and it leads him to push Tim into doing things that aren't really right for Tim--particularly his marriage to Carrie. I thought Perrotta did a good job of showing how those who have the best intentions can sometimes wreak the most havoc.
I've seen this book being accused of being anti-Christian. I don't really see it that way at all. What this book is really against is imposing our own views on others. JoAnn is convinced that the best thing for kids is to teach them only that they should abstain from sex. But how is she serving those kids who won't follow her advice and who could perhaps end up pregnant or with an STD because they weren't educated about contraception? Ruth is convinced that every Christian is brainwashed and judgmental and yet when her daughters express an interest in attending church, she is the textbook definition of judgmental toward them. Pastor Dennis is convinced that Tim needs a good, Christian woman to keep him in line but what about the suffering Carrie incurs as a result? At heart, I believe this is a book about learning to keep an open mind and learning to respect the views of others. Regardless of what is it we believe in, we all risk a great deal when we become blind to the thoughts and feelings of others who don't happen to agree with our own personal crusades.
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