Customer Reviews

The Confessional

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THE CONFESSIONAL is a book about murder, racism, anger, bullies, drugs, and fitting in, which takes place in an all-male Catholic private school located on the Mexican-American border.

After a random bomber blows up the international bridge that connects Mexico and the United States in El Paso, Texas, tensions escalate at the school. Nearing the one-year anniversary of the Mexican terrorist bombing, a fight breaks out between two boys at the school. One boy ends up in the hospital. The other boy ends up dead by the end of the day.

Mayhem follows. A racial riot erupts on the Cathedral steps after a special mass for the dead teen. Mexicans and Americans point fingers at one another. No one feels safe. Everyone is ready to fight. Will the boys be able to find out who killed their fellow student before someone else disappears? Before someone else is murdered? And at what cost? How many will go to jail before it's all over?

This is a gripping read and difficult to put down. It's an honest look at how quickly tempers can flare and get out of hand. Be warned, the language is also brutally authentic. In the beginning, the reader may struggle to keep all the boys straight in their head as I did. Don't worry about that. This book is told from multiple points of view. As each boy has his say, it becomes very clear who they are and you will have no trouble at all keeping them straight. This novel is incredible in its glaring realism. I give it five stars.

Reviewed by: Cana Rensberger

J.L. Powers is an incisive writer with a great eye to the conflicts and challenges that face contemporary teens, especially in their interactions with religion, government and social systems. The 7 teen characters in _The Confessional_ are real, and oftentimes gritty, and Powers never shies away from showing us their complex emotions, and how these emotions can spurn them into actions condemned by contemoporary society. All of the characters, even the "bad" ones, have an undeniable humanity that allows the reader to see the bigger picture, and how the characters are a part of that big picture, for better or for worse.
Powers is an intelligent, thoughtful, and complex writer, and I eagerly await her next novel.

The book provides a unique approach to education, religion, and race. A book reading was canceled by a private school in El Paso, TX because some Chief Justice (retired) at the school objected to the book. You would think that a retired Chief Justice would support freedom of speech. He thought the book was anti catholic and new many curse words. I found that the characters always turn to their religion when faced with difficult times. He and I must have read different books. Read the book and see who was correct in their analysis.

Reading The Confessional was a journey of understanding. I am a mother of boys. I love listening to their conversations about girls, the fight, the gangstas, the teachers who just don't get them, the lousy principal, etc. But it's difficult to understand them and why they do the things they do. As I read The Confessional the scenes came to life with images of the boys that I know and care for deeply. The story felt `real' because of the authenticity of these characters. In fact, I feel a bit shy to call them characters, they are boys. Boys just like my boys. Boys with pain, suffering, pride, loneliness, secrets, shame, egos, love, lust and sometimes too much energy/testosterone.
One of the main themes in the story is racism. It's the same story in my house, which is kind of surprising given that there is so much diversity in this area. However, I hear it all the time from my boys. The latinos versus the white guys, or the black guys, or the asian guys. What's interesting to me when I hear them talk like this in my own living room is that I am surrounded by Puerto Rican boys, (my sons), a Filipino, a Jew, a Mexican, an African American, a Caucasian, and a German, who get along very well. With these thoughts in mind I smiled to myself as I read the story and how they dissed each other at school. Although I stopped smiling when the fighting began. This brought memories of the fighting my oldest son used to get into. Can't these boys focus all that energy on something productive? They fight until someone has to go to the hospital. Of course I saw that coming. What I didn't see coming was the murder of
Mac Malone.
Mac's death, like any tragic event in our lives, is a moment for a reality check. It's when we take the time to do some soul searching. The following might sound a bit stereotypical, but... well it is, so sorry. As a girl, I would just cry in this event. I would stay in bed for a couple of days, maybe talk about it afterward over tears and hugs. But boys handle it differently, fighting, sex, masturbating, dissing, cussing, drinking, smoking, sniffing, are some of things that seem to work. Greg is a great example of this, when he spends the night with Josh.
I love Alexander Gold. If I were a boy, a would probably be like him. I enjoyed `being in his head' in the chapters that were his. He's a great kid, just lonely and depressed. The wannabe hero. The one who wants to save the world. I love him!
Jim Hill is not someone to hate, but pity. What circumstances or upbringing can bring a child to do these sort of things? Statistics don't lie when measuring problematic adolescents and the correlation to low socioeconomic status. With this come poor health habits, drinking, smoking, too much unsupervised media, uninvolved parents. Nothing that we can blame him for being such a young boy and a victim of an unhealthy ecological system. Jim, like any other boy in deep trouble, however secretly, called for his mother. This is boy culture.
The Jesuit boys are an example of boy culture. Boys have the need to be a hero. They need a clan. They need `cool' role models. Most importantly, they a need a mother to come back to. Someone that will be there to make things right when the world doesn't make sense, when everything seems to come down on them. I know my boys do. They want their freedom. They fight for their freedom with elaborate arguments. However, they want to know that mom's got their back. They want to know that mom cares. They want to come back and tell mom all about their triumphs and trials as they enjoy every ounce of shock and they love to see her jaw drop. But they dread to see disappointment and disapproval in those eyes which they look to for love and acceptance.
Everyone has a story to tell, and it will be told from different perspectives. It is the same with the boys who come to my living room to tell stories. If there is a fight, several versions are possible! Everyone will be affected differently by tragic events. Thank goodness for the peace makers, the Isaiah's out there who, without losing his cool, can help bring the others together. If only...
What did I get out of this story? I was able to be an active part of boy culture, as I was able to be in their heads for a while. I can't fully comprehend teen boys, but I try. Every little bit helps to answer the question: Why do boys do the things they do? I really enjoyed the story. I enjoyed hangin' out with these energetic boys. The story is a wonderful piece of fiction. It really came to life.

What struck me the most about this book is the author's "Negative Capability"--i.e. the successful manner in which she enters the lives and recreates the language of her characters. This takes a great deal of talent and Powers pulls it off in a way that is one click less than Tolstoyan. Though obviously written for young adults, The Confessional brightened a rainy afternoon in Tokyo for your humble correspondent, who is now pushing double nickles down the speedway of life in a rusted-out, pink Cadillac, his St. Christopher medal dangling from the rear-view mirror next to the fuzzy dice.