Customer Reviews

Deliver Us From Evie (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is the first book that I have ever read about a lesbian girl, Evie, and how her family has to deal with the comments and accusations, and haste rejections from their friends and neighbors. The story is told through Parr, Evie's brother, eyes and with every word, it almost seems that Evie is your sister, and Doug is your brother, and that you live on a farm. The fact that this story is told through Parr's perspective gives insight on what life was like for Evie. This book made me see the cruelness of people who you thought that you could rely on when it comes to homosexuality. With many books that focus around the male gay, this book showed just the opposite. Evie was portrayed as almost a rebel and a person that you would respect. This book has opened up doors for me into a whole new world of reading and I hope that others will read Deliver Us From Evie as an insight into something new. I hope to read more books that have characters just like Evie and Parr, put I know that Deliver Us From Evie will always be the best one.

Deliver us from...who?

This book, much to my surprise, isn't about Evie. It's about her younger brother Parr and his irrepressible urge to get away from his family life on the farm.

It doesn't focus on Evie, her coming out of the closet, her family's reaction (as a matter of fact, that only covered about two sentences!). It focuses on Parr. On his finding a girlfriend, on his wanting to drive, on his desire to NOT follow the family footsteps. It's all about Parr.

There are a FEW glimpses at this curious creature called Evie. Her outgoing nature, her gruff sense of humor, the fact that she always insists on wearing men's clothing. She's made out to be the stereotypical dyke - she wears jeans and leather, she refuses to wear her hair long, she turns her nose up to make-up, she loves hard work and fixing things, she's her dad's best buddy. Evie is made out to be so masculine, there are times you forget she's a girl, a lesbian, and think she's just one of the guys. As a lesbian myself, always trying to fight that stifling stereotype, I have to say that I was very offended.

If you're looking for good lesbian fiction, skip this book. If you're looking for a quick read, mostly about farming, go for it.

After reading some of the reviews, I feel I have to defend one of my favorite books, so here it goes:

"Deliver Us From Evie" is one of the first lesbian novels that I've read and enjoyed. I liked Evie as a character and found her intriguing. Though I wish that the book was through her point of view instead of her brother's, I feel that looking at homosexuality through the eyes of an onlooker is a good start for people curious or interested in learning about homosexuality, but not ready to read about it first hand. From this book, I moved on to more in depth books such as, 'Annie on My Mind' and 'Good Moon Rising',but I still look back at 'Deliver Us From Evie' as one of my favorites.

P.S. For those who protest Evie being too masculine, well as Evie herself said, some of them DO look it.

I teach at-risk high school students and I have purchased this book for my classroom library. I appreciate that it teaches tolerance in a way that is appropriate for the classrom. My high school students have enjoyed this book!

I found Deliver Us from Evie a quick read that gave me a better portrayal of being a lesbian/gay in a typical small town. With many books, I find my mind wandering off to thinking about something else while reading words on a page, and thats all it ends up being is words on a page. This book mostly grabbed my attention with only a few times where I found myself getting anxious for the end. I did, however, finish to the last word and I was glad I did. For all those people who are in a similar situation could benefit from reading this book to gain strength they may need. Overall I think the author was trying to send the message of being true to yourself because there will always be a way to find your happiness.

Deliver Us from Evie, about a mid-western rural family's struggles with saving the farm, kids leaving the homestead, and lesbianism is the story told by first person narrator, 15 year old Parr. His sister Evie, an excellent mechanic and farmer, is useful to the family farm because of her skills, but her sexual preference creates for the family many financial problems including a scandalous affair with the daughter of the town's prominent banker causing a threat to the farm's existence. This story is about stereotypes; I just cannot figure out who is doing the stereotyping--Evie's family members or the author, M. E. Kerr, including the notion that fundamental Christians who are trailer park dwellers are "holy rollers" and are likely to show intolerance.

I picked this up from my school library on a whim. Curious to see if I could find a book that surpasses the hideous Truth about Jane movie. While this book did indeed surpass the movie..it wasn't that much better. The focus of the book indeed is Parr and not Evie. Which I worked well for the most part, considering that "Jane" had too much concentration on the lesbianism and was somewhat more exploitative than protraying them sensitively. There also is a big hint of reverse-discrimination in this story. Most of the truly bad things happen to the straight people in Duffington. Also, for a story that says it's about breaking stereotypes. This doesn't do much for it. The farmers act like typical farmers. The lesbian is the tough butch. The lesbian's girlfriend is sweet and feminate. While they at least do acknowledge that they're acting like the stereotypes, they do *nothing* to break it. It's short, good way to kill an afternoon. Just don't expect too much lesbianism in it.

One of the things I liked most about 'Deliver Us From Evie' was it's length. I sat down and read it in one sitting, and once finished, the book left me feeling satisfied. I've noticed a couple of the other customer reviews saying there was not enough about Evie in the book. While the title may suggest the book is primarily about her, it does deal with Parr's life as well. Some other lesbian books I've read deal solely with the relationship, and I do enjoy those type immensely, but this book was a nice change. It gave some good insight into the minds of those close to a coming-out lesbian. While M.E.Kerr may have gone a bit far in stereotyping Evie, she was still an enjoyable character.

Deliver us from Evie is a coming out of the closet book for teens. The book is about Evie Burrman and it is told through the eyes of her younger brother Parr. The Burrman family live on a farm typical of that area in Missouri. Evie has always been a unique girl. Out of the three children she was the one who knew how to fix many of the mechanic things though she was the girl. She dressed like a man and was a loner. Her parents especially her mother knew she was different but tried to change her. The mother thought that inviting over Cord (a boy who liked her) trying to get her to dress more womanly would change her. Everything comes full circle when the banker's daughter started befriended Evie. Parr from his narration conveys the feelings of the family especially how the mom and dad knew this was no ordinary girlfriend friendship. Parr discusses what happens when the relationship becomes known and how he and the family deal with the neighbors when rumors begin to flow. The book not only touches on Evie situation but Doug (the oldest son) going off to college and eventually deciding not taking up a life on the farm and Parr wrestling with guilt of not wanting the farm life and his coming of age with a relationship with a young lady name Angel. I think it is a great book for teens who may also be going through feelings like Evie or not sure of how they feel.

I just finished this book about two weeks ago. I thought it was amazing. It had a great theme. I loved it. It is one of my favorite books along with Cut by Patricia McCormick. M.E. Kerr is an amazing author. We had to read Gentlehands in school a few years ago, i loved it, so I decided to search through her books. Anyway, it deserves five stars, it's a great book!