Deliver Us from Evie [Hardcover]

M. E. Kerr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

Told by her brother Parr, this is the story of 18-year-old Evie, her Missouri farm family, and the turmoil created by Evie's love for the local banker's daughter.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kerr (Linger; the Fell books) skillfully evokes the gritty realities and narrow horizons of farm life in this sensitive portrayal of the lesbian daughter of a rural Missouri family. Narrator Parr Burrman, a high school junior, is thankful that his mannish sister Evie, 18, is an enthusiastic farmer, for he has little desire to join the family business. However, Evie's interests begin to change after she meets Patsy, daughter of the town's leading citizen, at home only for a rare break between boarding school and summer camp. Suddenly Evie's listening to "women's music," taking off on the weekends for "lunch" with Patsy, and wearing the expensive man-tailored clothing Patsy has given her. In vain Mrs. Burrman tries to set Evie up with a smitten hired hand named Cord, and exhorts her to "fix herself up" and wear more feminine clothing. A drunken attempt by Parr and Cord to expose the girls' relationship backfires and causes Evie to run away to New York. Kerr pulls off a fairy-tale resolution to the girls' relationship by adroitly balancing against it a natural disaster and Parr's own bittersweet romance. The small-minded and the conformists tend to get lumped together here, but Kerr's exploration of different drummers is, as always, subtle and thought-provoking. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-A skilled mechanic and farmer on her family's Missouri spread, Evie Burrman, 17, has a streak of blond in her slicked-back dark hair, a sign quietly calculated to ward off other people's assumptions-for starters, that she'll marry Cord Whittle, and that she'll help Dad keep the farm going. Evie's story is affectingly told by her younger brother, Parr, who understands as their parents cannot that Evie is falling in love, not with Cord Whittle, but with the daughter of the man who holds the mortgage on their farm. Parr's observations are telling: "You'd say Evie was handsome. You'd say Mom was pretty." Meanwhile, Parr falls for a girl whose fundamentalist family is fearful of gayness, and tension builds slowly until the truth about Evie explodes out of Parr, not just to their parents, but to the whole town. This is first-rate storytelling, with Kerr in absolute control of the narrative. Evie never seems a victim, nor are there villains. With the exception of the rich man who holds the Burrman mortgage, all of the characters are likable. All are survivors. Among the most convincing lesbian characters in young adult fiction, Evie makes a lasting impression, and Parr himself, the loving but conflicted brother, is just as finely drawn and memorable.
Claudia Morrow, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Age Range: 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 177 pages
• Publisher: Perfection Learning (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0780751272
• ISBN-13: 978-0780751279
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,920,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars It's keyword should be "FARMING." October 25, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

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.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Change In Attitudes May 5, 2004

A Kid's Review

Format:Paperback

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Starting Place.. February 8, 2001

By "erin_jenkins"

Format:Paperback

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.