shelfreflectionofficial's Reviews (844)

[Nominated for ‘Best YA Fantasy’ category of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]


“Dark, dangerous things happened around the Hollow sisters.”

Iris and her two sisters, Grey and Vivi, are strange.

They have been… ever since that thing that happened to them when Iris was seven. It left all three of them white-haired, black-eyed, and insatiably hungry.

Their bond is deep.

“Grey was lightning, Vivi was thunder, and I was the sea in a tempest.”


And they all have a special ability to make other people do what they want them to do.

[If you like this concept of ‘magical power’ you should check out Tosca Lee’s duology The Progeny/Firstborn!]

The ‘incident’ has created a strained relationship between Grey and Vivi and their mother, Cate, causing them to leave home before high school was over and make their way on their own. Iris has remained loyal to Cate.

But Iris’s world comes to a crashing halt when Grey disappears. Her and Vivi know that Grey is in danger and they must find her.

“Grey was the grounding force in our sisterhood, the sun we both orbited around. What would Vivi and I be without her? Would we drift apart in the cavernous space Grey left behind, rogue planets spun out into the abyss?”

Their journey to save their sister will expose truths that they aren’t ready to deal with. And the truth about what happened to them in their missing memories.


Disclaimers

House of Hollow is fantasy and a bit of horror. I’m not sure if I’ve ever read a horror book so I’m not sure how to evaluate its components.

It’s not super gruesome but there is a lot of talk of decay and death. In fact, the sisters have a weird, I guess, odor? about them that smells like rotting nature. Sometimes characters have moss and carrion flowers (which are corpse flowers because they smell like death) growing from their wounds or in their throats. There are also corpses with the same growths.

The community kind of views the sisters as witches or witch-esque. And one of the characters uses runes, potions, and palm readings.

In this book we discover The Halfway which is similar to The Upside Down in Stranger Things. Things there are all in various stages of death and decay and such. If you don’t want descriptions of that, you may not way to read this book.

Another disclaimer, depending how you feel about reading books with LGBTQ characters, Grey is presented as straight, Vivi lesbian, and Iris bisexual. These characteristics don’t really play major roles, but some comments are made.

I thought the way they employed their power was a little weird. They put their fingers in the person’s mouth or kiss them and then the person becomes ‘in love’ with them, flirty, or obsessed with them. It really isn’t a sexual encounter or anything but it is strange and I wish the author would have chosen a different method.

However, there is a big theme of beauty and the curse of beauty. So in some ways this provides the girls with a way to have the power instead of being the vulnerable parties.

There are some f-words.


Thoughts

I really like the title. Once you finish the book you’ll understand the profound meaning of it!

One of my favorite quotes in the book was this:

“We once spent an entire month seeing who could take the most hideous sleeping pictures of the others.”

My grandma would always be appalled at me and my siblings/cousins when we would try to take pictures with weird faces- “Are you trying to be ugly?!”

And I’m very disappointed that we never thought about trying to take sleeping pictures of each other because this sounds fantastic. Well done, Hollow sisters, well done.


I mentioned before that there was a theme of beauty throughout this book. However, I feel like Sutherland tried to do too much with it. There were two very different threads that after finishing the book seemed disjointed, one being out of place.

The thread that I liked revolves around this quote:

“The purple otherworldly petals of the monkshood flower concealed poison that could deliver instant death. Poison dart frogs were pretty as jewels— and one gram of the toxin that coated their skin could kill thousands of humans. Extreme beauty meant danger. Extreme beauty meant death.”

This fits the story. The Hollow sisters are beautiful but how is their beauty dangerous and equivalent with death? It creates ominous mystery and cleverly connects it to nature which is a central tenet of this book as well.

However, Sutherland tries to connect it with sexual harassment and abuse.

“Grey went to the places and wore the things that— if anything happened to her— would later prompt people to say she was asking for it.”

“Vivi collected each wolf whistle, each smacked butt cheek, each groped breast, kept them all beneath her skin where they boiled in a cauldron of rage that she let out onstage in the strings of her bass guitar.”

I understand that Sutherland is saying it’s dangerous to be beautiful because it draws unwanted attention from dangerous people who want to take advantage. But after reading the story all the way to the end, this feels like a random rabbit trail to include. There is no real resolution or end message to this and almost the contrary, in my opinion. By the end of the book it seems quite irrelevant.


Conclusion

I’m not really a fan of horror, but I was still able to enjoy this book. It’s maybe more fantasy than horror. It’s not a book that will keep you up at night. It’s not a slasher story and doesn’t have really grotesque or demonic characters. Maybe that’s not even what horror books are normally like— I don’t know! Haha.

I don’t think this book is for everyone. (Mom- you won’t want to read this one) But if you enjoy fantasy or horror, I think you will.

If you’re like me and you don’t really like horror but you can handle some weirdness, I feel like the mystery was pretty compelling. And the ending is good. It’s weird to say that because of what it is.. but it’s good in the sense that it is surprising and bold.

This book will give you mixed emotions but I thought it was an intriguing plot and the writing was suspenseful.

Click for some SPOILER ramblings:

Spoiler

Okay, here are some things I’m going to talk about. I was explaining this story to my husband and we got to the ending and his first comment was: “Skin isn’t what makes you look like you.”

So here’s a plot hole (which we can ignore for the sake of the story)— the whole skinning someone and then re-sewing their skin that another person puts on— very Silence of the Lambs— is pretty far-fetched. How would one even do this? So maybe she used magic to skin them in one piece… but then if she has magic why can’t she create a suit without a moon-shaped ‘seam’?

And as stated before, a person’s ‘look’ is not really their skin. It’s bone size and structure, muscles, jawline, shape of the eyes and nose, etc. Otherwise, anyone could just put on someone’s skin and instantly look like them? And what about their voice?

So the concept is clever and surprising but the execution (no pun intended) is implausible.

Plus… Iris eventually discovers when she gets cut that there is a second layer of skin under her skin. SO you’re telling me after ten years she has never gotten a cut and noticed this before? No doctor has ever noticed there was a second layer?

Also this whole ‘earthy’ smell thing? It must be some sort of magical thing where to ‘normal’ people it must smell intoxicating but to each other it doesn’t? Seems like they would all reek.

Anyway. Just some random ramblings about plausibility that don’t really matter.

Carry on.

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“With a glimmer of willingness, language can do so much to squash independent thinking, obscure truths, encourage confirmation bias, and emotionally charge experiences such that no other way of life seems possible.”

When I saw this book I knew I had to read it. It’s becoming more and more clear to me how powerful language is. I was very curious to see how Montell handled this connection between language and cults.

I found this book to be thought-provoking and interesting. Plus I enjoyed her tongue-in-cheek talking about MLMs and health/wellness groups to be cultish.

She makes this perceptive remark:

“The reason millions of us binge cult documentaries or go down rabbit holes researching groups from Jonestown to QAnon is not that there’s some twisted voyeur inside us all that’s inexplicably attracted to darkness… We’re scanning for threats, on some level wondering, Is everyone susceptible to cultish influence? Could it happen to you? Could it happen to me? And if so, how?”

I think that’s true. When anything tragic happens we can’t help but think through how we avoid those situations and tell ourselves those things won’t happen to us.

I watched most of Leah Remini’s documentary exposing the goings-on of Scientology and was just flabbergasted by how people could get sucked into something so ridiculous. You wonder the same thing about Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate.

Well Montell puts forth a very important premise:

“What techniques do charismatic leaders use to exploit people’s fundamental needs for community and meaning? How do they cultivate that kind of power?..The real answer comes down to words. Delivery. From the crafty redefinition of existing words (and the invention of new ones) to powerful euphemisms, secret codes, renamings, buzzwords, chants and mantras, forced silence, even hashtags, language is the key means by which all degrees of cult-like influence occur.”

Montell’s background gives her a unique position to critique the power of language in ‘cultish’ groups. Her dad was brought into a cult called Synanon at a young age by his parents. He later escaped at the age of 17 and went on to become “a prolific neuroscientist.” She has grown up hearing the stories of what her dad went through and what helped him to leave.


What is a cult?

The tricky part about this book is the definition of cult. It has increasingly become used in a broad way.

People tend to throw around the word ‘cult’ to describe any group of people or organization they don’t like. If someone calls something a cult, when we hear or read it, we automatically know what to think about that group, whether it’s true or not.

We also have the more positive association of cult when we think of ‘cult-following’ and the marketing strategy companies use to brand themselves and create loyalty among their followers.

“A few scholars have tried to get more precise and identify ‘cult’ criteria: charismatic leaders, mind-altering behaviors, sexual and financial exploitation, an us-vs-them mentality toward nonmembers, and an ends-justify-the-means philosophy.”

Stephen Kent identifies “a power imbalance built on members’ devotion, hero worship, and absolute trust, which frequently facilitates abuse on the part of unaccountable leaders. The glue that keeps this trust intact is members’ belief that their leaders have a rare access to transcendent wisdom, which allows them to exercise control over their systems of rewards and punishments, both here on earth and in the afterlife.”

Even with criteria like this, it’s hard to identify when a community of people or a leadership team is destructive or just ‘not our cup of tea.’

Some of the groups Montell talks about are: Jonestown (People’s Temple), Heaven’s Gate, L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology), Teal Swan, Synanon, Moonies, NXIVM, The Way International, The Children of God, MLMs (Optavia, LuLaRoe, Mary and Martha, Tupperware, Mary Kay, Amway), QAnon, Crossfit, and SoulCycle

The name of the book is ‘Cultish.’ So she’s not actually calling Crossfit and Tupperware cults but she’s identifying cultish methods of communicating with members. Language that manipulates people or envokes a certain behavior or loyalty.


Why does any of this matter?

Whether a group is an actual cult or just cultish, it’s hard to know when anyone should step in and call it or if we just let people make their own choices.

But Montell makes an important observation about our current culture and the increase of cultish groups. We are lonely people.

“It’s really no coincidence that ‘cults’ are having a proverbial moment.. [groups] who promise to provide answers that the conventional ones couldn’t supply seem freshly appealing. Add the development of social media and declining marriage rates, and culture-wide feelings of isolation are at an all-time high. Civic engagement is at a record-breaking low. Loneliness is an epidemic.”

Harvard researcher Robert Putnam found that “if you belong to no groups but decide to join one, you cut your risk of dying the next year in half.”

I’m just going to point out the ‘declining marriage rates’ part. The institution of marriage is deteriorating. The more God is removed from society the less sense marriage makes. But that is not without consequences. There is a reason God designed marriage for people. I hadn’t realized that one of those protections of marriage is less susceptibility to cults so that’s a plus!

Interestingly, Montell says,

“All kinds of research points to the idea that humans are social and spiritual by design.”

To this I say- Yes! While she believes in an evolutionary origin to this conclusion, it seems obvious to me that it is God’s design. He created us to be in relationship with each other and with Him. We are not made for this world. The Bible says God has put eternity in our hearts.

So if they aren’t connecting with God, humans will try to fill that void with something else. We all seek our meaning and purpose. We want to know our worth, that who we are and what we do matters.

If there is a community that provides that meaning and purpose and makes a person feel worthy, a person will do a lot to keep that community.

Montell makes a compelling case for how specific language creates a bond for people. Having terminology other people don’t understand makes people feel like they’re part of something special and important. They’re part of the ‘inner-circle.’

Of course, to some degree jargon is common and necessary for a lot of jobs/situations and doesn’t automatically mean people are being manipulated. But Montell’s point in this book is for people to be aware of language and willing to evaluate how words and phrases are affecting us.


The Missing Cult

Of all the cultish groups Montell mentions, she is missing a very big one.

The Woke Left.

I’m not trying to turn this into political division. Her book is valuable for a lot of reasons but I just couldn’t help but notice a blindspot that has become quite pervasive.

One thing that made me very interested in this book is that I’ve noticed ways language has changed for the overall American population.

Based on her many jabs at Trump in this book and her self-proclaimed feminism, I can make an educated guess on her politics. And ironically, I wonder if she has failed to see the cultish behavior we’re seeing in the mainstream right now.

One of the criteria of cults that Montell regularly refers to in her book is the ‘us vs them mentality’. Hero worship. Redefining words. Buzzwords. Hashtags. All of these have been employed by the woke agenda to control the narrative around several hot topics.

This is intentional and goes largely unnoticed. People want to be part of something important or at least not associated with what’s ‘bad.’ So we adapt our language to fit the ‘us’ and avoid the ‘them.’

Intersectionality has become the ‘best way’ to identify people. But by nature it separates people into ‘oppressed’ and ‘oppressor’ groups. Us vs them respectively.

There has been a push to view certain words as acts of violence. This is redefining what words mean and forcing people to live by them.

Much of this is covered in Johnathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff’s fantastic book The Coddling of the American Mind. They look at UC Berkeley— where free speech began— and how students are trying to shut down speech and justifying violence to do it.

Our cancel culture attests to the ‘punishment’ of members who do not use the right language.

Rod Dreher, in his book Live Not by Lies, compiles thoughts from people he interviewed who live in the US now but lived in Communist countries prior. People who have lived under communist regimes recognize some tactics happening now that were precursors they experienced to communism. One of those is reinvention and control of language.

“What unnerves those who lived under Soviet communism is this similarity: Elites and elite institutions are abandoning old-fashioned liberalism, based in defending the rights of the individual, and replacing it with a progressive creed that regards justice in terms of groups. It encourages people to identify with groups—ethnic, sexual, and otherwise—and to think of Good and Evil as a matter of power dynamics among the groups. A utopian vision drives these progressives, one that compels them to seek to rewrite history and reinvent language to reflect their ideals of social justice. Further, these utopian progressives are constantly changing the standards of thought, speech, and behavior.”

As he says, “language creates reality.”

In their enlightening book, Cynical Theories, the authors identify ‘the power of language’ as one of the main tenets of critical theory. Postmodernists viewed language as “dangerous and unreliable.” Throughout their book they reveal ways that critical theorists have attempted to control or deconstruct language and to perpetuate an us vs them reality.

I think we can also see the use of language in terms of the Covid pandemic and how people handled vaccines and mask mandates. The language surrounding these topics was so morally charged that to disagree or to choose not to get vaccinated or masked was equated to wanting people to die. I think a lot of people who resisted these things were tuning into the language of it and recognized red flags. Maybe they weren’t even against vaccines or masks but were countering the cultish rhetoric propping up the strong and morally charged ‘recommendations’ and attempts to control people’s actions and beliefs.

I think that Montell has made some excellent observations in her book. And we would do well to heed her advice:

“In every corner of life, business and otherwise, when you can tell deep down that something is ethically wrong but are having trouble pinpointing why, language is a good place to look for evidence.”

I know ‘woke left’ is a buzzword and is probably not the most helpful term to use if I hope people will read this entire sentence instead of giving me a big thumbs down and assuming all kinds of things about my personality and my beliefs, but it’s hard to deny that being ‘woke’ or politically and socially correct these days requires a specific language and definitions of terms.

In light of Montell’s book, it’s at least worth thinking about.


Some Interesting Things

- Montell was speculating on why people are susceptible to joining cultish groups. We talked about loneliness. But she also talked about the paralysis of decision making. The younger generations have been told they can do whatever they want and be whoever they want. Montell ventures that the endless possibilities and “pressure to craft a strong ‘personal brand’” causes many people to feel lost. It is then appealing to them to be part of a group where someone will tell them what to do, think, say, believe.

- Her thoughts on brainwashing were new to me. She posits that the term ‘brainwashing’ isn’t really a thing. “If brainwashing were real we would expect to see many more dangerous people running around, planning to carry out reprehensible schemes.” We can always make our own choices. We may be conditioned to think or act a certain way but we aren’t actually brainwashed and unable to think for ourselves.

- Megan Goodwin says,“The political ramifications of identifying something as a cult are real and often violent.” I never really thought about this before. But Montell gave the example of the Waco fiasco when the FBI got into a standoff with the Branch Davidians and handled it poorly— many were killed. But because it was called a cult, people’s reaction to it was entirely different than if it were a church group that received government protection. The public dismissed the tragedy, essentially with the attitude that the people deserved it. Do I want groups like Scientology and Heaven’s Gate to have government protection? No. But it is a complicated thing to think about. When we call a group a cult, we dehumanize the people in our minds. And more often than not, it’s the leaders that are doing the ‘bad things.’ How do we balance wanting to stop cults from manipulating and hurting people but still show compassion. Can we still use the word cult?
[Side note to this comment: She seems to propose we stop calling groups cults but then proceeds to call groups cults for the rest of the book so I’m not sure what her final stance on this is.]

- She talks about the loaded language cults use but also their use of thought-terminating cliches. "Catchphrases aimed at halting an argument from moving forward by discouraging critical thought… Expressions like ‘It is what it is,’ ‘It’s the media’s fault,’ ‘Everything happens for a reason,’… ‘Truth is a construct,’ ‘I hold space for multiple realities,’… You can’t engage in a dialogue with someone [like that]… These pithy mottos are effective because they alleviate cognitive dissonance…” If you want more examples of this, just read Facebook comment threads. People have these phrases they use that just prevent any intelligent dialogue. It shuts down conversation because you can’t reason with them. And it’s frustrating because they think it's a ‘mic drop’ moment but really it’s just avoiding talking about the evidence. It “squelches independent thinking.”

- “Language doesn’t work to manipulate people into believing things they don’t want to believe; instead, it gives them license to believe ideas they’re already open to. Language…reshapes a person’s reality only if they are in an ideological place where that reshaping is welcome.” This was interesting for me to think about. I partially agree, but I think something important to consider is gradual transition. Someone may end up believing something that five years ago they would have said was ridiculous, but I would guess there were several smaller steps in between, not one giant leap from this belief to that belief because that would cause too much dissonance. It’s like the Milgram experiement or Hitler’s strategy to turn people against Jews. Small seemingly harmless steps until the end point is miles away from where you began.

- Behavioral Economic Theory: “Irrationally, we tend to stay in negative situations, from crappy relationships to lousy investments to cults, telling ourselves that a win is just around the corner, so we don’t have to admit to ourselves that things just didn’t work out and we should cut our losses. It’s an emotional example of the sunk cost fallacy, or people’s tendency to think that resources already spent justify spending more. We’ve been in it this long, we might as well keep going.” I do this regularly with food that I buy that I don’t like. But I already spent the money on it so I’ll keep eating it. Ugh. Why do I do that?

- It’s not dumb people that are the most susceptible to cults. I tend to tell myself- I’m too smart for that to happen to me. But actually smart people are not immune from manipulation. “Studies show that American test subjects with the lowest education levels have a higher probability of subscribing to certain paranormal beliefs, like haunted houses, Satanic possession, and UFO landings; but it’s test subjects with the most education who are likeliest to believe in New Age ideas, like the power of the mind to heal disease.” I thought this quote was funny: “'It’s not that smart people aren’t capable of believing in cultish things; instead, says Michael Shermer, it’s that smart people are better at ‘defending beliefs they arrived at for non-smart reasons.’”


Conclusion

I think this is an important book. It’s hard to detect problems with language. We use it so much we often don’t realize that we’ve changed our terminology.

Montell does a compelling job of exposing the dangers of loaded language, reinvention of words, thought terminating phrases, and us vs them rhetoric. She reveals it in actual cults and also, less seriously, in places like MLMs and fitness groups.

She makes some comments or observations that I don’t agree with or have to roll my eyes a bit, but the overall message of her book is one I agree with.

One might come away from this wondering if we’re just supposed to avoid being part of groups of any kind if we’re so at risk of manipulation and cultish communication.

But no. We’ve already established our need for community and belonging.

She concludes with this:

“I don’t think the world would benefit from us all refusing to believe or participate in things. Too much wariness spoils the most enchanting parts of being human. If everyone feared the alternative to the point that they never took even small leaps of faith for the sake of connection and meaning, how lonely would that be?”

If you finish this book and decide to never join a group again, you’ve missed the point.

We just need to be more aware of language. We need to stay in tune with our logic, independent and critical thinking, and be willing to hold our beliefs up to scrutiny.


To read the part of my review where I discuss her comments on Protestant Christianity click HERE.

If you are interested in making this book a book club discussion, click HERE for some book club discussion questions at the end of my blog post.

Book review blog: www.shelfreflection.com

“When cornered, desperate, or isolated, man reverts to those instincts that aim straight at survival.”

Everyone and their mom has read this book. Well… except for me (and my mom). So I finally got around to it. Mostly because it’s coming out as a movie. (Book/movie comparison below!)

Sometimes I avoid the most popular books because they always seem too hyped.

It’s possible this one is too hyped. But I still enjoyed it.

Where the Crawdads Sing is mostly a coming-of-age story with a bit of murder mystery, a section of law procedural, and a whole lotta nature.


Kya, aka The Marsh Girl, has endured the departure of family member after family member because of her dad’s abuse. Eventually he leaves too and Kya, at a very young age, is forced to make a living in the wild marshlands of North Carolina in the 1960s.


We follow Kya as she wrestles with the hurt of her mother leaving her.

"Within all the worlds of biology, she searched for an explanation of why a mother would leave her offspring.”

“Whenever she stumbled, it was the land that caught her. Until at last, at some unclaimed moment, the heart-pain seeped away like water into sand. Still there, but deep. Kya laid her hand upon the breathing, wet earth, and the marsh became her mother.”


We follow her to school for one day where she is ridiculed and vows never to return.
We follow her through a friendship with a boy who teaches her to read and keeps her stocked with books.
We follow her through romance and heartache.
And finally we follow her through the town’s accusation of murder. They are convinced she has killed the town’s golden boy because of their rumored relationship and her ‘barbaric’ living.

Can the Marsh Girl prove her innocence? Will the prejudice of the town sentence her to prison? Can the truths of nature free Kya at last?

‘Where the crawdads sing’ is the deep land where the critters are still wild and free. That is a theme of this book. Freedom. What is freedom and how far will one go to get it.


It reminded me a lot of the book A Girl of the Limberlost that I read when I was younger. Probably nobody and nobody’s mom has read it. Maybe someone’s grandma.

Like Where the Crawdads Sing, A Girl of the Limberlost is about a girl who loves the wetlands and swamps. Both protagonists collect specimens from nature. Both are books that highlight the wonders and beauty of the land.


I will say, I would have liked a little more mystery in this one. The Goodreads summary is a bit misleading.

Though the first pages set the crime scene, we don’t come back to it very often. Owens writes alternating chapters between Kya’s growing up and her relationship with the deceased and others in the town, and the future murder investigation done by the sheriff, ending with a chunk of the court proceedings.


If you’re looking for an intense clue finding, mystery solving story, you won’t find it here.

But if you like a somewhat lyrical fiction story with a touch of mystery to keep things interesting, you’ll love it! And if you like nature, you should probably just buy it.

I did like the writing. She captured the setting really well. I admit, I’m not one to appreciate what my mind sees as swamps. I’m anxious to see the portrayal on film and see how it changes my perception. Owens definitely does a good job of describing the beauty and helping you feel like you’re there.

I also enjoyed some of her creative descriptions like this:

“Barkley Cove served its religion hard-boiled and deep-fried.”

I was worried that we weren’t going to get a resolution on the murder which definitely would have made this a frustrating read. But the ending was very satisfying and kicked up my opinion of it.


Book/Movie Comparison

My husband and I finally joined all the book club ladies flocking to the theaters to see the movie. I thought it was really well done.

It followed very closely to the book. Some timeline changes and details different, but the story was the same. The ending was the same.

There were some things missing because some things in books are either harder to include in movies or for the sake of time, which is fine.

Much of Kya’s childhood was cut out so her dad’s abuse and her family leaving was a bit abrupt. We don’t sit in her despair and confusion as much as in the book and lose some of what she’s struggling with.

The aspect of Amanda Hamilton’s poetry is missing so the ending is ‘slightly’ different.

One thing that WASN’T missing was the sex. No nudity was shown but it was still a little more graphic than I was expecting. Although I suppose it showcased how sad it was again that because she grew up alone she had no one teaching her how to protect herself or how relationships should work. All she knew was the abuse of her dad.


I tried to eavesdrop on one of the book club’s pow wows after leaving the theater as they sat to discuss in the lobby. I was curious to see what others thought and remembered from the book.

One thing I was struggling to remember was the portrayal of Chase in the book. I felt like the movie portrayed him very negatively throughout the entire movie but for some reason I remembered thinking I didn’t hate Chase the entire book.

I thought the book showed him as more charming and made the reader feel that he really did fall for Kya and felt like she was the only one he could open up to and be known by since he had been the ‘golden boy’ and pressured with certain expectations by his parents and the community.

Maybe I misunderstood that part of the book? But if I was wrong, I wish they would have done it differently in the movie, because they definitely paint Chase a particular way and you never like him in the movie.

The movie adaptation focuses more on the trial than the book did. As I mentioned, the book is slow in some places and the mystery trial part is less prominent until the end. I understand this change on screen and think it would have been a boring movie without more of the trial/mystery emphasis.

My husband never read the book and he said he enjoyed the movie. But he was confused a little bit about her family leaving her behind and I think because her childhood was so condensed we did miss out on some important details.


Conclusion

I think because this book was all the rage, it skewed my reading a bit. It makes it harder for me to say “I LOVED it.” Maybe I would have thought that if I were one of the first ones to read it.

Part of me wonders if I would have liked the book less or more if I read it before the hype. Do I think it’s beautifully written just because everyone else loves it? I’m thinking my opinion of the book has been influenced by the masses. And I haven’t decided if that matters or not.

Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book. And I would recommend it. It was a fast and mostly interesting read. It just had some slower parts for me that could have used a little more action… and not the ‘coming-of-age-sexual-action’ that was already there…!



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[This was on my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2022]

“Human innovation is a wonderful gift but a disappointing god.”

“We are entering a new technological revolution that’s impossible to predict. It’s a good time for Christians to think about God’s relationship to technology as we ask questions about the origin of our gadgets. What technologies are helpful or destructive? And how can we walk by faith in the age ahead?”


This was a good book for me to read as technology continues to pervade the world.

Tony Reinke, author of 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You (on my TBR), speaks of two groups of people: tech optimists and tech pessimists. Those who believe technology is evil and will only lead to destruction, and those who believe technology will save us.

Obviously we don’t have to place ourselves into one of these groups.

But is there one you lean more toward?

As Christians, how are we to think about technology?

Reinke says of himself:

“I land somewhere in this mix, not a dystopian and not a utopian, but a Bible-believing creationist, Reformed in my theology, trusting in God’s providential orchestration over all things. I’m a city dweller concerned with the selfish motives at work in Silicon Valley, yet I’m also a tech optimist, eager to see and experience the future possibilities that lie ahead. In both cases, I’m sobered by a revelation that reminds me that the storyline of human tech will get fumbled and end badly too.”


This book was good for me to read because as I reflect on myself, I think I tend to be a tech pessimist. I use a decent amount of tech and see its advantages, but more often I feel like I have a curmudgeonly attitude towards innovation. Why can’t we just be content with where we’re at? The world is technologically advanced enough right now. Don’t people know that AI never ends well with humans?!? Watch ANY sci-fi movie.

I don’t need my car to drive itself. I don’t want to put my consciousness into a computer. I don’t want to live on Mars. Half the time technology doesn’t even work the way it’s supposed to! Why is it so hard to pair two bluetooth headphones to the same ipad?! Why can’t we connect to the airplane’s wifi for longer than two minutes? (Can you tell I’ve flown recently?) And also… if we’re so ‘advanced’ then why are colonoscopies still a thing? So, yeah I have some mixed feelings about technology.

My husband is more of a tech-optimist. He is intrigued by the possibilities of innovation and the creativity and intelligence it takes to innovate. Advancements are more exciting to him than to me. He’s often a visionary. I’m a bit of a skeptic.


Reinke isn’t arguing to enthusiastically promote all technology. He isn’t advocating to protest it either.

This is a thoughtful book that grounds us in our worldview and helps us to discern the positives and negatives of tech, to keep God in his sovereign position, and to keep humans wary of how certain tech affects us.

“As Paul Virilio noted, ‘When you invent the ship, you also invent the shipwreck; when you invent the plane, you also invent the plane crash; and when you invent electricity, you invent electrocution… Every technology carries its own negativity, which is invented at the same time as technical progress.’”

A proper view of technology will require wisdom.


The Basics

His book is organized into six chapters that talk about where our tech comes from, what God’s relationship is to it, what the limitations of technology are, and how we should use it today.

By looking at 9 different Bible passages and engaging with 9 different voices (John Calvin, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, Jacques Ellul, Wendell Berry, Kevin Kelly, Elon Musk, & Yuval Noah Harari) Reinke writes to dispel 12 different myths:

1. Human innovation is an inorganic imposition forced onto the created order.

2. Humans set the technological limits and possibilities over creation.

3. Human innovation is autonomous, unlimited, and unchecked.

4. God is unrelated to the improvements of human innovation.

5. Non-Christian inventors cannot fulfill the will of God.

6. God will send the most beneficial innovations through Christians.

7. Humans can unleash techno-powers beyond the control of God.

8. Innovations are good as long as they are pragmatically useful.

9. God governs only virtuous technologies.

10. God didn’t have the iPhone in mind when he created the work.

11. Our discovery of atomic power was a mistake that God never intended.

12. Christian flourishing hinges on my adoption or rejection of the technium

Later he goes through 14 ethical convictions Christians should have about technology. (I won’t list them all here, but it’s a good framework to build a worldview)


I love how upfront Reinke is in writing this book:

“As a tech optimist, I know that this book would market better as an alarmist, doomsday warning about how Satan hijacked the electrical grid, controls us through our smartphones, and wants to implant us with the digital mark of the beast. I would sell you a vast conspiracy coupled with a theology of a powerless god who doesn’t know what to do… Fear sells books, but my theology— what I know about the gloriously sovereign Creator and his incredible creation—forbids me from stoking more fear. So I’m optimistic— not optimistic in man, but in the God who governs every square inch of Silicon Valley.”


This is a refreshing perspective on technology. It reminds me that I am wise to not blindly implant all technology into my life, but challenges me to remember that God is sovereign over all technology and it’s okay to view innovation as gifts from our Creator.


Technology in the Bible

Something I found really interesting was the thread of Babel throughout the discussion of technology.

In Scripture, the tower of Babel was the story of man creating the first ‘city’ and attempting to build a tower to reach heaven. He offered some interesting statistics on how religion decreases as you get into bigger cities. There is a certain arrogance and self-sufficiency found in urban centers that are built on convenience and ease.

Reinke is not trying to make judgements about people who live in cities (he is a city-dweller himself) but it’s interesting to see the ways city-living elevates and promotes the self, humanity, a refrain from Babel echoing into modern day. The removal of dependency on God and innovating the need for him out of their lives. Even just the fact that to build cities requires demolishing nature. The rural world of agriculture has major dependency on weather conditions out of their control. They may recognize their limitations easier than someone in the human fortresses of the city.

“Babel was the new global epicenter of human worship. All of humanity gathered together, with religious intent, with what appeared to be the goal of opening a portal in the sky, storming heaven, dethroning God, and enthroning humanity in his place.”

“Babylon is allegorical of the idolatry that any nation commits when it elevates material abundance, military prowess, technological sophistication, imperial grandeur, racial pride, and any other glorification of the creature over the Creator.” — Bruce Manning Metzger

This was when God scattered the people around the globe, creating new cultures and languages. Not because he was trying to thwart technology for technology’s sake. But to protect humanity from itself.

“By multiplying cultures [spreading people across the globe with different languages] God coded into the drama of humanity different ways of thinking about and engaging with the world. These differences are so potent that they will help restrain us from adopting any one, single technology.”

“In the face of human self-glory, he introduced the tensions that utterly thwarted human collaboration.”


We know that God is not against technology. Shortly after the tower of Babel, God instructs Noah to build the ark. A preposterous endeavor for the time. But using the innovation of tar to water-proof the boat, God instigates the use of technology, building the unimaginable, to save Noah and his family.

Again, we see the sovereignty of God’s hand on technology in the cross.

“The cross was designed to kill criminals, insurrectionists, and disobedient slaves, and to do so slowly by exhaustion and asphyxiation… But this awful tool of torture doubled as the hinge on which all of God’s redemptive plan turned.”

God governs all technology, even in the hands of those who reject him, in order to bring about his purposes.

Babel, the ark, the cross…. electricity, cars, the iPhone, Alexa, SpaceX. Whatever technologies are developed in this world, they are not out of the control of God. Therefore, we do not have to fear them.


God’s Governance

Isaiah 54:16-17 says: “Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed…”

This verse, hidden away in Isaiah, was somewhat of a revelatory verse for me. It tells us that God creates the creators of weapons, the ones who wield them, and he is in control of the outcomes of those weapons.

“The world’s greatest threats, even at their most technologically outfitted, can only wield a power given and a purpose governed entirely by God.”

“Whether you love God, hate God, or ignore God; and whether you seek to meet the needs of humanity in your work, or whether the only thing that gets you out of bed each morning is the promise that you’re going to plunder this world of as much wealth as you can, with a sword or a startup, God wields you for his final purposes. God made you for an end that he set in place.” (Rm 9)

Reading this book reminded me of the power of our God! When we fear technology or its affects, we have forgotten the Creator. He is not surprised by anything humans do.

I recently read the book The Bomber Mafia, and the incredibly intelligent inventor during WWII who created the bomber sights allowing planes to drop bombs on pinpointed locations says that no one invents anything. Only God invents. “He would say he’s just one who discovers the greatness of God, the creations of God; that God reveals truths through people who are willing to work hard and to use their minds to discover God’s truths.”

And Reinke echoes those thoughts here. He likens it to a sandbox or a box of Legos in which God has given us boundaries and materials to create. Only God creates ex nihilo (from nothing). And so even in the materials we have available to us, those have been put in place and proportioned and given properties that God alone ordains. We merely discover what he has given to us, materially or in the form of knowledge.


I appreciate that within all of this praise of God for his sovereignty, Reinke doesn’t let evildoers off the hook. This is part of the mystery of free will and the sovereignty of God. The Bible teaches both that God ordains and is in control of everything, yet we, humanity, are responsible for our choices, actions, thoughts.

God may work through the builders of the cross. Of guns. Of the atomic bomb. But those wielders are responsible and held accountable for every sin they commit with their inventions.

It’s a mystifying thing to think about, but the Bible teaches both, so we accept both, even if it boggles our mind to try to understand them.


Going Forward

“Human innovation satisfies human comforts but starves human hearts. Sinners are always trying to manufacture a new God-replacement.”

As we continue to encounter new technology, we must always guard our hearts from turning technology into an ultimate, from making technology our god, our savior. God has given us many gifts and will continue to bestow his grace on us, but if we enjoy the gifts without thanking the Giver, we are exhibiting Babel-like attitudes of self-sufficiency.

“Safer tech offers more control, boasts greater predictability, and kills divine thankfulness.”

Going forward we must maintain our awe and thankfulness to the Creator of all things (and all the things that get used to make all the other things).

We must keep our worship focused on God and not our own accomplishments, discoveries, or comforts.

We must use wisdom to make sure we use and promote tech that helps people, not hurts them. This is no easy task.

As a sinful people, we know we will fall short and make mistakes. So must also keep our trust and faith in the sovereign God. Live not in fear, but in faith, in the One who holds all things together. Follow him as best as we can and trust that he is at work to bring about his purposes and his good plans.

“Thus, the ultimate point of technology (in any age) is to point us back to the glory and the generosity and the majesty and self-sufficiency of the Creator himself. And the ultimate goal of technology is to usher us deeper into the creative genius of God, to direct our hearts to God, to adore him and to thank him for our daily bread. God’s glory is the end of creation and the aim of all our innovations. He is worthy of our lives, worthy of our best inventions, worthy of all praise.”


Recommendation

I would definitely recommend this book for everyone. It’s easy to read and follow. It’s very relevant. And it takes a very balanced and thoughtful position on technology that does not paint it as evil or as a savior, but positions it in its proper place, under the sovereign watch of God.

Whether or not you’ve formed your ideology on technology, this is a thought-provoking book that is worth your time!


More Quotes

“We critique tech because tech does not self-critique.”

“Tech mastery requires self-limitation.”

“According to the Gospel of Technology, there is no fall of man, only impediments to the rise of man. The struggle is against control over myself, my image, my body, my gender, my living space, my sexual expression, my life span, my productivity, my potential. Whatever hinders self-crafting must be put down. Ultimately, whatever intrudes upon each person’s autonomy is the enemy, and the opposition can be defeated through innovation.”

“In many ways the tech age erodes important biological distinctions between men and women, relativizes gender, makes sex differences malleable, and ultimately washes away the value of the nuclear family.”

“We are not called to find our comfort in controlling this world. Life isn’t about embracing every comfort and controlling every variable. If personal comfort is driving motivation in your adoption of technology, it’s a worship-killing trap.”

Ray Ortlund says, “If we have technology but not wisdom, we will use the best communications ever invented to broadcast stupidity.”

“But without wisdom, we are left in the dark as to whether our inventions are truly helping or hurting human flourishing. We try to invent but not overinvent…We want to hear the Creator’s voice and correct when we overreach, because if we go beyond his voice we will end up polluting the world, maiming others, and accidentally killing ourselves. Some human harm is inevitable in innovation. So we must stay attuned to the fallout of every technology, both physically need spiritually, both through general revelation and special revelation.”


Book Club Discussion Questions:

1. Are you a tech pessimist or optimist? What has influenced your position?

2. What are the benefits and dangers of living in a city? In a rural area?

3. In what ways do you see God’s glory revealed in urban areas? In rural areas?

4. What do you think have been some of the effects of God spreading people around the globe at the tower of Babel?

5. Which one of the listed 12 myths do you find yourself believing?

6. What is the source of authority in your life? When you have a problem, do you find yourself turning to technology in some way?

7. How does the Gospel of Technology stray from the Gospel of Christ?

8. What kinds of technology have taken up the most of your time?

9. What technology stresses you out the most?

10. What technology makes your life the easiest?

11. Is it hard to believe God is in control of every past, present, and future invention?

12. What kind of self-limitation do you need to work on to ‘master’ technology?

13. When is the last time you thanked God for a piece of technology?

14. Think about what it means to create. Out of nothing. Imagine what it would be like to create something never before seen out of something never before seen. Now realize that is how God created the earth.

15. How do we handle technology that can be used for both good and bad? Are there ways to put ‘guardrails’?


Further Reading

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl S. Trueman (Reinke quotes this book; there is crossover between how technology has influenced how we view ourselves and find our identity)

To Hell with the Hustle by Jefferson Bethke (a good book to read when thinking about keeping a ‘Sabbath’ day and how technology leads to busyness instead of rest)

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I’m in several book-lover Facebook groups and the past few weeks I had seen hundreds, I kid you not, posts about people reading this book, recommending this book, buying this book, marrying this book.

So I thought, I haven’t read Colleen Hoover yet, I guess I should do what everyone else is doing.

Well, I was a week late in my discernment because THEN I saw people commenting on the sexual content. One person even went so far as to call it a “porno.” By then it was too late. I had already finished it. And she’s not really that far off with her assessment.

If I had known ahead of time what this book contained, I would not have read it.

There are some qualifiers to that content but must be talked about in my Spoiler section below.


Summary

Here’s the rundown of the thriller storyline:

The book begins with Lowen waiting to cross a city street and seeing a man getting his skull crushed by a truck, getting his blood on her shirt. Just a typical Monday, amiright?

Cue handsome man who gives her the very shirt off his back for her and helps her calm down. (This is a romance/thriller after all…)

Now they can both go to their respective meetings.

Lowen is a struggling author who is about to meet with her agent and a client who has a job offer for her.

Surprise! It’s the shirt guy! His wife, Verity, also an author, was in a car accident and cannot, for whatever reason, finish her famous series and they want Lowen to ‘co-write’ it ‘with’ her.

Lowen agrees because she needs the money.

The ‘for whatever reason’ is: The wife is a vacant shell of a person who cannot walk or talk. In some sort of trance.

Oh also, they had twins who both died in recent months on separate occasions.

They are what shirt guy calls ‘chronics.’ “One terrible thing after another.” FORESHADOWING!

Lowen searches Verity’s book notes and discovers an unpublished manuscript, an apparent autobiography revealing the darkest feelings and secrets of Verity. And also a very descriptive play-by-play of her sex life with shirt guy.

The more Lowen learns about Verity, the more suspicious she is of the ‘tragedies’ happening in their lives. She no longer feels safe around Verity but is not sure how much she reveals to shirt guy. Because, they’re still married. Even though Lowen and shirt guy are stoking their forbidden love pretty hardcore.

“Things aren’t right in this house, and until he mistrusts that woman upstairs as much as I do, I have a feeling something else is going to happen.”

Suspense!


The Good

Per usual, the story would have been a lot better without the sexual content. I actually really liked the premise. I liked that I was uncertain what was really going on. I liked the ‘unsettled’ ending.

There was definitely dysfunction in this book but it wasn’t quite as messed up as Gone Girl.

I like that she named her Verity. I think there’s a discussion to be had about that and the ending.


Recommendation

I don’t recommend this book.

Considering how popular this book is, I think I’m in the minority. Apparently there is a niche for sexually graphic thrillers. So I guess if you like that, you’ll enjoy this book.

But if you like to keep things rated PG-13 (where the PG doesn’t stand for Pretty Graphic), then pass this one up and find something else.

Another thing that made it hard for me to read were the anecdotes of Verity’s mothering (also see spoilers for more details).

I don’t know if this is on par for Colleen Hoover or not, but you bet I’m gonna do a better job figuring that out before I start another one of her books.

If you want to explore my spoilers, keep scrolling, otherwise, you might as well just browse all my other reviews to find your next book!


Spoiler Comments

Spoiler

Okay.

This is a big spoiler.

I think some justify the graphic content by the end because they’re like- Oh! It’s ‘not real.’ After all, the manuscript isn’t a real autobiography. It’s Verity’s writing exercise to practice writing a villain’s voice. You take real life events but write the opposite of what you actually felt or thought in those moments.

Verity’s compiled writing exercises is intended to use to teach other writers.

So the encounters are not all real. Verity writes in a letter they find later- “You don’t think women actually think about sex that much, do you?”

But here’s the thing… why would anyone need to know that much about anyone’s sex life? Whether writing practice or not, there are plenty of other situations she could have written about.

Plus, we don’t really know if we can trust the letter she wrote later. She’s clearly a manipulative person so we don’t know what is the truth. It could all be real and she’s trying to cover her tracks by planting the fake letter.

In the same way, her descriptions of how she mothers her girls, who we really don’t know if she actually loves or not, are hard to read whether or not they are real. In the manuscript she talks of how she hates her twins because she can tell her husband loves them more than her. She tries to abort them with a wire hanger, among other things. After they’re born she leaves them in their crib and turns the monitor off, letting them cry all day.

As a woman who had a really hard time getting pregnant, miscarrying once, and having twin boys, those sections just really hit me the wrong way.

I like the concept of a manuscript of writing exercises misinterpreted as truth and wreaking havoc, but having to second guess if this woman is crazy enough to have written truth and leave a letter to counter her work that was exposed. It’s a good psychological thriller storyline.

But the execution of it was not enjoyable to read. I see now that she writes a lot of romance, so maybe that makes sense for some people, but I don’t need people to be sexually involved in thrillers to keep my attention.

Okay. I’m done complaining.

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There are a lot of people who don’t view porn as a problem.

My husband and I just got back from a resort that has a corresponding fan Facebook page for the frequenters of the resort. The page has regular posts from people celebrating the two “special” channels that can be accessed in the rooms and evaluating the “quality” of said channels.

One of the biggest eye-opening moments for me when I went off to college was discovering how common porn is even for Christians. Whether it is celebrated or just a struggle people are trying to overcome, porn is very prevalent in the world today.

“The highly respected Nielsen Media Research organization reported that about 60 million people— over a quarter of internet users in the US— visited a pornographic website during one month in 2010…”


It was a bit ironic to read this book right before I read the book Verity which has a lot of sexual content. I think sexually graphic novels might be a blind spot for a lot of women. Just because it isn’t on a screen doesn’t mean it’s not a form of pornography that can still be harmful for us and our relationships.

Roberts suggests it may even be more powerful when we read it:

“Verbal descriptions, along with the images we see, combine to feed fantasies we create for ourselves. Sometimes the most powerful porn is stuff we create in our own heads.”


Is Porn a Problem?

I think we are naive to answer anything other than ‘yes.’

“Social commentators, medical professionals, and concerned individuals point to the negative impact it is having, for example, on body image, relational health, and the development of adolescent sexuality.”

“The American Psychological Association has stated, ‘The saturation of sexualized images of females is leading to body hatred, eating disorders, low self-esteem [and] depression.’”

“As porn has become more accessible, increasing numbers of children are viewing it at a very young age. Much of their sex education is through discovery online. And they’re not just learning the facts of life through porn; it’s also forming their attitudes to sex and their understanding of what is normal sexually.”

“A peer-reviewed research study that analyzed data from seven different countries concluded that there is ‘little doubt that, on average, individuals who consume pornography more frequently are more likely to hold attitudes [supporting] sexual aggression and engage in actual acts of sexual aggression.’”


I also read an account in This is Going to Hurt about a young girl who came in to the hospital with mutilated genitals because she had been trying to change herself to look more like what is found in porn.


Just look at this secular organization called Fight the New Drug. Their website is full of facts and stories that tell the real story about how porn hurts people, relationships, and the world at large.

You don’t have to be a Christian to recognize the harmful affects of porn.

One thing that I think is severely understated is how porn fuels human trafficking.

“According to cases reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, pornography was the 3rd-most common form of sex trafficking, after escort services and elicit massage businesses.”

“In fact, research has shown that porn consumers are more likely to express an intent to rape, less likely to intervene during a sexual assault, more likely to victim-blame survivors of sexual assault, more likely to support violence against women, more likely to forward sexts without consent, and more likely to commit actual acts of sexual violence. In fact, some evidence suggests that this desensitization toward sexual violence through the consumption of porn can then manifest in more willingness to buy sex, which increases the demand for individuals being trafficked for sex.” (FTND)

The idea that porn is just an experience of personal preference and conviction is a lie.

Porn is not harmless.


In this Book

This book is only 80 pages. It is not intended to be exhaustive.

Roberts wants to open this discussion in our communities and churches. This is a book with talking points.

“Our aim is to give you an accessible introduction to the many questions that surround the issues of pornography, and a starting point for constructive discussion between Christian believers and others.”

Roberts exposes the ugliness of porn and beauty of God’s design for sex. God is not against sex. It is a gift from him that he has designed with specific boundaries to protect us.

Watching porn is not a path to freedom. It’s the road to slavery.

Just as all sin chains us to our every fleshly desire that we try and fail to satisfy.

We can’t fully recognize the problem or the solution of porn until we see ourselves for what we are. Our hearts are corrupted by sin, “we are not victims; we are perpetrators.”

“Remember, the fundamental problem that causes slavery to porn is not our psychology or biology, but our sin. And to counter that, we can’t rely on self-help. We need a savior. Only Jesus Christ can truly set us free.”


The chapters in this book go from describing the problem of porn, God’s good design for sex, how porn enslaves us, where true freedom is, living porn-free, and helping others.

He provides a list of resources at the end of his book. I have images of the lists included in my original post HERE.


Living Porn-Free

There is hope!

After we see our sinful hearts, the damage of porn, and the intended purpose of sex, we may struggle to understand how we could ever get to that place.

This book has a lot of encouragement for people who may struggle with a porn addiction. There is nothing that can’t be forgiven in Christ. God turns toward us in our sin, not away. He wants to heal us and redeem us.

“The Bible has wonderful news for those who are beginning to feel they will never find victory in the fight against porn. The gospel of Jesus Christ offers complete forgiveness and also a new power by the Holy Spirit to enable us to fight sin and grow in holiness. It really is possible to live porn-free.”


I love what he says about living porn-free because it applies to any area of our lives that we want to see change. It’s not about just avoiding things and saying ‘no.’ It’s about first saying ‘yes’ to Christ and seeking after him.

“Heath Lambert writes: ‘You need to be the kind of person who fights for a close relationship with Jesus more than you fight against pornography… When you find yourself working to look to Christ more than you find yourself working to avoid porn, you’ll know you’ve turned the corner… A living, breathing relationship with Jesus will drive porn out of your life quicker than anything else. When you turn your eyes to Jesus, there isn’t room for anything else in your heart because he fills it up.’”

The focus isn’t on the sin. The focus is on the Savior.


Recommendation

I would definitely recommend this book. As stated earlier, it’s a great introduction to this conversation.

I do wish it was a little longer because Roberts doesn’t talk at all about human trafficking which I’m always shocked that people don’t see or don’t want to see its connection to porn.

I also wish he would have addressed the idea of ‘empowerment’ as it pertains to our bodies. I think there are a lot of females that advocate for porn or sites like OnlyFans because they believe the lie that revealing our bodies gives us power. That is a harmful belief to act on.

So the conversation can’t stop here, but for those who don’t like reading big or many books, this is a really good option.

I have a couple more book suggestions below for further reading. This was the first book I read that was specifically and entirely about the topic of porn, but the others listed talk about sex, sexuality, and how that influences our identities and our bodies.

In all of them is a heart for people, grace and forgiveness, and the acknowledgment that the church has not always handled this well. Hopefully reading books like this can help us on the road to doing better in caring for people and the things they struggle with. Our sin is a common denominator with all people and we all need a Savior.
The church should be a place that helps bring people to the Doctor for healing, not judging them in the waiting room for not being healed already.

I’ll end with this quote because I think we all need a reminder that our sinful choices may lead to immediate gratification but it causes us to miss out on something much greater.

“Porn is the equivalent of burning a priceless Stradivarius violin for a few moments of warmth, and missing out on a lifetime of beautiful, glorious music.”


Further Reading

What God has to Say About Our Bodies by Sam Allberry

Born Again This Way by Rachel Gilson

Talking Back to Purity Culture by Rachel Joy Welcher

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl S. Trueman

The Imperfect Disciple by Jared WIlson

Taking Down Backpage by Maggy Krell (This is a book about taking down the largest human trafficking ring)


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[Nominated for ‘Best History/Biography’ category of the 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Reading Challenge]

“This is a story of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer. A band of brothers in central Alabama. A British psychopath. Pyromaniacal chemists in a basement lab at Harvard. It’s a story about the messiness of our intentions, because we always forget the mess when we look back. And at the heart of it all are Haywood Hansel and Curtis LeMay, who squared off in the jungles of Guam.”

I’ve enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell’s books. I’ve read Outliers and Talking to Strangers and found both of them very interesting and informative.

The Bomber Mafia has a little bit different bent. It’s more focused on history than on social psychology. Gladwell wrote this book because it’s a topic he’s loved his entire life. You can definitely tell his passion in his writing and his research was very thorough.


Hansel vs LeMay

World War I was a horrific and bloody war. Part of the reason for this was the inability for planes to target the bombs they dropped. Planes were new to the scene and technology had a long way to go.

A group of men in Alabama theorized that wars would be better fought by targeted attacks. Find the most important factories or operations and take them out. Targeted attacks could cripple the economy, access primary resources, halt or the country’s ability to build weapons. (Like ball bearings! Because… mechanics!)

This group started to be called the Bomber Mafia— not as a compliment, but the group thought the label “suited them.”

“They weren’t just advancing a technological argument. They were also advancing a moral argument about how to wage war.”

The three prongs were: High altitude, daylight, and precision bombing. These were the opposite of methods employed up until this time.

Hansel subscribed to this theory. Targeted attacks would be more effective and take less citizen lives.
 

LeMay on the other hand, forged war differently. Carpet bombing was more his style. His justification was that a lot of production happened in people’s homes.

“LeMay would have said that it was the responsibility of a military leader to make wars as short as possible. That it was the duration of war, not the techniques of war, that caused suffering.”

Killing citizens would create more fear and cause a country to surrender earlier to protect its people.
 

Gladwell makes a pretty pointed remark about these two, in case you weren’t sure who was the good guy and who was the bad guy: “Haywood Hansel sided with Jesus on that question: you should never do evil so that good may come. But LeMay would have thought long and hard about going with Satan.”


Maybe it’s not so cut and dry. I honestly don’t know much about how war works to tell you if his judgment is wrong. Reading this book and using my common sense tells me that pinpointing attacks is a more effective and better moral choice than just bombing everything within reach. But I guess you can read the book and decide for yourself.


Bomb Sights and Napalm

So how could you achieve high altitude, daylight, precision bombing?

Gladwell says it’s like driving 70 miles down the highway and trying to throw something out your window and land it in a cup. Probably not going to hit your mark much, although my trick-shot-making-husband could probably test this one out.

You would need a way to aim a bomb calculating for wind speed, altitude, temperature, etc.

Enter Carl Norden.

His story is pretty cool. Gladwell does an entire TED talk on him HERE. He’s a Swiss engineer, classmate to the infamous Lenin. He creates the first bomb sight. I won’t attempt to explain it to you, but it’s engineering genius and changed the way war was done for ages to come.

These bomb sights allowed for precision bombing. It was tech never before seen or imagined and they were one of the most important tools of the military— those who used them were instructed to destroy them if their planes were going down, lest the enemy should recover one.


I’ve heard the ‘napalm’ references before but honestly didn’t really know anything about them.

Gladwell explains how a paint company accidentally came across a paint that kept bursting into flames. Chemists studied this substance and experimented with it in pretty crazy ways.

Eventually we get Napalm— Gasoline mixed with aluminum NAphthenate plus aluminum PALMitate. Napalm.

I won’t tell you all the details of the longest night in WWII because then why would you read the book. But because of the newly discovered global jet stream, these bomb sights and napalm were used by LeMay to attack Tokyo.

The full attack lasted 3 hours and they dropped 1665 tons of napalm.

“After the war, the United States Strategic Bombing Survey concluded the following: ‘Probably more persons lost their lives by fire at Tokyo in a six-hour period than at any time in the history of man.’”


Technology and Morality

Having recently read Tony Reinke’s book God, Technology, and the Christian Life, what I found most interesting was the discussion on technological advancements.

Gladwell states, “How is it that, sometimes, for any number of unexpected and random reasons, technology slips away from its intended path?”

Once something is invented, it can’t be uninvented. That is some of the fear of technological advancements. There is usually a negative side to every technological ‘gift.’ Cars have car accidents. Electricity leads to electrocutions.

The questions around technology and morality are not easy ones.

Gladwell challenges readers to wonder- “Would you have done the same thing as LeMay given the circumstances?” It’s the age old question of “is it worth it?” Are all the dangers/harms worth the benefits?

I don’t have any answers, but they’re questions we need to think about as technology continues to advance.


Conclusion

I thought this book was really interesting! I learned a lot.

Of course, some of it was a bit technical and boring in spots, but if you like history, Gladwell does an excellent job of bringing it to life and helping understand the moral dilemmas of what transpired. History is never black and white (well technically it was until 1954) but most history lessons seem to make their own moral judgments and it’s not always that simple.

I enjoyed this book and feel it earned its spot as a nominee for best history/biography last year.

Would recommend.


Sidenote A: I read this in one day of air travel on our vacation. And I’m not sure I would recommend this for airport reading if you plan to discuss planes and bombs with whoever you’re traveling with!

Sidenote B: Weather balloons are still used, which seems crazy to me. Twice a day, everyday, weather balloons are released simultaneously in 900 locations all over the world to collect weather data. That’s so many balloons. Apparently they have ‘please return to:’ labels but still… we’re talking 657,000 balloons!

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[This was on my list of Most Anticipated Books of 2022]

“I only knew that my dark side awoke when I realized there was no room in my life for mistakes. When I realized I could not miss, not ever. When I heard a rifle sing in my hands as I buried a bullet through the neck of a bottle and sent the base flying into diamond shards… and realized who and how I could be.”


What drives a woman to become a sniper in WWII?

The Diamond Eye is the fictionalized-true story of Mila Pavlichenko, female sniper in the Russian army.

Mila is driven by her love for her son, Slavka. Slavka’s father is absent and disinterested in their life so Mila is determined to be both mother and father to her son. When the call comes for soldiers, she hones her shooting skills and becomes a sniper.

She will show her son strength and courage.

Though her gender kept her from the military decorations awarded to other soldiers, her official kill count tallied at over 300 and her skill and heroism was never questioned by her fellow soldiers.


I still like Quinn’s The Rose Code better than Diamond Eye because of its more suspenseful story line, but I still enjoyed this one. I also wonder if I had a subconscious moral dilemma about how I should feel toward Russian soldiers. But for a stretch of time they were fighting Hitler, so there is honor in that I suppose.

As usual, Quinn shows her superb research skills. There was a lot of historical and technical data in this book about battles and guns and politics and such. I did feel like it got a bit long, but I appreciate the effort Quinn takes to understand her subject matter and create a work as close to truth as she can while still adding some spice.


I loved how she showed that Mila was both a courageous soldier and a thoughtful mom. In between her ‘sorties’ she was diligent to collect and send back leaves to her son as he was interested in learning about plants. As a mom, I can’t imagine what it took for her to simultaneously be away from her son and facing extreme danger.

But her rough circumstances early on in life taught her to take control of her life, to see a path, and walk it in determination. She will do whatever it takes to accomplish her goals. There is much to admire about Mila.


I also loved the relationship Mila had with both Kostia (her second husband) and Alexei (her sniper partner). I’m not sure how much of the interactions were elaborated or added but it made for a good story.

I liked Kostia’s humor. As is stated in the book, it’s hard for me to picture Russians as having a good sense of humor. They’re always portrayed so serious. It was an interesting mental picture. Plus Quinn did a good job writing the humor naturally.


Per Quinn’s MO, this book alternates between the past and the present. The past being Mila’s journey as a sniper. The present being the Russian delegation to America (of which Mila is part of) in hopes to acquire American assistance in their front lines against Hitler. The present is also there to show the unexpected friendship between Mila and Eleanor Roosevelt.

In the ‘present’ storyline is where the bit of mystery is. There is an unknown ‘marksman’ who plans to assassinate FDR and frame Mila for it. You don’t find out til the end who the marksman is and if they succeed.


Personally I felt like the story read more like a historical account/biography than historical fiction. It was so detailed and the overall storyline was not super complex. For that reason I think I would have preferred it to be a little shorter.

I also wish we would have gotten more information about her son. I don’t know if we just don’t have many historical records from him about what happened to him and how he felt about his mother doing what she was doing, but I’m very curious about the affect it all had on him and his life, his future.


The book reads:

“No matter how hard the metal, it yields to human strength. Everything does. All you have to do is devise the right weapon.”

This was also an interesting theme in this book and would make a good book club discussion question. Do you agree with this? Is human strength ultimate? With the right weapon?

We see Mila hold a variety of weapons, physical and mental, that allow her strength in her various battles. There is character development in this sense that was fun to follow.

“Don’t miss. I had those words stamped on my bones, and there were so many chances to miss in this life— to fail.”

She could fail as a student, an aspiring historian, as a mother, a woman, a Party member. But does ‘success’ mean perfection? What does life look like when you miss? ‘Don’t miss’ is a lot of pressure and is hard to sustain. It tells a lot about a person when we see how they handle a ‘miss’ in their life. And we see that with Mila.


I would recommend this book.

It may be a bit long or technical at times, but if you like historical fiction, you’ll find this a unique story and eye-opening to a new aspect of WWII.



Sidenote Question: Would ‘Lady Death’ have been a better title for this one? Or did Quinn have to stick with the ‘The ___’ formatting of her other books?



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[3.5 rounded up because this series has potential]

“The Castle might be home to the wealthiest and most powerful people in Devovea, but it’s also home to the nosiest. Secrets are the currency here, where nothing is as simple as it seems.”

This is a dystopian YA mystery novel. Dystopian in that the city has sectors that divide people by class. Devovea is ruled by The Crown and the unelected Council. There was a Rebellion that happened in years past but the events that preceded this ‘dystopian’ era are unclear. I feel like this could be fleshed out in book two if Xia so chooses.

There wasn’t a lot of description or details about the world. It was a little hard to picture. And the resources/tech available to the people seemed generally similar to today. I wouldn’t say it was ‘futuristic.’ It wasn’t as immersive as a world as say Hunger Games, Maze Runner, or Divergent. But all of those are series so Xia has the ability to give us more in future books.


I would say that YA is the correct classification for this book. It’s a pretty light and fast read. Not a super complicated plot or characters but still some mystery. The main characters are all teenagers or young adults.


Plot

The premise of this book is a whodunnit. At a public meeting a Magistrate is stabbed on stage. The only other person on stage is Scylla’s father, another Magistrate, who claims his innocence. Scylla, our main character, (according to the author pronounced ‘sky-la’ or sometimes ‘sill-a’) believes his innocence and is determined to exonerate her father.

With the help of her best friend, Ilya (also the son of a Magistrate), and Galen (who lives in the lower class Tiers) Scylla sets out to find out who the killer is, even if it means she has to trade some of The Crown’s secrets. But can she find the truth without getting caught or bringing dishonor to her elite family name?


What I Liked

In the Author’s Note at the beginning of the book Xia talks about the common trope of the main character being given their destiny and told they had to be hero. But she says, “I think anyone can be a hero. We don’t need someone else to appoint us.”

She also talks about how strong female leads are often portrayed with a lot of ‘masculine’ qualities or with an avoidance of ‘feminine’ things.

These two things inspired Xia in writing this book:

“Realizing this made me want to write a book that pushed back on those assumptions; that showed girls they can be powerful and still wear dresses; that being strong doesn’t just mean displaying physical prowess but also demonstrating intelligence, compassion, and resilience.”

I admire this endeavor. Females don’t have to be masculine to be strong. I am not pro-gender-fluidity. But I am pro-gender-diversity in that to be a ‘woman’ is to be a biological woman. Therefore, women are diverse in their traits, interests, and personalities.

“Enjoying pretty things doesn’t make me any less strong.”

I’m not sure if Xia’s take on Scylla is super unique, but I do like the path that she chose and that she created a character who made a choice to do something and didn’t just wait for someone magical to show up and tell them they’re important.


One thing I also liked about Scylla’s character is her belief in justice.

“He needs to be punished by the system, not by a group of vigilantes. That’s not justice.”

Some may say she is blinded by her privilege to trust and advocate for a broken judicial system. But I disagree. She recognizes the system is broken but her solution is not anarchy and ‘taking matters into her own hands.’

We see her inner struggle with this cognitive dissonance of how to go about getting justice. I like that she didn’t just go full-on vigilante but also that she sees problems with the way things are. By the end I’m not sure if she landed anywhere or if Xia has plans for her to go one way or the other, but I hope she continues to wrestle with this. There are more benefits of a justice system than of anarchy and it would be nice to see the plot show growth towards reform than just straight up rebellion. But we’ll see.


Another thing I liked was the title ‘Heir of Blood and Secrets.’ Scylla and Ilya are considered ‘heirs’ because they will eventually take over for their fathers as Magistrates. But what are they inheriting from their fathers? When Scylla learns things about their fathers that she didn’t know before she laments,

“How can that be our legacy? Lies and manipulation and secrets?”

I like the concept of how an heir would handle that legacy when it’s their own family. Do they embrace the life and sacrifice what they need to to accomplish their goals, however ‘noble’? Or do they have a moral code or line to abide by?

“We’re Delevans. Honoring the family name isn’t just about being respectful and avoiding scandal. It also means doing whatever is necessary to help the people of Devovea.”

It’s an intriguing title. I’m not sure the book was as ‘dark’ as the title implies but I still like it!


What I Didn’t Like

I think the biggest letdown of the book was the lack of danger and tension. It never really felt like Scylla was taking big risks and when she did take a risk, never had to face the fallout. Everyone was surprisingly amicable. Even when she confronted The Crown, there didn’t seem to be any danger for her or her friends and family.

The night of the rescue could have had a lot more suspense or unexpected problems they had to account for. Only one injury occurred and Scylla was upset that one of the guards they were opposing got hurt. This doesn’t tell the reader there is danger. I mean I get that Scylla is a bit of a pacifist, even though she’s a trained guard, but considering the circumstances that called for the rescue, it seems like an injury or two was very minimal.

There were a few political insinuations like “the ninety percent that isn’t lucky enough to be born in the Castle” or “History is written by the victors.” I’m not sure if the author was trying to make a point here or if she was just portraying the class-struggle of her created world.


There was an interesting twist at the end but I still felt like the ending could have been bigger, more intense, more dangerous, more suspenseful. It was a little too neat. Again, this probably fits the YA genre a little more, but I think she could have done more.


I also thought there were a few ‘discoveries’ that happened where I was like- “How would other people have not found that?” or “Oh that was a surprise? I thought we all already knew that about that person…”


There are comments about the color of Scylla’s skin because her mother was a foreigner that make people treat her a certain way. But we don’t really have any concept of any of the places surrounding Devovea or what it means to be a foreigner.


Recommendation

This isn’t a hard-hitting thriller, but I still enjoyed reading it. I think this series has potential.

If Xia could just add some more danger and suspense and flesh out the world-building, I think there is a lot that could be done. She left some mystery with The Crown and the Rebels that could go in a lot of different directions.

I’d also like to see some intrigue with her mother’s past and heritage in the next one that comes into play with the Devovea politics, etc.

I would definitely recommend this for teens though. It’s a clean, creative book with mystery.

I think adults will like it to if you know what you’re getting into.


**Received an e-copy of this book via the author in exchange for an honest review**

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