Journalist Scheeres offers a frank and compelling portrait of growing up as a white girl with two adopted black brothers in 1970s rural Indiana, and of her later stay with one of them at a Christian reform school in the Dominican Republic. The book takes its title from a homemade sign that Scheeres and the brother closest to her in age and temperament, David, spot one day on a road in the Hoosier countryside, proclaiming, "This here is: JESUS LAND." And while religion is omnipresent both at their school and in the home of their devout parents, the two rarely find themselves the beneficiaries of anything resembling Christian love. One of the elements that make Scheeres's book so successful is her distanced, uncritical tone in relaying deeply personal and clearly painful events from her life. She powerfully renders episodes like her attempted rape at the hands of three boys, the harsh beatings administered to David by her father and the ceaseless racial taunting by schoolmates; her lack of perceivable malice or vindictiveness prevents readers from feeling coerced into sympathy. The same can be said for Scheeres's description of their Dominican school, where humiliation and physical punishment are meant to redeem the allegedly misguided pupils. Tinged with sadness yet pervaded by a sense of triumph, Scheeres's book is a crisply written and earnest examination of the meaning of family and Christian values, and announces the author as a writer to watch. Agent, Sam Stoloff. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
In her first book, journalist Scheeres tells what it was like growing up in a fundamentalist Christian family in rural Indiana with two adopted African American brothers. She deftly exposes the disparity between her parents' religious beliefs and their actions, showing that her cold, distant, and temperamental mother invested more interest and emotion in missionaries than in her children and that her father meted out severe punishments for the boys while only lightly punishing his daughter. Scheeres suffered estrangement and teasing by classmates for being the sister of the only two African American boys in the school and confesses with honesty and emotion her guilt and shame at abandoning her little brother in her search for acceptance. Despite the many trying situations in which she found herself, including being imprisoned on a Caribbean island at a fundamentalist Christian reform school, Scheeres's constant love for her younger brother and their childhood dream of moving to Florida pulled her through. This work will force readers to relive the angst of being a teenager at a new school and desperately trying to fit in. Highly recommended.-Mark Alan Williams, Library of Congress Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
The road out of an intolerant small town leads straight to a faith-based reform school in journalist Scheeres's scarifying memoir. When she was 16, her fundamentalist Christian parents moved the author and her two adopted, African-American brothers to a Midwest farming community that they immediately discovered was a little patch of racist attitudes. Seventeen-year-old Jerome stole the family car and made his escape, but not for long. After his return, he repeatedly raped Scheeres, noting that he wasn't really her brother. Jerome was himself abused by their parents: Mother had enthusiasm only for God's works, not for children; Dad was a sadist who once broke the arm of son David with a two-by-four. When David tried to commit suicide, Mother's response was, "Why can't I just have one day of peace?" Pretty soon Scheeres was finding that a splash of Southern Comfort in the morning went a long way toward making bearable a day that began with the house-wide intercom system blaring Christian radio and typically ended with some motherly snideness (on a good day) or a fatherly beating (on a bad day). The only bright spot was the affection between the author and David, her best friend and angel. It helped the two endure after they were shipped off to reform school in the Dominican Republic. Run by members of their parents' faith, Escuela Caribe was a place of petty cruelty, but at least the tribulations of being a new kid in a close-knit school was better than the torments of life at home. Forget redemption: Think survival, and marvel at how Scheeres kept sadness and fear at bay while battling hormones and small-mindedness so small it's hard for the reader to detect anything in her mother orfather that might be considered a mind at all. A bristly summoning of unpretty events, conveyed with remarkable placidity.
Praise for Jesus Land
New York Times Bestseller
Winner of the ALA Alex Award
Winner of the QPB New Visions Award
“This is one of the best memoirs in years. I foisted it on friends and strangers alike, and everyone loved its marvelous story, writing, humor, truth.” —Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird
“As the story gains momentum, it becomes clear that Scheeres is driven by two things: the fierce love she feels for her brother and the rising anger she experiences as she witnesses the injustices he endures. There is much praise, these days, for the detached, quietly elegant narrative. But there is little mention of the power a well–tended rage can bring to a good story. It is Scheeres's high emotion and her tight control of her narrative within that emotion that is most striking. Her anger serves her well: it is focused, justified and without a trace of self–pity. Shot through with poignancy.” —The New York Times Book Review
“What makes Jesus Land unique and easy to relate to is its unadorned, dark humor . . . Many of us could have had the misfortune of stumbling into Jesus Land but few would have the spirit to survive.” —Los Angeles Times
“[An] exquisitely wrought memoir, Scheeres emerged with sensibilities intact and learned that love can flourish even in the harshest climates.” —People
“[A] gripping memoir.” —Essence
“Unflinchingly honest.” —Washington Post
“[A] rough, brutal, and shockingly good memoir . . . Jesus Land is matter–of–fact, clear–eyed, and compassionate, without vindictiveness, which is, of course, what real Christian charity is about.” —Boston Globe
“Julia Scheeres's engrossing debut won over most of our readers . . . a reminder that what matters is not just the tale but the telling.” —Elle
“A clear–eyed memoir . . . with judicious restraint. To spend your childhood in a doctrinaire environment, whether political or religious, is to become too familiar, too fast, with the worst of human frailties––hypocrisy, bigotry, moral cowardice.” —Vogue
“[A] darkly comic memoir.” —GQ
“Julia Scheeres has written a love story that is as romantic and as sad as any recent memoir you'll read . . . What Scheeres' devastating book maps out is the story of this thwarted relationship, which somehow survives every twisted setback and deprivation to emerge intact. . . . It's tough going, but life–affirming.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“[Jesus Land] is a book readers are sure to be talking about, and references to such titles as Running With Scissors and Girl, Interrupted will likely be drawn. Scheeres succeeds at relating a harrowing life story with effortless humor and wisdom.” —Chicago Tribune
“What did Julia and David learn from their strict Christian upbringing? How to write apparently . . . Everything in this memoir, including its final tragedy, is brightly, clearly rendered, by a voice as rich in forgiveness as it has unforgivable stories to tell.” —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“A harrowing memoir of coming–of–age amid religious zealotry . . . Scheeres manages to balance her righteous rage against fanatical hypocrisy with a smart sense of humor . . . poignant and heartbreaking.” —Mother Jones
“Jesus Land is a fascinating study of how so–called discipline warps young minds . . . poignant and [more] important to share.” —Seattle Weekly
“A real–life coming–of–age tale is told in Jesus Land. . . Scheeres . . . looks back with journalistic clarity and literary grace at her teenage years.” —PW Daily
“Jesus Land is an extraordinary memoir not just for the jaw–dropping tale it depicts, but for the wit and honesty, and literary courage within it pages. This book will make readers think of the Liar's Club and Bastard Out of Carolina, but there's nothing derivative in it. For all its hardship and terror, it is above all a love story. Scheeres is the real thing, and this is a book that should last for a long, long time.” —Tom Barbash, author of The Dakota Winters
“This book will break your heart and mend it again. Julia Scheeres peels back the shiny, plastic veneer of fundamentalist Christianity to reveal the intolerance, hypocrisy and cruelty that can lie beneath. She does this with a merciless eye for detail, and an uncanny ability to evoke the essence of the Midwest. However, it is the exquisite candor and humor which makes Jesus Land so worth the reading. That, and the simple human love that shines out of every page.” —Lisa Reardon, author of The Mercy Killers
“The grace and emotional brawn that carried Julia Scheeres through the pummeling brutality of her youth has enabled her to tell the tale with a measured intensity that pulls you to her side and keeps you there. I could not stop reading this book.” —Mary Roach, best–selling author of Stiff
“Julia Scheeres' beautifully–written memoir took my breath away—for the cruelties she suffered, for the courage it took to survive and tell her story, and for her enduring, sparkling faith. She is able to describe the everyday details of her experience with a clear, candid eye, and without bitterness—making her story vividly alive, at turns heart–breaking and humorous.” —Laura Fraser, author of All Over the Map
“In this brilliant, sorrow–filled, race–tangled memoir, Ms. Scheeres story–telling skill makes you cheer for her and her adopted brother every step of the way as they navigate a cruel childhood. You will especially love the well–written sections about Ms. Scheeres' exile to a Dominican Republic reform school—inhabited by many emotionally–uneven adults who prove the adage that some Christians are too heavenly minded to be any earthly good.” —Joe Loya, author of The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell
“[Scheeres] deftly exposes the disparity between her parents' religious beliefs and their actions . . . and confesses with honesty and emotion her guilt and shame at abandoning her little brother in her search for acceptance. This work will force readers to relive the angst of being a teenager at a new school and desperately trying to fit in. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal
“The writing is Dickensian in its blend of the tender, the brutal, and the absurd.” —Booklist
“The road out of an intolerant small town leads straight to a faith–based reform school in journalist Scheeres's scarifying memoir . . . A bristly summoning of unpretty events, conveyed with remarkable placidity.” —Kirkus Reviews
“A frank and compelling portrait . . . Tinged with sadness yet pervaded by a sense of triumph, Scheeres's book is a crisply written and earnest examination of the meaning of family and Christian values, and announces the author as a writer to watch.” —Publishers Weekly
