Devoted

De: Jennifer Mathieu

Narrado por: Jennifer Grace

Rachel Walker is devoted to God. She prays every day, attends Calvary Christian Church with her family, helps care for her five younger siblings, dresses modestly, and prepares herself to be a wife and mother who serves the Lord with joy. But Rachel is curious about the world her family has turned away from and increasingly finds that neither the church nor her homeschool education has the answers she craves. Rachel has always found solace in her beliefs, but now she can't shake the feeling that her devotion might destroy her soul.

©2015 Jennifer Mathieu (P)2015 Recorded Books

It was interesting and frustrating at the same time

I was interested to hear a story from the perspective of a girl who came out of a toxic fundamentalist Christian church system. The subject is intriguing but the story felt like it was plodding for the first half. I found myself frustrated with the main character’s angst and anguish about every little thing. It got more interesting once she left home, and then at the end when she went back to visit, it was driving me crazy again how naive she was. I wish there was more of her life after she went to school. I also wish there was a rating system for audiobooks like there is for movies. This one had some strong language in it.

A Different Spin on Coming-of-Age

Would you listen to Devoted again? Why?

Yes, I will listen to this story again. I grew up around families who held similar beliefs to Rachel's family, so her story resonated strongly with me.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Devoted?

Many of the memorable moments for me are spoiler-y, but I loved the relationship between Rachel and her next-younger sister, Ruth. I also loved the relationships she built with people outside her family (trying to stay spoiler-free here), and also how the story shows us several very different reactions to growing up in such a strictly religiously fundamentalist lifestyle.

Have you listened to any of Jennifer Grace’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't believe I've listened to Jennifer Grace narrate another book, but she did an excellent job with this one.

Any additional comments?

I'm honestly curious to see how someone unfamiliar with the Christian fundamentalist/patriarchy/homeschool culture would react to this story. The way Rachel was raised felt very familiar to me--as I said earlier, I had a number of friends raised in similar circumstances--which made me resonate strongly with the story. Mathieu's writing and character development is so strong, however, that I think people unfamiliar with Rachel's culture would still enjoy this book.