Girl Meets God: a Review in Dialogue

Kelly (aka Kailana) and I both read Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner recently, so we decided it would be fun to do a joint review! And I know that I had a wonderful time. :D I’ve got the first half of it, and she’ll be posting the second half today. :) Also, thank you for all of the comments on my post yesterday. I will definitely be doing another post on this issue within the next couple of days, so stay tuned!

Eva: Maybe we should start with why we read it? I mentioned in a post that I’m exploring Christianity again, and someone recommended it ‘based on my blog’. Then I saw the paperback cover, which has a girl in cute shoes standing a pile of books, and I knew I wanted to read it! :)

Kelly: Well, I read this book because I saw it mentioned on your library loot. It is not my normal type of read at all. The library here had it, so I thought I would take a chance on it. I like to break out of my comfort zone once in a while, so a book that I loved the cover of made the most sense, right?

Then, there is always the wondering if you learned anything from the book.

I know the basics of most religious practices, but I have to admit that I am not really an expert on things. I would be reading this book and there were lots of times when I discovered something entirely new. I admit to knowing more about Christianity than Judaism in the first place. It made me kind of curious about some things and I might read another book on certain subjects in the future, so that is a possible big step for me.

Eva: I know more about Christianity than Judaism too! (I was raised Catholic.) In fact, even though this is ostensibly a Christian memoir, I thought the Jewish parts were much more interesting. That might be the attractiveness of the unknown, though, since I lived in the Bible Belt for long enough to have several evangelical friends! Is evangelical Christianity common in Canada? Or was it new to you?

Kelly: I had heard the term ‘evangelical Christianity’ before, but I had no idea what it meant! I have to admit, I want to say that it isn’t common in Canada, but I tend to live under a rock when it comes to religious practices, so I could be entirely wrong! I don’t hear it mentioned all that much.

Speaking of churches, I was overexcited that she goes to Madeleine L’Engle’s church! She (L’Engle) was still alive when this book was released, but she is deceased now. I love L’Engle so much that I want to go to her church just because she went there. (See, a religious book is a perfect time to make strange confessions, right?)

Eva: I don’t think that’s strange! L’Engle wasn’t one of my very fave authors when I was little, but I certainly enjoyed her. :) I thought the church sounded interesting. Especially since her pastor told her he wanted her to give up reading for Lent!

Kelly: I was horrified! Six weeks of no reading? I am serious, that scene in the book is the one that I remember the best! When you were reading I was waiting for you to finish just so I could express how crazy I think she is. I couldn’t do, so I applaud the effort. I still think she is crazy…

What did you think about the fact she was a book lover?

Eva: I was horrified and impressed all at once. Since I grew up Catholic, I understand the idea of giving up something you really love for Lent. But to me it’s also about something you really love that’s a BAD habit. I’d never call reading a bad habit! It’s interesting she doesn’t say if she gave it up for Lent again!

I loved that she was a book lover. But I expected to be able to relate to her more than I did. She was so snobby about it; at one point she even talks about her “cherished intellectual snobbery.” This annoyed me. Admitting a flaw doesn’t make it ok. When she was talking about her church at Cambridge, I rolled my eyes at: “In fact, some of the chapel people repelled me. …I had nothing to talk about with any of them, though Lord knows I tried, not even theology, a concept that seemed foreign to these students, students for whom everything about Jesus was perfectly clear cut. ‘These are not,’ I sniffed to Jo, ‘people I would ever invite to a dinner party.’

Kelly: I know! I was shocked she would include that. She has to know how that would come across… Did you notice when she was listing off her bookshelves she has no fiction at all? You know she reads it because she mentions it a couple times during the book, but when it comes down to it she appears to pretend that it doesn’t even exist. Her bookshelves are very academic, which is fine, but it is like she is too good for fiction. There were no ’embarassing’ shelves, really.

She did think she was a bit better than people often, though. It makes you wonder when she talks about how she lost friends because of her religion change if it was because of the change, or if it was because she acted like she thought she was superior with the change…

to read the rest of our review, go to Kelly’s blog!