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Whistle Stopper - Thinking Straight
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List Price: $15.00
Our Price: $9.00
Your Save: $ 6.00 ( 40% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Kensington
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780758219282
ISBN: 0758219288
Label: Kensington
Manufacturer: Kensington
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: 2008-05-01
Publisher: Kensington
Studio: Kensington
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent book! Couldn't put it down!
Comment: Robin Reardon has written an extraordinary second book. I read her first book, A Secret Edge, and found that one to be excellent. Thinking Straight is even better. The characters are so well-developed that they seem to spring from the page. The book contains humor, drama, and suspense enough to keep one reading on. Reardon spins her plot with the expertise of a well-established writer like Maugham or McMurtry. I had a hard time putting this book down. It is an excellent subject for any teen (or anyone for that matter) coming to terms with their faith in God and homosexuality. Reardon has certainly become one of the truly good writers of today. I can't wait for her next book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great read...focuses on Religious Treatments for Homosexual
Comment: Reardon is an excellent writer and shares the horrific story of the abuse of the medical and religious homophobia treatment centers
Customer Rating: 
Summary: God doesn't make mistakes, but some well-intentioned Christians do ...
Comment: Taylor Adams is a gay high school junior, hopelessly in love with his classmate, Will, who feels the same way about him. When a first love seems to be working out so well, it's hard to imagine anything can go wrong, which is likely why Taylor didn't think through his response to his parents, who wondered why he wasn't intersted in continuing to see a girl from their church whom they had set up on a date. Their knee-jerk reaction to his coming out resulted in Taylor being sent away for six weeks of "rehabilitation" at Straight To God, a church-sponsored residential center for "confused" teens and young adults.
Based on his first few days aty Straight To God, Taylor felt his worst fears about the place were true. His roommate, Charles, seemed to be an inflexible, nosey snitch, some of his fellow residents were sullen robots or vindictive bible-thumpers, his caseworker was a stern lady who seemed eager to trip him up to prolong his "sentence," and the chaplain was just plain creepy. But Taylor warmed up to some of the other teens over the next few days, and found a helpful group of like-minded friends who helped each other make it bearable. When he became aware of some relationships that were not at first obvious, and the reasons why some of the older residents voluntarily came back multiple times, the center took on a new interest for Taylor, feeling a responsibility to some of the friends he had made while there.
In this compelling and rather ambitious followup to "A Secret Edge" (which also dealt with a gay teen's first love), Reardon tries to be fair to both the traditional Christian view on homosexuality, and the more liberal (and generally accepted) interpretations of scripture that support the fact that Jesus actually considered homosexuality a non-issue. That transition happens to both the staff and many members of Straight To God during the 300+ pages of the book, making for rather interesting reading, a good lesson for others wanting to be so enlightened, but perhaps more than a bit implausible and contrived to GLBT teens and adults who were past that point. I give it four stars out of five.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Light but Heart-felt outreach to gay Christian teens
Comment: Taylor, the main character, is written with a sweet and endearing mix of naive and rebellious, and it is quick and enjoyable to read. The book only gains any depth when it concentrates on what Christian love should be, and how that should transcend any other part of being a Christian - trumping interpretations of scripture, conventional or outdated social rules, even trumping the idea of morality as a prescribed and unchanging system of human behavior. It offers up a mild sort of moral relativism, putting forward the idea that while the small number of edicts against homosexuality in the Bible were correct for the time due to the different social and cultural realities, that as the culture and societal norms change, so does what its moral. But, the book really only offers up just enough examination of moral complexity to cover inclusiveness for gay people, without really exploring what other moral implications this same relativity might have for other people and particularly what it might say about the viability of traditional Christianity in particular. Does Christ let us in on this changing and flexible nature of morality? If not, why not? It would seem to be a most important part of the religion then. The book directs us to a sort of covering mysticism that love, truly sought, would lead us naturally to uncovering how moral choices should pick and choose from scripture or convention. And I'm not saying this isn't a viable stance to take, but the book doesn't expand this theme even when it has the opportunity (for example, how does this apply to recreational drug users? are all recreational drug users addicts? is all such use immoral?). And because of that, the book (although endearing) finally becomes a bit more propaganda than literature. It walks a fine line by wanting to not offend too many of the default Christian moral assumptions, picking it's battle very carefully. And there's nothing wrong with that, except that if you examine it closely enough (and at least some teens questioning their religion along with their sexuality are capable of examining quite a bit), I think you see clearly a choiceful one-dimensionalness that's trying so hard not to offend that it looses its potential impact.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Thinking Straight: Powerful and Compassionate
Comment: Robin Reardon has done a wonderful job presenting the story of Taylor a gay teenager whose parents send him to Straight to God to un-confuse his sexuality. The plot line is complex enough to keep your attention throughout, but with a theme that is unmistakable: the only thing wrong with being gay is how others perceive it. The characters are well developed and it was easy to put myself into their shoes. Like a good mystery (or real life), the characters motivations are unclear throughout.
The biggest takeaway for me was that one can have a healthy gay and Christian identity simultaneously. Reardon does a nice job interweaving scripture and progressive Christian thought while also presenting more traditional Christian views. While the protaganist, Taylor, definitely favored the progressive view, I felt Reardon fairly presented the qualms and quandries of traditional Christians.
This is one text that is not to be missed.
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Editorial Reviews:
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I know God doesn't make mistakes, and if I'm gay it's because that's what he wanted. What you wanted. And I think the challenge is to get everyone else to see that. This is their test, not mine. If only Taylor Adams had kept on lying to his parents, none of this would have happened. He wouldn't have been shipped off to Straight to God, an institution devoted to "deprogramming" troubled teenagers and ridding them of their vices--whether it's drugs, violence, or in Taylor's case, other boys. Not that Taylor has a problem with being gay, or with reconciling his love for God with his love for his boyfriend Will... At Straight to God, such thoughts--along with all other reminders of Taylor's former "sinful" life--are forbidden. Every movement is monitored, privacy is impossible, and no one--from staff to residents--is quite who they first appear to be. There's Charles, Taylor's clean-cut roommate, desperate to leave his past behind...Nate Devlin, a handsome, inscrutable older boy who's alternately arrogant and kind... gorgeous, secretive Sean, who returns to Straight to God each year to avoid doing prison time for drugs. Here, where piety can be a mask for cruelty and the greatest crimes go unpunished, Taylor will learn more than he ever dreamed about love, courage, rebellion, and betrayal--but the most surprising lessons will be the truths he uncovers about himself. In this smart, insightful new novel, Robin Reardon presents a compelling exploration of the journey from boy to man, and a testament to the strength that comes with accepting both who we are, and who we love...
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