Friday, August 28, 2009

Book # 19 THE ABSTINENCE TEACHER By Tom Perrotta


Unlike my book # 18, this is a book that I read in spite of it's title. But I figure anything from the man who brought us Election and Little Children can't be too bad.

I wrote an article on abstinence-only education in college and other than learning that it's more or less complete bullshit- I learned about the false and misleading information that the Bush administration spent over half a billion dollars implanting in the minds of american adolescents. This book pretty much picks up in the thick of that bullshit.

It's about a mother-of-two sex education teacher who- after worrying some of the community by telling teenagers the actual truth- is forced to teach abstinence ed. Also thrown into the mix is her daughter's soccer coach- a former junkie musician turned born again christian.

Perrotta is the master of making brilliant writing readable. He is also the master (which is apparent in Election) of making real life edgy and hilarious. The portion of the book entitled "Hot Christian Sex" is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time.

While it does have a not so unique tug of war between faith and reason- it is the fullness and reality of the characters that make this a book that I finished in a day and a half. I certainly hope that Hollywood keeps with it's pattern of optioning everything Perrotta writes, because with how well his work as crossed over mediums in the past, I cannot wait to see this story come to life.

A+

*New York Times Notable Book

1 comment:

  1. I just bought this at Value Village for a dollar! I am in the middle of another book, but I will be reading it soon!

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