Dean Hughes

Now, I don't believe it's fair to judge an author by a single work any more than I believe you can judge a book by its cover.  That said... ugh. 

My sister gave me a beautiful gift for my birthday.  A whole series complete and ready to read.  Having been in college for so long, I was so excited to read something that was unassigned.  But, I have to say, that this piece of historical fiction is tough - and NOT because it's hard.  Dean knows his history.  He set his story in a place he's familiar with and gave his characters attributes he understood from having lived among them. 

They say you should write what you know.  Hughes knows history (did I say that already?!)  He knows O-town.  And he knows a little something about being LDS.  So do I.  All of the above.  I didn't know all of this though.  I didn't know about the extention of the hand of racism right here in the heart of the LDS culture. Hughes spends a lot of time with this issue because the book is set just at the time that the Civil Rights bill is passed and so many changes to voter rights, etc. are still in the works.

I grew up in California at one of the most unique moments in history in that we felt color blind.  The classes were so naturally diverse in skin color, culture, religion, and ethnic origins that none of us seemed to care about sticking with the people most similar to ourselves.  We made friends for the other reasons you make friends... because you have recess and lunch together or because you both like to play four square.  Then my family moved here.  Everyone was white.  And the families sitting on the pews at church had actually "cookie-cuttered" themselves.  It was like nothing I'd ever seen.  So, racism among "my" own religious group was weird to me.  It shouldn't have been.  We only had one "black" kid go to my high school and graduate with us.  One.  And he was so cool.  So I guess I figured everyone felt the same way I do about skin color...it doesn't make the person who they are at heart...but I was wrong.

The other thing that is strange to me is the way that Hughes has chosen his characters.  The four main teens that he is following most closely are sort of cookie-cutter stereotypes of LDS kids/perspectives.  You have the girl who doesn't care about her education and just wants to be a mom set against the girl who wants to become a lawyer and change the world and can't imagine being happy in a marriage.  You have the golden child boy who has everything financially and takes his testimony for granted set against the one in poverty with little freedom who has a hard time believe in the God of his parents because He never seems to answer his prayers.  It feels contrived.  All of these types of individuals exist, yes.  I may feel this way about the characters because he is pushing four stories forward, so he doesn't let them show us who they are. 

Hughes also neglects the setting.  I have a problem with that.  This may be because I am a Geographer.  But, place is important.  It's more important than the song on the radio or the brand of sweater that was in style in 1969.  Or, it is to me.

There are four books in the series.  Bring it on.