Born Again by Kelly Kerney

Published by Mariner Books on September 5, 2006

Mel is an alienated eighth grader. As a Pentacostal Revivalist Born-Again Christian, she feels persecuted by the other kids at her secular school, yet she's annoyed by her peers at Sunday school, who strike Mel as being either self-righteous or dull-witted. Her only friend is Beth, for whom she feels sorry because Beth is a Methodist and that's "like having no religion at all." As the novel progresses, Mel faces two crises of conscience: she needs to read Darwin for academic camp and wants to refute his observations about evolution but finds herself agreeing with much of what he writes; and she wants Beth to be "saved" but feels guilty about pushing her toward a life that she is beginning to question.

Ultimately, Born Again is a tribute to reason and to intellectual curiosity. Mel is too intelligent, too inquisitive, to continue blindly accepting the teachings and restrictions of her pastors and parents when they no longer make sense to her. Mel's parents and pastors want to shield her from information: they restrict the books she can read and won't allow her to listen to secular music. As Mel struggles to understand Darwin, she feels conflicted when her pastor preaches that "it is a sin to try to find answers to things we are not meant to know." Throughout the novel, Mel wonders why knowledge is ever a bad thing to have: knowledge of science, of sexuality, of music and literature.

The characters in Born Again are well drawn: from Mel's abusive, mentally ill mother to her ineffectual father and rebellious siblings, Kerney creates multi-dimensional characters with unique, believable personalities. Unlike some people who have set aside a particular religious affiliation, Kerney (who was raised as an evangelical fundamentalist) displays no bitterness when writing about Mel's struggle with an intellectually intolerant version of Christian faith. Instead, she tells Mel's story with gentle humor and honesty. Born Again is a very funny book, and at times a very powerful one. Readers need not fear that it is anti-Christian, although it is anti-intolerance. It's a strong first novel that should appeal to anyone who values good writing and open-mindedness.

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