Lamar Giles

Lamar Giles has written YA thrillers and middle-grade books, all featuring characters that "look like me, like the ones I didn't see in books I read growing up." His view of the hazardous lives of young black people and all the threats they face down every day also recognizes the necessity for supportive friendships and the crucial roles played by wise adults. This novel fully inhabits the Green Creek, Virginia small town world of high school "pregnancy pacts" and lack of sex education show more facts. Del, a junior, fries cardboard fish at a local Long John Silver clone fast food joint and has been yearning after classmate Kiera ever since he played the Cowardly Lion to her Dorothy in kindergarten. He joins "Purity Pledge", a church group run by a dictatorial old school minister, with the sole intent of getting close to Kiera. Both teens carry loaded secrets, as do the teenage mothers who find their return to school filled with obstacles and social shaming. Although the students all boast of their sexual prowess and experience, when a sex education class allows for their anonymous questions, the cool teacher in charge is astounded by their misconceptions. He's eager to provide help, but the minister does not approve, and Del is caught between. Del's sister, a feminist and rising blogger, comes through for him with critical advice and respect. There’s plenty of great dialogue, humor, and some fine plot twists within, and the ending makes the reader hope to rejoin Del and his friends as adults.

Quote: “Purity Pledge? As in the sworn denial of any physical urges or pleasure to please a patriarchal oppressor?” show less

There is an ever-present layer of general f**kboyish-ness (being a “nice” guy, double standards of teen pregnancy, objectification of women’s bodies, scoring how many girls you can sleep with, boys go have sex; girls stay pure, male entitlement, etc). Know that in advance it may make the story annoying for the average female reader. I know there were many times I was annoyed. But I think having the book coming from Del’s perspective helps call some things out without coming off show more preachy.

Beyond that, I found Del’s narrative fun. He had a strong voice. I loved Jameer! Del was always hilariously wondering if they were going to have to come to blows. The Purity Pledgers also captured my heart. I enjoyed how the story tackled that the lack of sex education can be very harmful. There were many times I had to laugh at the dialogue and how much of a butthole Qwan was lol.

I’m very familiar with the purity pledge, especially at a Black church. So, it was relatable to me (they had a Harvest Fest; any Christian kid growing up knows the Halloween alternative parties: Hallelujah Night, Light the Night, etc). I also love that the characters weren’t just black or white, the church and the non-churchgoers. Neither gets demonized here.

Overall, I don’t regret reading this. I think I’m becoming a fan of Lamar Giles’ work. I would watch a Netflix adaptation of this.

Ending spoilers/rambling: so GLAD! Kiera didn’t get with Del. He was always pushing up on her in ways that made her uncomfortable. Some probably won’t like the Mya angle, but I figured they had a connection there. I was expecting Del to remain single.

I read some reviews that were uncomfortable with Del’s brunt of realization coming after he found out his sister was sexually-assaulted. I hate to say it, but this is mad realistic. I know of way too many men, cousins even, that want to talk about who all is a hoe here and there, but until something happened unfavorably to their mom or sister, they doubled down on their misogyny. A lot of guys will even tell you they only care about the women in their family and everyone else can get mistreated. There can also be a lack of accountability when their guy friends are acting gross.

With Pastor Newsome getting off scot-free after all his mess, have you been to a church lately? Call a bad pastor out publicly at church. You better be ready to bob and weave. The majority of the pastor’s supporters will skin you alive. That’s why most people just vote with their feet. A lot of indecent, abusive pastors stay in power because it takes a lot of courage to call out a pastor who has purposefully done wrong. I definitely agree Del’s mom should not have allowed the pastor to bully her son/left the church. I mean, eventually, they find a new church, but only, after all the damage has been done. show less

This came on my radar because I heard some of the stories were in comic form, but when it turned out to have just one 8-page strip I almost decided to pass on it. But I'm so happy I didn't.

This #ownvoices anthology has diverse authors telling stories about diverse characters. Unlike a lot of anthologies, the quality of the stories is remarkably high and consistent. For comic book geeks like me, in addition to the Gene Luen Yang strip, there is a cosplay romance at a convention, a show more post-apocalypse sci fi adventure, and a prose superhero story that is the star of the book. The other stories are more grounded in reality, but are just as uplifting and/or thought-provoking.

Recommended. show less

When I first started this book I found the narrative slow and a bit juvenile (even for a YA book). However, that quickly changed as the story quickly escalated from a dystopian future to one of sheer horror at the Jordan Peele level. Scenarios and themes such as corporate greed, cultural and racial inequity, political corruption all hit close to home in our current world. Violence, mayhem, torture and cruelty actually forced me to put this book down and pause for a few moments to compose show more myself. This book is not for the faint of heart, but I to thoroughly recommend. show less