Brave Enemies

I did not like this book. I felt a disconnect from all the characters, so I rarely understood why they did certain things. Most importantly, I did not understand why Josie loved John and vice versa. Their relationship seemed to be dropped out of the sky. I'm sure the author felt like he was laying the groundwork for their relationship, but I never saw it as anything more than platonic until it was consummated. The book is inundated with Bible verses, which makes sense on one level as John is a preacher, but I rarely felt that they added to the story, and thus it just seemed distracting. I also found it a bit absurd that no one ever figured out that Josie was really a girl unless they actually touched her breasts. I mean, I don't recall show more her binding her breasts in any way, and she's pretending to be a boy in his late teens who sings soprano (not even alto!). I don't know a lot about music, so maybe this isn't as uncommon as I think it is, but it all seemed a bit hard to swallow.

However, the part I found most objectionable was its (in my opinion) cavalier treatment of rape. I don't think there was a single man who was alone with Josie and knew she was girl that did not try to have sex with her, regardless of whether she gave consent. John never seems to notice or care about Josie's traumatic past - he's too busy yelling at her for deceiving him as to her sex. The overall feeling I got was that if a man is alone with a woman, it doesn't matter if she gives consent, or if he's married to someone else, he will be unable to stop himself from trying to have sex with her. That is, needless to say, ridiculous. I'm glad that other people seem to have enjoyed this book, but I found it absurd. show less