Sex and Religion in America

Tom Perotta is known for writing about trouble in suburbia. Election and Little Children have been his most popular novels so far and both deal with characters bored with the humdrum and looking for something else, usually to both hilarious and disastrous results. Perotta continues this theme in his latest novel, The Abstinence Teacher but takes a slightly different track. While he says it’s “all about sex education and the culture wars” I found it went a bit deeper than that examining human frailties and how they manifest themselves in enclosed cultures such as suburban America.

In this novel, Ruth is a sex education teacher whose teaching methods come under fire from a local church. Against her own ideals, she is forced to teach only abstinence after the situation blows up. Tim is an ex-junkie who has lost everything but has found Jesus and belongs to the Evangelical church that challenged Ruth’s sex-ed curriculum. Though he is committed to his new religion and grateful for the strength it gives him, Tim struggles with the things he learns in his new church, particularly from the charismatic pastor Dave.

When the lives of Ruth and Tim intertwine, a microcosm of an American rift between conservative and liberal is examined in Perotta’s own dark and humorous style. But I found it interesting that neither of the lives of these two characters are stereotypical and their actions are rarely predictable. If you enjoy realistic books that look at society’s foibles, I would highly recommend this book.

Find this and other Tom Perotta books on the library catalog at www.ci.newberg.or.us/library

Reviewed by Lori M