Julie

by John Benton

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Dawn Michelle]

I am not sure how to rate this now - if it was back in 1979[ish - I was 11 when I started that school] when I first picked this [and the rest of the John Benton books] book up off the "library" shelf at the very small Christian school I attended [WHO thinks these kind of books were okay for sheltered, naive, uninformed kids? Because they had a "christian" message, that made them okay. Trust me, we were not reading them for that message, that's for darn sure], I would have rated it 5 stars. I was totally into these books as it showed a world I had never seen before and I read them over and over and over again. I could have cared less about the "message"; it was all about the details and the "sex" and the salaciousness of them. And now, as an adult who has seen the world and looks at things through a much different lens, these books seem..tawdry and very sensationalized and a bit scandalous IMO. So I am going to leave this one [and all the others that I am going to review [with this same review] with no rating. I am really torn now, as an adult, as to what I think about these books.

[Lily · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a bizarre piece of Christian house propaganda. Decent propaganda, but propaganda nonetheless, not helped by the fact that the author has written countless other novels with first-name titles about young women who fall into sin and then are redeemed by the house. The ending really did hammer home the propagana-ness of it, especially the ad at the end. Partly because it had an advertising motive, the dialogue was all very hokey, with some morals and lessons being plainly stated. My favorite part was Julie thinking "but that money would get me into drugs." and then the next page saying "I became addicted to drugs".
I appreciate that the book doesn't stray away from the horror and hopelessness of Julie's situation, and that the Christianity advertised in this book is focused on forgiveness of Julie, and helping her rather than judging her or having her repent. Julie was also a very strong protagonist, and her fall into sin was actually well-paced and tragic, with her situation and attempts to not become who she did.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very religious book of a very dysfunctional family dealing with alcoholism, drug addiction and being con artists. This book is from the 80’s and definitely reads that way. A good story but not the greatest writing. I had this on my shelf forever and needed something quick to finish my reading challenge.