Kindred (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Kindred April Spisak Stein, Tammar . Kindred. Knopf, 2011. [272p]. Library ed. ISBN 978-0-375-95871-7 $19.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-375-85871-0 $16.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-375-89625-5 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 9-12. Miriam knows there is no returning to her quiet, college-freshman life after she is visited by the archangel Raphael, who orders her to save a fellow student. She follows the directions, but a bit too late, and she is haunted by the fact that the woman in question wouldn’t have been injured at all if Miriam had been more trusting or active. Miriam can’t bring herself to tell her parents, though she does rely on them for religious guidance (her mother is a former nun and her father is Jewish), or her brother, especially after he admits he was visited by Satan and has accepted a job from the Dark Lord. She does the next best thing and runs off to a small town where she can hone her journalistic talents, spend a lot of time alone trying to sort out her life, and address the physical symptoms that have plagued her since the visitation. The thoughtful, meandering explorations of faith, religion, and spirituality—and the places where those concepts overlap and diverge—are original and rich, and Miriam’s present-tense narration is credibly youthful and baffled. Unfortunately, the potentially charged comparisons between Miriam and her brother, each pursuing similar paths toward quite different goals, never really undergo fruitful examination. In addition, the subplot about Miriam’s ailments (she is eventually diagnosed with Crohn’s disease), which could have been an intriguing consideration of whether higher powers punish, reward, or avoid involvement, is instead only distracting, and its elaborate and detailed focus on the physical manifestations of her illness is a jarring contrast with the main story. Nevertheless, teens seeking a book that grapples with complex religious issues without assuming or prescribing a specific set of beliefs will find much to consider here. [End Page 299] Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois