Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie Karen Coats Adams, S. J. Sparks: The Epic, Completely True Blue, (Almost) Holy Quest of Debbie. Flux, 2011. [256p]. Paper ed. ISBN 978-0-7387-2676-2 $9.95 M Gr. 7–10. Ever since Debbie realized that she was hopelessly (and secretly) in love with her best friend, she has been adjusting her life in hopes of pleasing Lisa. She attends Active Christian Teens meetings and abstinence rallies, watches Full House DVDs on weekends, and curbs both her language and her behavior so that someday she might have a hope of winning Lisa’s straitlaced heart. When Lisa starts dating Norman, however, Debbie decides she has to confess her love before Lisa and Norman take things too far. She’s supported by two misfit classmates who have made up their own religion, called Bluedaism; they accept her crush on Lisa and fold her quest to stop Lisa and Norman from having sex into their own activity, a combination scavenger hunt and prankfest. As the trio tries to catch up with Norman and Lisa, the night becomes a series of near-misses, interspersed with Lisa’s self-examination in light of Blueda doctrine and with zany hijinks involving colorful characters. The story is clearly in love with its own weirdness even as it tries unsuccessfully to pull off a tone of blasé normality. Meanwhile, there is the sound of an axe being ground in the by-now-tired ideological cliché of pitting hypocritical Christian teens against gay ones; the Active Christian Teens here should be more properly called Sexually Active Christian Teens, as they are all portrayed as horndogs who justify their promiscuity because it will lead to heterosexual marriage. Debbie’s hope that [End Page 241] Lisa will fall out of Norman’s arms into hers just as soon as she knows the truth wears thin as a driving motivation of the night’s activities, especially as neither girl, nor any other of the ensemble cast for that matter, is particularly compelling as an emotionally developed character. There are better books about crushes and about the sometimes flawed reality of teen life in faith, and readers will be better off with those. Copyright © 2012 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois