Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Description from the Publisher
Put an atheist in a strict Catholic school? Expect comedy, chaos, and an Inquisition. The Breakfast Club meets Saved! in debut author Katie Henry’s hilarious novel about a band of misfits who set out to challenge their school, one nun at a time. Perfect for fans of Becky Albertalli and Robyn Schneider.When Michael walks through the doors of Catholic school, things can’t get much worse. His dad has just made the family move again, and Michael needs a friend. When a girl challenges their teacher in class, Michael thinks he might have found one, and a fellow atheist at that. Only this girl, Lucy, isn’t just Catholic . . . she wants to be a priest.
Lucy introduces Michael to other St. Clare’s outcasts, and he officially joins Heretics Anonymous, where he can be an atheist, Lucy can be an outspoken feminist, Avi can be Jewish and gay, Max can wear whatever he wants, and Eden can practice paganism.
Michael encourages the Heretics to go from secret society to rebels intent on exposing the school’s hypocrisies one stunt at a time. But when Michael takes one mission too far—putting the other Heretics at risk—he must decide whether to fight for his own freedom or rely on faith, whatever that means, in God, his friends, or himself.
My Review
I loved this book! It follows Michael, who is about to begin attending Catholic school, and he is an atheist. Along the way, Michael befriends Lucy, who is Catholic, and Lucy introduces him to her other friends who do not fit in with the school's Catholic mold. Together they form a secret society, which they name Heretics Anonymous, with the goal of making the hypocrisies of the school public.
Michael turned out to be one of my favorite characters. His humor is irreverent, but hilarious, and even though he becomes more open minded about religion, he does not stray from who he is and what he believes for other people.
The humor in this book is constant and refreshing! I love that the message of Heretics Anonymous is not to convert readers to Catholicism, but to show that it is ok to believe in what you want and to be who you are. Love and tolerance themes are present throughout the novel. This book also brings up some good discussion points about how we should accept others and when you know that you are crossing a line. This book discusses religion and its impact on others without encroaching on other characters' or readers' freedom of religion and the right to their own opinions.
I really appreciated that this isn't a "conversion" story. It is really refreshing, and I would love to see more books like this that teach tolerance and that you can come together despite your differences.
I HIGHLY recommend this book!
Quotes:
“Straight white boy destroys everything, world stops to listen?...That’s the history of the Western world.”
“I wonder what the Catholic Church does to people who get turned on at chastity assemblies. They probably castrate them.”
“Good intentions don't excuse destroying somebody's culture. Good intentions don't excuse anything. We can't judge dead men by our standards, fine, but we choose who we canonize, and we can do better. Shouldn't we want to do better?”
"I didn't lose my faith or anything. I never had it in the first place. I never believed in any kind of God, just like I never believed in werewolves, or ghosts, or that mixing Pop Rocks and soda would make your stomach explode."
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people in order to be noticed by them. (Matthew 6:1)
Lucy doesn't have a note for that, but I think it means you should do what's right because it's right, not because you want people to see and praise you for it.”
“Nuns are great, but they aren't priests. Nuns can't celebrate Mass. They can't hear confessions or consecrate the Eucharist. They can't become bishops or cardinals or popes, they can't become the people who make the big decisions. How do you change a church that doesn't listen to you?”
“A heretic is someone who has belief, but not the right kind. At least according to the Catholic Church. A heretic might believe in God, but some of the other things she believes don't match up with the party line.”
