Heretics Anonymous

by Katie Henry

[shannonmiz]

You can find the full review and all the fancy and/or randomness that accompanies it at It Starts at Midnight

3.5*

Story time! I loved high school. Like, a lot. Which is probably not the typical reaction, but there it is. Also, fun fact: I went to a Catholic high school. I, personally, am not nor ever was Catholic. It was... an experience. The main character in Heretics Anonymous is also not Catholic in a Catholic school, though I feel confident in saying that's where our similarities end. But there's a woeful underabundance of "non-Catholic in a Catholic school" books out there, probably because I'm the only person clamoring for such a thing? Regardless, it's a fun story.

It deals with religion a lot, as you can imagine. But I thought that the conversations it brought up were quite important. Like respecting other people's beliefs, or lack thereof. Michael, our main character, irked me a bit in the beginning because he was so dismissive of Catholic traditions and beliefs. And look- I get it. I brought turkey sandwiches on Fridays and watched the nuns balk, but not to be a jerk, I just always ate turkey? He kind of made a bit of a mockery of some of their traditions at first, which... rubbed me the wrong way. I don't really believe in much of anything, but that is why I was respectful enough not to participate in those things. Michael... was just going ahead and grabbing holy water and such.

But, Michael makes some friends, and they have a bunch of different beliefs, and some don't have any, and it's such a great group of people honestly. They teach Michael so much about just like... life and other humans honestly. And they were way more fun than Michael. Is that wrong? And the group (Heretics Anonymous, of course) started to take some stands against some of the Catholic church's more offensive teachings. And look- it was wholly unbelievable that this would catch on so swiftly, but it was still a good message. They weren't, at this point, attacking religion- they were just attacking homophobic, sexist, sex-shaming stuff. Which should be a part of zero religions, let's be real.

Basically, Michael says a lot of crappy stuff and makes some awful choices, but he grows a lot during the course of the book, so it's nice to see. And I loved loved loved that so many of the protagonists actually liked their Catholic high school- because I loved mine, and it's refreshing to see it not trashed completely, while still pointing out the definite problematic aspects in an honest, yet respectful way.

Bottom Line: Loved the story, the messages, and the supporting characters. I do wish I'd felt a little more connected to Michael, the main character, but overall it was a win!