Inspirational

I highly recommend this novel to both gay and straight teenagers and their parents. I also feel it is important reading for those who care about their health and welfare, especially members of faith communities and the medical profession. The beginning of the story was extremely difficult and I could only read it small doses. The attempts by the staff of the fictional "Straight to God" institution to destroy a person's very being is incredibly horrifying. And to do this in the name of God or Jesus seems absolutely unbelievable. Taylor is an incredible young man supported by the love of another young man. Fortunately the staff of this bizarre institution is not monolithic; not all of the them are truly evil persons. The "inmates" develop their own ways of dealing with those in authority. I am not sure I would have had the maturity to survive as the characters mange to do. I found the ending realistic and satisfying. "Thinking straight" is a book to inspire. It demonstrates that each of us can survive and grow and even succeed if we have faith in ourselves.

Thinking Straight by Robin Reardon
Taylor is a young teenager from a really catholic family. He really believe in what he was taught, he believes in God and he loves Jesus, and he would be glad to be part of the church, but there is a problem: Taylor is gay and he is also in love with an high school mate, Will, another teenager who frequents the same church as him. They spend an year hiding their love, even if Will would be more bold and brave than Taylor, and he encourages Taylor to not stay in the closet, to come out but without loosing his faith in God, since accordingly to Will, God loves his sons. When Taylor finally finds the courage to come out with his parents, his father's reaction is not as good as he hopes: he send Taylor in a catholic reprogramming group, a place where the motto ora et labora is still the panacea for all the problem, a place where people try to convince Taylor that suicide is better than being gay! With the strenght of his love for Will, and a new strenght he finds in himself, Taylor tries to survive to the 42 days of captivity.

The story is a lot more involving than the previous one by the same author, A Secret Edge: here the boys unfortunately have to face all the problem of being gay in a community that believes it to be a sin, and a mortal sin. Nevertheless it's a big love story, but more than a love story between Taylor and Will, it's a love story between Taylor and Jesus, and through Jesus, with God. Even if Taylor has to face unbelievable things, he never stops to love God, and he never stops to believe. Taylor, Will and some other guys they will meet during the story, will try to build a world where the words of God are still of love and not of hate. With their courage they will change a little part of that world that rejected them, even if, probably, the ending is too much as a fairy tale rather than reality; unfortunately I believe than in the real world, a guy like Taylor would be not so lucky as he was. But it's still a drop in the ocean and a little step toward a better world.

I should say that I like more this second book than the previous one, since, even if it's more angst, and the love story is a bit in second line, all the characters in the book have their personality and concur to create a chorus of voice that represents a good part of the young adult population.

Returning back to the worldly love story, between Taylor and Will, even if it's lived in flashback by Taylor, it seems alive and I found myself searching the little bit of memories which whom the author makes Taylor relive his love. It's also very sexy without being explicit. And also very involving: I almost wept in a scene where Taylor was forced to destroy a note from Will.

An excellent book! Couldn't put it down!
Robin Reardon has written an extraordinary second book. I read her first book, A Secret Edge, and found that one to be excellent. Thinking Straight is even better. The characters are so well-developed that they seem to spring from the page. The book contains humor, drama, and suspense enough to keep one reading on. Reardon spins her plot with the expertise of a well-established writer like Maugham or McMurtry. I had a hard time putting this book down. It is an excellent subject for any teen (or anyone for that matter) coming to terms with their faith in God and homosexuality. Reardon has certainly become one of the truly good writers of today. I can't wait for her next book.

Great read...focuses on Religious Treatments for Homosexual
Reardon is an excellent writer and shares the horrific story of the abuse of the medical and religious homophobia treatment centers

God doesn't make mistakes, but some well-intentioned Christians do ...
Taylor Adams is a gay high school junior, hopelessly in love with his classmate, Will, who feels the same way about him. When a first love seems to be working out so well, it's hard to imagine anything can go wrong, which is likely why Taylor didn't think through his response to his parents, who wondered why he wasn't intersted in continuing to see a girl from their church whom they had set up on a date. Their knee-jerk reaction to his coming out resulted in Taylor being sent away for six weeks of "rehabilitation" at Straight To God, a church-sponsored residential center for "confused" teens and young adults.

Based on his first few days aty Straight To God, Taylor felt his worst fears about the place were true. His roommate, Charles, seemed to be an inflexible, nosey snitch, some of his fellow residents were sullen robots or vindictive bible-thumpers, his caseworker was a stern lady who seemed eager to trip him up to prolong his "sentence," and the chaplain was just plain creepy. But Taylor warmed up to some of the other teens over the next few days, and found a helpful group of like-minded friends who helped each other make it bearable. When he became aware of some relationships that were not at first obvious, and the reasons why some of the older residents voluntarily came back multiple times, the center took on a new interest for Taylor, feeling a responsibility to some of the friends he had made while there.

In this compelling and rather ambitious followup to "A Secret Edge" (which also dealt with a gay teen's first love), Reardon tries to be fair to both the traditional Christian view on homosexuality, and the more liberal (and generally accepted) interpretations of scripture that support the fact that Jesus actually considered homosexuality a non-issue. That transition happens to both the staff and many members of Straight To God during the 300+ pages of the book, making for rather interesting reading, a good lesson for others wanting to be so enlightened, but perhaps more than a bit implausible and contrived to GLBT teens and adults who were past that point. I give it four stars out of five.