Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres

I finished reading Julia Scheeres memoir over the weekend and I am still feeling the powerful effects of her journey.   Julia's life story is a chilling reminder of how racism and abuse are still rampant in our society.  Her personal approach to the horrors that she lived through shatter the traditional Christian "values" that her parents (attempted to) imposed upon her.   I also felt a strange affinity to the setting because it was set during the time I grew up.   From Duran Duran to The Police, the music took me back to what I saw as the carefree eighties.  However,  Scheeres' childhood was far from carefree.   The racism she experienced after David and Jerome were adopted into the family was sometimes even painful to read.  Furthermore, the descriptive abuse to the boys in the tool shed and the pole barn are gripping.  Not to mention the mental and sexually abuse she suffered at the hands of her brother (Jerome) and mostly her mother.  WOW!  Scheeres truly had a difficult upbringing to say the least.    As if life in Indiana was not tough enough, the stories of the grueling years at Escuela Carribe are wrought with poignancy.  Scheeres' descriptive accounts made me feel the Dominican landscape.  From her trips to the orphanage with David to the Thanksgiving "festivities" Scheeres transports the reader into her personal experiences.  I could not but this book down!  I can not wait to hear from her in person.  Thank you for recommending this book.  I will not spoil it for those of you who have not finished it, but be prepared to be shocked and moved by this memoir.