The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab

 

I've read a lot of YA titles about religious abuse and religious trauma but THE OPPOSITE OF HALLELUJAH is the first book I've read that discusses teens using religion as a crutch for their other problems. The heroine of this book is a girl named Caro, who is a typical bratty teen girl with the usual litany of bratty teen girl problems, except for one: her older sister has returned from the convent that she joined at age eighteen and is acting super weird. Everyone in the family is tiptoeing around her and she's eleven years older than Caro, so the age-gap and the weirdness is totally not the vibe.

When Caro gets stressed out, she panics and lies. When she was younger, this earned her the nickname "Caroliar," and old habits die hard. She starts dating a cute Polish guy but when he starts asking questions about her homelife, she panics and starts lying to him, too, as well as her friends. Tensions sky rocket in her family and her friends start to get angry about her pushing them away, and the reader is left with the glaring question: what happened to send Hannah away to the convent for all those years and why is she back now?

There were some charming dated references, like iPods and K'nex and Facebook being the ultimate college networking site (lol), which I thought were really fun. I also liked the "unlikable" and difficult heroine. She felt super realistic. A lot of YA writers won't let their teens be teens but Caro really felt like one. I do think this was too long and maybe a little too ambitious. I think it tried to tackle too many subjects at once which detracted from having a central plot to follow and gave this a convoluted vibe. But the writing was great and it reminded me a lot of Sarah Dessen's angsty teen girl books. Also, I liked the religious angle. I think a lot of people will probably find it very relatable.

3 out of 5 stars