I'm Perfect, You're Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing by Kyria Abrahams352 pages
Completed 2/2/10
Religions - especially ones surrounded my controversy - fascinate me. My own maternal grandmother briefly practiced alongside the Jehovah Witnesses and it was, especially to my 10 year old mind, odd. No recognition of birthdays, Halloween, cereal brands; this is religion?! So when I picked up Abrahams' book on her own JW's upbringing, I was intrigued. A self-described precocious child, Abrahams reveled in her religion and its meetings, rules, and family dynamic.
Once she reached her teens, however, the author's story takes a dramatic turn with rebellion, a bout of OCD, and a marriage at eighteen. Drugs and alcohol make a brief appearance (as in most memoirs) and she struggles with her religious identity.
While religions do pique my interest, I was not necessarily intrigued by this memoir. Expecting a dark, humorous account a la Augusten Burrough's "Running With Scissors," I was deeply disappointed. The humor is lacking after the first third of the book, and the ending - which can only be described as abrupt - leaves you with nothing.
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