A review by emleemay
Heretics Anonymous by Katie Henry

3.0

It’s first period and only one person definitely wants me dead. Things are going better than expected.

[b:Heretics Anonymous|34659293|Heretics Anonymous|Katie Henry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507339506s/34659293.jpg|55823822] is one of the few (actually the only one I can recall) YA books that talks specifically about a lack of religion. The protagonist - Michael - is an atheist who is forced to attend a Catholic high school and he, along with some new friends, attempts an amusing challenge of religious hypocrisy and inadequate sex education (read: outright lies).

As an atheist who attended my own Catholic high school, I related to a lot of this. My school was definitely more liberal than St Clare's, public not private, and with regular teachers instead of nuns, but I remember having a lot of questions and issues similar to what Michael has. Also, this is the latest blog update from my old school: http://www.st-wilfrids.bkcat.co.uk/official-school-skirt/ 🙄

It's a funny book, not one for those unwilling to laugh at some of the more ridiculous aspects of religion, but it's also respectful of anyone's beliefs as long as they agree everyone has the right to believe their own thing and love who they want. Michael is an atheist but his friends range from devoted Catholic to practicing pagan, with the ultimate message being tolerance and understanding. At the same time as unpacking some of the misconceptions about safe sex, Michael's own arrogance and dismissal of other beliefs is challenged.

“I’m Sister Joseph Marie. You can call me Sister.”
Sister. Father. It’s like getting a whole other family I don’t want to spend time with.

The humour worked well for me and I laughed out loud a few times, but I think this book follows the pattern of a number of other quirky humourous books that have a weak story and weak characters. Underneath the hilarious and quotable lines, the meat of the book is lacking. The characters are forgettable and read more like a bunch of quirks shaped like a person than fully fleshed-out individuals.

While some of the funnier quotes remind me of [b:Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda|19547856|Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (Creekwood, #1)|Becky Albertalli|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1402915678s/19547856.jpg|27679579], the characters are far less memorable. I think this book will work well for readers who enjoy funny lines and jokes, and are willing to sacrifice plot and character development in exchange for said jokes. I think comedy usually translates well to audio, so I'd also be interested how audiobook readers find this.

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