Dodging Satan: My Irish/Italian, Sometimes Awesome, But Mostly Creepy, Childhood by Kathleen Zamboni McCormick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
If we could open up a contest about the world’s most Catholic family, Bridget’s Italian-Irish concoction would definitely top up the rating. The clever girl is raised by the tight glove of religion from both sides of the large family, grows up to become the perfect Catholic and evade Satan’s calling who takes various shapes in her life as a child and young teenager: imaginary snakes coming out of the closet at night, her flirty and cheeky friend Lucy, and the non-avoidable puberty sex drive.
Her parents are not great fans of logic and prefer to keep up the pretense even when strong beliefs are brought into serious question, such as when they pretend to sip the Holy water that seems disgusting because everyone puts their finger in it or when her father refuses to buy her a two-wheeler only because she can fall off it and lose her virginity.
But we all know that Satan can not be easily dodged as he is the other face of God, which becomes increasingly clear for Bridget as time goes by. You couldn’t feel anything less than sympathy for the awesome Bridey, as her mother calls her, who asks some damn good questions about the ridiculousness of Bible passages when reality strikes – two dead family members in Vietnam although they had their crosses on the chest and wives that get beaten but stay in marriage only because they need to play the role of a good Christian wife.
This is a wonderful story of humor but also sadness and harsh truths. I am very happy that, in the end, Bridget decides to stay friends with Satan who, compared to God she has met, might not be so bad after all! This is a story of how not to raise a Catholic!
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