The author get a few stars for the creativity of the topic of evolution and creationism but that's about it. The character Mena is somewhat likeable but not someone who I felt great sympathy for as she was bullied and bothered in school. I don't think the author did a good job of creating any depth to Mena's character but considering this is her first novel, it isn't bad. Teen readers might relate the Mena's problems at home and in school. This fairly quick read is definitely more for teens than any other readers. ( )

Evolution, Me, & Other Freaks of Nature is an enjoyable read that does not hold up under close scrutiny.

Mena begins her freshman year of high school as an outcast. She's been kicked out of her church group for mysterious reasons, her parents seem to have turned against her, and her only friend is her nerdy lab partner. When her former church friends decide to protest the teaching of evolution at school, Mena has to choose whether she will take a stand against them.

The book starts slowly. In the opening chapters, Mena's voice feels like a forced imitation of teenager speak, punctuated by awkward slang and an excess of the word "totally," as if this was the only way the author knew to characterize her as young. However, about fifty pages in, Mena emerged as a likeable, realistically flawed character, and the authenticity of her voice carried me through the book. I really believed that she was religiously conflicted, floundering at home, and struggling to process the new ideas her lab partner exposed her to.

Unfortunately, the rest of the characterization felt off. Kayla, her lab partner's older sister, is obnoxious and not quite believable; Ms. Shepard, the science teacher we're suppoesd to love, seemed crazy rather than amazing. Mena's parents' reason for ostracizing her wasn't totally realistic, and the strained link Mena forges between the Bible and evolution is the weakest part of the book.

But for all these flaws, I enjoyed reading it. The ideas the book espouses are not revolutionary for adults who've had time to think over their religious and scientific views, but for teenagers, they feel profound. As someone forced to reconcile her parents' more radical religious reviews with the dictates of reason, I found Mena's conflicts realistic and empathetic. Most importantly, I can't justify giving a poor rating to a book that left me feeling so good at the end. ( )

The first three-quarters of this book were very enjoyable, which is way I'm giving it two and a half stars---even though the ending had to go and ruin it all.

Mena starts out as a confused, lonely girl, looking for her place in her new school, in her family, in the world. It's a little annoying how she just lets everyone walk all over her in the beginning, but she's still likable because she recognizes her weakness and resolves to take steps to correct it. And she does get slightly better over the course of the novel---but in the end, not as much as this reader would have hoped.

For one thing, she feels completely guilty about lying to her parents throughout the novel, even when she is fully justified in doing so, and eventually spills her guts to them. This doesn't really accomplish anything, except to make her feel better (and to assuage the author's guilt for promoting teenagers lying to their unreasonable parents).

For another, her old friends from church consistently act like horrible bigots, culminating in the preacher actually telling her she ought to go kill herself---and just a few pages later, at the end of the book, Mena decides that they simply have a different point of view, no better or worse than her own. Umm, no, those people are hateful and evil---not to mention just plain wrong.

The attempt to have it both ways regarding science and religion---i.e., reason and faith---is, well, retarded. No, Jesus did not believe in evolution; that's just ridiculous. And having the science teacher who got Mena interested in evolution (and science in general) in the first place turn out to be a church-goer herself at the end was particularly bad thematically, merely serving to validate the worst elements in Mena's character and arrest her transition from an unreasonable person to a reasonable one.

This should have been a book about independence, in thought and action. Instead, it turned out to be a book enshrining abject conformity. ( )

Robin Brande has done an exceptional job writing such a delicate subject, Evolution VS. Creationism, which she has depicted with such grace and delicacy that I don't think anyone could read this book and go away angry about the focus of the plot. Not to say that there wouldn't be any disagreements on it somewhere, as you can find on any subject today, but that she airs her views so lightly as to give an idea, not a lecture. Lovable characters, interesting idea, brilliant writing; everything you need for a great read. ( )

Rating: D

The review from Publisher's Weekly up on BN.com says that Mena is "an immediately likeable narrator"... I guess "likeable" is a relative term. I didn't like Mena, too much of a wet fish, like this book. This book tried to strattle the line--be all things to all people. Unfortuantely, they missed the mark. I was never sure who the target audience was for this. Most people who would have believed in evolution prior to coming to this book would probably have been put off by all of the religious references (and been reaffirmed in their thinking that the majority of Christians are a bunch of ignorant, hypocritical zealots), and Christians would be put off by Brande's mixing of intelligent design and evolution. There are a lot of people out there who believe that there is some hybrid between evolution and intelligent design, but not all and this book was written to come across as if you weren't able to see the connection, then you were in the "ignorant, hypocritical zealot" category.

I liked Casey, I liked his family, and I even kind of got were Mena's parents were coming from. However, I never liked Mena and I wasn't completely sold on Ms. Shepherd (probably because Brande was lazy and never made you really love Shepherd until way later in the book when Kayla talked about their relationship). Also, I find it kind of watery that Mena thought her parents wouldn't want her to date a boy (nevermind that the boy wasn't a Christian), just that she wasn't old enough. Also, how little did she think of her religious convictions (she makes some statement to the effect of dying before renouncing God), but she just seems to keep following whatever majority is most appealing to her at the time? Whatever.

That's why I gave the book such a low rating. It didn't earn an F because it brought up an intersesting topic for discussion, but it's handling of the material was lazy and lacked credibility. (In my opinion, but I've been known to be wrong before.) ( )