Awakening by Claudia Cangilla McAdam

Goodreads: Awakening

Series: None

Published: 2009

Source: Borrowed

Summary: Ronni does not understand why Jesus had to die for her.  Rather than attend Mass or even celebrate the Triduum with her mother, she would prefer to spend time with her friend Tabby.  Thus, when she awakes to find that she has travelled back in time to the last days of Jesus, she forms a plan to save her Savior.  As she watches and learns from Jesus, however, she begins to realize that the best thing she can do might be to leave history unaltered.

Review: McAdam makes history come to life as she cleverly inserts tidbits from the Bible into her story, down to an explanation of the naked young man in the Garden of Gethsemane.   Readers will feel as if they have truly travelled back in time with Ronni and they, like her, will want to take this opportunity to watch and learn from Jesus.  The book is history lesson, theology lesson, meditation, and a Bible trivia scavenger hunt all in one.

The author does not hide her intention to teach with this story and older readers especially may find that the didactic purpose has a tendency to interrupt the plot.  The action, however, never flags, even when the audience can discern the not so subtle messages behind it.  In fact, so much adventure and excitement occurs that it sometimes defies the suspension of disbelief.  The question arises: would a proper Jewish young woman and her friend really so flagrantly disobey all the laws?  Not only the religious ones that they feel Jesus has replaced with the new covenant, but also the legal ones?  Readers will understand that twenty-first century Catholic Ronni does not hold much with the laws of uncleanliness, but when she convinces a friend to attempt to jail-break Jesus, it all suddenly becomes too much.

If readers can accept that Ronni’s first-century friends all conveniently hold her twenty-first century values, the plot proves engrossing.  Ronni is a sympathetic teenage character with whom readers can relate even when they recognize that she often behaves foolishly.  She has real concerns not only about her crush who lives next door, but also about the meaning of life and the reason for suffering.  Her interactions with Jesus thus touch readers on an emotional level: He is not only answering Ronni’s concerns, but also speaking to them.  McAdam makes Jesus come alive, makes Him seem like a real person really concerned with each individual.  That is the true triumph of her storytelling.

Awakening skillfully uses an entertaining story to teach about the Crucifixion and to encourage readers to commit to a more personal relationship with Jesus.  It combines deep philosophical questions with a fun and funny plot and, if the answers are not as deep as one might have wished, it is helpful to remember that the story is geared toward younger readers, preferably those in their tweens.  One envisions this book mostly used for homeschooling or other educational purposes.