Wanderlust

Wanderlust takes hold

My feet rebel

If only

I could keep my mind

In one place

Content

Review: The Prophet of Yonwood Looks Bleak

The Prophet of Yonwood - Jeanne DuPrau, B-

Readers who enjoyed the first two books in the City of Ember series will likely be disappointed by Yonwood. While DuPrau again develops the main character with considerable skill, the story moves much too slowly and never reaches its expected destination. Most readers hoped this book would elaborate on the events leading up to the Disaster and the rush to preserve mankind underground in Ember. DuPrau doesn't truly address these topics until the afterword, and when she does, the information is so sparse and condensed that the reader is left frustrated and underwhelmed.

Instead of describing the building of Ember and its settlement as expected, DuPrau explores the themes of misguided religious devotion, intolerance, and authoritarianism. Perhaps this was an attempt to explain the cause of the Disaster (a theme already explored in Sparks), but her tactic failed. Her moral perspective is confusing at best and dangerous for young teens.

The story takes place in Yonwood, where a woman has had a vision of the world utterly destroyed by nuclear war. The townspeople hail her a prophet of God. 11-year-old Nickie, armed with big plans and an even larger curiousity, travels to Yonwood with her aunt to fix up an old home. There she meets Mrs. Beeson, who claims to be able to interpret the prophet's messages, supposing them to be instructions from God on how to protect her town from nuclear disaster. Ambitious Nickie becomes ensnared in her misguided witch-hunt for all "sinners."

DuPrau's use of Beeson to illustrate the folly of misguided, fanatical religious devotion could have been very successful had she used another character as her antithesis, someone who could demonstrate authentic faith. As a result of this omission, the reader does not have any idea of what true religious devotion looks like, or even if there is such a thing.

While the theme of intolerance appears throughout the book when Beeson and Nickie ostracize people who "feel wrong," it is also this theme that DuPrau uses as the eventual cause of the Disaster. Nickie struggles several times to understand tough religious issues involving God's will and the fate of nations. She wonders, if two warring parties both pray to God to help them win a war, how does God answer? Whose side is He on? Disturbingly, she never finds answers to these questions. In the afterword, the narrator divulges that the Disaster eventually ravaged the earth after two powerful groups, both insisting they had the truth and God on their side, refused to back down. The implication is that no one can know for sure what truth is. Truth isn't absolute. And those who insist on being right, who follow their faith at all costs, are the true enemies of the world.

Ironically, it is this philosophy, that there is no absolute truth and that those who claim to know the only truth are intolerant, that is the greatest enemy to the true peace of mankind. If a person believes this, they will never find the source of Life, Peace, and Hope. Only in placing faith in One Way, one man Jesus Christ, who is the "way, the truth, and the life," can we find the salvation of our souls, peace with God, and the hope of a secure eternal home.

DuPrau addresses the theme of authoritarianism as Mrs. Beeson and her followers try to build a "shield of goodness" around Yonwood, which would somehow cause God to spare them from the impending disaster. Since Mrs. Beeson belongs to the inner circle of people with access to the prophet, she uses her newfound power to make life miserable for people she dislikes, those who are unusual, and those who won't fall in line and do exactly what she says. Beeson punishes those who disobey her by shackling them with an unbreakable bracelet that emits a piercing humming sound. "Undesirables" either leave town or comply. Of the three major themes, DuPrau handles this one appropriately, showing readers the dangers of blindly following a leader who has no accountability and whose moral compass doesn't point north but instead wavers like a drunken man. Again, though, DuPrau does not reveal how readers can find the true source of truth, the Word of God confirmed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Readers will be underwhelmed by this book and left confused as to what truly is the source of truth and righteousness. Use this book as a springboard for discussion about truth claims and religious devotion.