The bright pink & yellow cover caught my eye at my church’s “library” a couple Sundays ago. After reading the description on the back, I took it home. “Why not?” I thought, “It’s free to borrow it from the library anyway. So if I don’t like it, so what.”
This is the first time I have ever read Christian fiction. I was always put off by the idea because I thought it would be hokey and cliché like many books in the “African-American” fiction genre. If I learned nothing else from this book, I at least learned that general accusations don’t normally apply. I’m not saying that my initial thoughts aren’t true for a lot of books of these genres but it is not always true.
On to Yada Yada. The novel follows a group of women thrown together in a prayer group at a Chicago Christian conference for women. The story really begins after the conference is over as these women continue to meet and carry each other’s heavy life loads. They become each other’s support group. However unlikely it is that a group of women would travel up and down and across Chicago to meet & pray, it is inspiring and hopeful to see these women open up to each other and support each other so wholeheartedly and non-judgmentally.
Perhaps I like this book because I belong to a women’s prayer group myself and see a vision for what our prayer group could be and has been at spotted occasions when we really open up.
For my first Christian book… it isn’t bad… it isn’t spectacular either. The writing is sophomoric. The writing isn’t as fluid as really good writers can be. And some of her terminology reveals how out of touch the author is with how worldly people talk. When I saw the phrase “Did someone hit the bozo button?” I laughed out loud. People really don’t talk like that, especially the ex-con character Yo-Yo who said that phrase. Not even going to go into why she names a character “Yo-Yo” either.
What I really like about this book again is the hope & inspiration I see in relation to my own prayer group. These women really open up to each other and support each other. And I think that is what is missing in a lot of Christian circles. It’s common to hear someone talk about their struggles in such a vague sense that you can just replace Person A’s name with Person B’s name and you will have the same prayer request, the same testimony. How many times have we heard “God has brought me a long way. I used to be wild in my younger days you know but God saved me from it”? No, I really don’t know about your younger days, I don’t know what “wild” really is, and I don’t know what “younger” really means. Is “younger” 10 years ago, last year, or yesterday? What happens if that person really tells their testimony, tells what really happened. I’m sure someone in that congregation who is going through that same situation will have some hope, some real connection to another Christian because they now have hope through someone’s personal testimony. This is not me trying to nose in someone else’s business. This is me saying: When people really get real, and we respond to that realness with Christ-like love, that’s when the real benefits of Christianity become practical here on Earth (Psalms 27:13). But too often, people (including myself) remain vague about their struggles because they are not comfortable sharing something so intimate with others, risking their “good Church girl/guy” reputation. This book shows me the possibilities of what can happen when people remove the Church mask.
Okay, off my soapbox. This novel also let me be a peeping Tom into a world I had never considered before. I looked at the world through the eyes of a meek, sensitive, Christian white woman. There is no doubt in my mind that the author Neta Jackson uses herself as the model for the protagonist, Jodi Baxter. Jodi Baxter sees the world so differently from how I view it. And Jackson is not scared to write it in that way, maybe the author doesn’t know any other way. Jodi Baxter is so careful and cautious at times that I shook my head at her, wanting to just tell her to grow a pair, move on, just say what’s on your mind. And she is always tearing up at something touching or tragic. To be fair, I have a personal bias against tears; I see them as a sign of weakness and do my best not to let people see me cry. But, if someone says “boo” to her, tears start welling up. I wanted her to grow a backbone sooo many times. Non-issues to me become issues in the mind of this strictly Christian woman. And her amazement, bewilderment, and sometimes fear of certain Black women cracked me up. But, from the outside looking in, I guess we can be intimidating at times :).
I didn’t love it but I like this book. I like it more for my ability to connect this story to the events & possibilities in my personal life. If you are looking for an introduction to Christian fiction that isn’t preachy & overly formulaic, then this is it. And if you really like it, the Yada Yada Prayer Group is a series so there are at least 8 more books to keep you going.
Good Scripture
Psalm 27, 34, 125, 139
Hebrews 12, 13, 55
Isaiah 43, 49, 55
