Final Thoughts on the Living Hope Library Series

People love banning books, but it doesn't work, at least not in the way that they want.  The act of banning a book draws attention to it. 

I've mentioned several times how someone didn't want the John Benton books in the Vintage Teen Books group.  They gave these reasons, which I have slightly rephrased and reformatted.

• The books have a lot of victim-blaming in their titles.
  
  
• The covers and summaries contain victim-blaming.
  
  
• Some sex workers don't want to be sex workers.
  
  
• Some sex workers are hurt or killed.
  
  
• The books shouldn't be allowed because we don't know the full content.
  
  
• We don't know how unjust women are being judged or talked to.

I am mystified as to how titles like Carmen or Tracy could be interpreted as victim-blaming.  I mean... the titles are their names...?

Perhaps this person meant the promotional blurbs.

A desperate young woman is engulfed in crime—and its consequences.

A young man's habit becomes a matter of life and death.

She could con her way into anything—except happiness.

These blurbs state facts about each protagonist.  The victims are depicted as victims.  As to the summaries, the same is true.

The women most certainly don't want to be sex workers.  That's the point.  The books were used to save women from prostitution.  Benton and his wife gave his books to women who were on the streets and in jail.  Some of the women read the book that they were given, relating to the content, and were then moved to contact the Walter Hoving Home.  How is this bad?  The books helped women escape from an endless cycle of prostitution and drug abuse.

Due to the complaint, I became curious about the books.  This is what I wrote last year.

When ----- complained about your post, I became curious.  I wanted to know exactly what was in John Benton's books that made the books unacceptable for discussion.  I ordered four of the books so that I could see what they are like.

I finally read one this week.  I liked it a lot, so I decided to purchase the rest.  And here we are.  It's ironic that -----'s complaint led me to paying attention to a set of books that I otherwise would have ignored.

To everyone:  I'm not being flippant.  That is just what happened.  Sometimes what happens is not what we expect.  I never expected that I would want all of these books.  I wasn't interested when ----- posted about them originally.

So there you go.  I never would have paid attention to the books if someone hadn't insisted that we not allow discussion of them. 

I want to address some other points made by the person who complained.  They were concerned about how the victims were treated.  Well, yes, victims aren't treated well.  Should we sweep that under the rug?

I've always been aware that prostitutes are treated poorly by their pimps, but I never stopped to think about exactly what that meant.  Now I know.  Benton made it real for me.  The women are used and abused in the worst way possible.

These books made me think about how the prostitute has the liability.  She is at risk of being arrested, while the pimp, who takes all of her money, stays hidden behind the scenes. 

I'm not sure how much this person's reason for wanting the books banned had to do with "how the girls are treated."  I suspect that the underlying reason was because the books are Christian books.  So what if they are? 

When I started to publish the reviews of these books, I removed the religious references from the first few summaries.  I then decided that anyone who reads this blog ought to be able to handle a brief mention of God or Jesus.  One of the biggest problems we face today is that people are too sensitive.  That, of course, was the problem with the person who complained about the books. 

I wish to digress briefly.  Nothing is wrong with being sensitive.  We need to be sensitive to the feelings of others.  I am sensitive myself, and I try not to hurt others' feelings.  That's why I didn't post any quotes including the homophobic content.  I know that quite a few of my readers are gay, and I know that the content would hurt you.  So, I am sensitive.  But I won't disallow books to be posted in a group just because they could contain hurtful content.  People who don't want to read the books shouldn't read them.  They can scroll past posts that they don't like.

In reviewing the books, I am not promoting religion and am not even concerned about that part of the content.  I read the books because they are thrilling and fun to read.  I guess I read the books for the wrong reasons.  Regardless, I did enjoy them.

I am grateful to the person who complained as I otherwise never would have read any of the books.  It worked out well for me, in the end.

Certainly the books are a bit grim.  I found the early books to be hilarious.  The later books were still interesting, but I found that they had begun to wear on me.  The content was so heavy that I found that it was impacting my mood.  The books are disturbing, because they are based on true stories.  People live like the characters in these books.

The highpoint of the series for me was when I read about Lori stripping off her clothes and running through the drugstore yelling, "Yippee!  Yippee!  Yippee!"  So memorable and fun.