Heavens to Betsy - Beth Pattillo

This book, Heavens to Betsy, jumped out at me from the "New Books" shelf at the library. It is about a woman minister and it has a church, a high-heel pump, and a lipstick on the cover. On the back cover is a short bio of the author who is herself an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I was really interested to see what this book was like.

I have to honestly say that after finishing it I was a little disappointed. While the "big issue" in this book is the fact that she is a female minister in a traditionally male role, there are also the "chick lit" issues like how can she find a man. Lots and lots of drama about her being accepted by her congregation. I spent the biggest part of the book getting really frustrated with her for being such a doormat. I just couldn't get out of my head the thought that why on earth would someone be a member of a congregation that is so hateful? Furthermore, why would anyone want to be a minister in a congregation like that?

I think it was hard for me to imagine because in our denomination I cannot imagine the kind of prejudice that Betsy faced. I may be naive, but I can't imagine any UU protesting someone's ability to be a minister because she is a woman. (I did, however, enjoy watching the meetings of the board and finding familiar issues such as the unspoken belief that the biggest financial contributor to the church pulls the strings.) I guess I was disappointed that characters in her book were being so "un-Christlike" in their behavior and she wasn't calling them out on it.

Now, in the end she did handle the issue with the one congregant who was stirring the pot and she did it in a very loving and Christian way. I did commend that. And she did finally stand up for herself. But it just felt like too little too late for me.

I think part of what bothered me was that I saw part of myself in her. She had very low self-esteem issues and it made me wonder how she could be in such a leadership position as a minister. And frankly, despite the fact that she proved (?) that a woman could be minister, I'm not sure she did much to dispel the belief that women are emotional weaklings who buckle under stress. At the end of the book, I feel the stereotypes remain and that disappoints me.

I think the main character, like myself, waffles between being feminist in wanting the right to do things traditionally done by males but at the same time resents being told by other females that she can't wear make-up or enjoy shopping or (gasp) let a man hold a door for her. This topic is really brewing inside me right now and I am planning on having much more to say on issues of feminism.