Sin Bravely

Starred review from November 14, 2016
Rowe, the lacerating genius behind the Hudson Theater’s Comedy Central Stage show Sit ’n Spin and a writer for Arrested Development, is seriously funny in her first memoir. She chronicles her clinical case of doubt in the perfectly manicured evangelical world of her youth. Starting with the flannel-board stories about sister-harlots Oholah and Oholibah (from Ezekiel 23) in low-cut purple felt dresses and goddess sandals, and moving on to her first stage role in a play (called 100% Chance of Rain) about Noah and the end of the world, Rowe puts readers in the front car on her spiritual roller-coaster. In her early 20s, Rowe’s wild ride simply glides off the rails when she has a nervous breakdown while watching Akira Kurosawa’s 1990 magical realism film, Dreams. Her childhood terror that her potentially “lukewarm” Christian conversion will land her in eternal damnation consumes her until she stops eating. Her parents suggest a residential respite at Grace Point evangelical psychiatric institute, where Rowe is diagnosed with morbid scrupulosity, a bad case of pathological morality. Rowe’s fantastic book is a born-again version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest complete with a Nurse Ratched analogue (the demanding, no-nonsense Bethanie). Not for the faint of heart, this is a cutting examination of Rowe’s spiritual evolution that plunges into the big questions with the fearlessness found in the most brilliant of comics.

October 15, 2016
How an overly zealous religious imagination hampered the author's life.From a very early age, Rowe, a comedy writer and producer, knew she was a Christian. She had her own Bible complete with commentaries that she spent hours reading and quoting. She tried hard not to sin, and she made sure to be a silent and then direct witness. However, despite her best attempts to accept Jesus as her savior, she always had a nagging sense of doubt that her best efforts were not good enough. She felt that Jesus could "turn on me at any moment; that He is kind until He is not, that He is absolute love until He is absolute vengeance. I know He could effortlessly toss me into hell for all eternity before turning back to nuzzle his beloved sheep--all without messing up His Pantene hair." Rowe's obsessive worries about her faith plagued her as a young child, and she takes readers through the years leading up to and through a three-month stint in the evangelical psychiatric center she attended when she was 19. Full of the normal angst that most adolescents experience, Rowe's stroll down Memory Lane contains the added layer of her religious fanaticism. Her worries about whether she had truly accepted Jesus grew progressively worse as time passed, especially when she reached college and began to date. Love, lust, and religion all comingled in the author's mind, creating a mixture of stress and fear that made her sick. Rowe is candid throughout the book, giving plenty of details about her psychotic break and of how she began to find her way back to some semblance of balance, supported by her fellow group members in the rehab center. Devotees of Rowe's comedy and those with a strong interest in born-again Christianity will enjoy learning about her strife and road to redemption. An enthusiastic chronicle of how one woman's religious passion almost swallowed her whole.

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December 1, 2016
Readers who have wrestled with self-doubt over the strength of their convictions will find a funny, frank companion in this frantically compelling memoir. The author grows up Christian, but instead of feeling secure in her eternal salvation is besieged by the anxiety of never knowing if she is really sincere enough. Readers will cringe in recognition of their own awkwardly sincere teenage selves as she tries to secure her eternal destiny by proving her commitment to God. The anxiety reaches a crescendo in college, and she heads to a Christian mental-health facility to figure things out. Once there, she meets a cast of characters, some of whom are helpful (an honest doctor, a woman struggling with her own past) and some not so much (an inept therapist, an overly optimistic man prone to quoting Bible verses). Rowe's book does not provide easy answers, but her capacity to eventually sin bravely signals a new beginning. This engaging and adventurous book is an excellent companion for fellow seekers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)