RUTH3:5

In Fridgen’s debut young-adult dystopian novel, a young girl, her grandmother and her only friend race to escape the repressive, walled city of Philadelphia.

In a near-future, post-apocalyptic world, human society has separated into city-states based on religious belief. Teenager Ruth3:5 lives in Philadelphia, where all aspects of life are determined by the GovernChurch. Men and women are separated at age 13, electricity is rationed, and fathers visit their families for ChristBirth services and to threaten and beat their wives and children. Girls who show too much independence are forced to join the Magdalenes, where most die young after being used as prostitutes by the men of MensTown. Biblecation has replaced education—people are even named after Bible verses. No dissent or questions are allowed. But Ruth3:5 has a mind of her own and wants to use it. When she publicly challenges the accuracy of a Bible passage, she sets off a chain of events that leads her to flee from Philadelphia with her grandmother and male best friend, Two Sam, in search of the fabled city of Manhattan, where people are still allowed to think for themselves and believe what they want. The story delivers a dystopian fable in the vein of 1984 or Brave New World, but where Orwell warned about the dangers of a totalitarian state and Huxley wrote of mind control through drugs and distraction, Fridgen focuses on the dangers of religious fundamentalism. However, the novel is also a fast-paced adventure with likable main characters, written in a unadorned, competent style. Throughout, the author handles dialogue and character development well, although some readers may wish that both were a bit more complex at times. That said, Fridgen smartly explores the impact of his world’s version of fundamentalism on the daily lives of women and convincingly connects the rigid belief system to sexism and brutality. In the end, however, how compelling readers will find the fable may depend on how dangerous and believable they feel the threat of religious fundamentalism to be.

A simple, engaging dystopian YA tale of freethinking and self-determination.