Martha Brockenbrough has a lot of fun with her conception
of Heaven and the afterlife in her terrifically funny
DEVINE INTERVENTION. The word "satire" leaps immediately to
mind and stays there. The book starts with examples of the
commandments in the handbook for SRPNT--the Soul Rehab
Program for Nefarious Teens (Deceased) — in an effort to
combat the "growing problem of crowding in the lower levels
of Hell. Jerome, who died at age 17 from the accidental
arrow shot by a friend, finds himself in a heaven, that not
unlike his earthly existence, gives him more rules to
follow. His job is to serve as Heidi Devine's guardian
angel in a form of redemption if you will and to get his
soul back and pass onto Heaven. Whether alive or dead,
Jerome doesn't respond well to authority and promptly loses
the handbook and begins violating the commandments one by
one.
But Jerome's laziness and cockiness causes Heidi to lose
her soul as well, and it's the attempt to leave soul limbo
that bind the two together. DEVINE INTERVENTION
will particularly
resonate with teens who aren't at the center of a clique
and who struggle to make friends and recognize love when
they find it. Well, you might think, that could be most of
us, and you'd be right.
Brockenbrough is a talented writer with vivid descriptions—
some of which aren't very pretty visuals--, but keep you
turning the pages quickly nonetheless. The chapters switch
between a third-person narration of Heidi and Jerome in the
first person with candor and wit. To my mind, comedy is
much harder to write than serious and Brockenbrough does a
bang-up job.
To graduate from heaven's soul rehabilitation program for
wayward teenagers, guardian angel Jerome must keep
sixteen-year-old Heidi safe, but when he accidentally lets
her down, he has only twenty-four hours before her soul
dissolves forever.
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