We've come a long way from the stories of homosexual love that end in disaster. It shows what Evie has always said about herself: nature is an irresistible force. In the end the flood that sweeps the area is both a realistic disaster and a transforming power that helps soften the family divisions. The place is vividly evoked: the daily farm chores, the small-town narrowness and generosity, the roots that give you strength even as you long to escape. Even Parr discovers unexpected malice in himself, and his betrayal of his sister will always be a shameful secret. But the other characters, including Parr's religious fundamentalist girlfriend, are more subtly drawn. Through his eyes, Evie is a bit too perfect to be true (she's clever, funny, sensitive, poetic, independent, and superbly competent with farm animals and machinery) in contrast, the powerful banker is a fat, waddling, controlling villain. The story is told by Evie's 15-year-old brother, Parr, the latest of Kerr's tender, smart male teenage narrators. Unlike Nancy Garden's Annie on My Mind (1982), the focus here isn't on the lesbian lovers. When Patty's wealthy father uses his power to try to separate the lovers, they leave town, but they stay together.

When Evie falls in love with Patty, the beautiful, preppy daughter of the local banker, Evie's parents tell her that 'it's just a phase' and that she'll snap out of it. Her mother is always nagging Evie to act and dress more feminine. These themes are movingly dramatized in this landmark novel about 18-year-old Evie Burrman and her Missouri farm family. In Kerr's personal foreward to Sutton's Hearing Us Out (see review on p.124), she talks about her parents' rejection of her lesbianism, and she discusses the special prejudice (even within the homosexual community) directed at those who 'looked it,' that is, looked butch. Public School Teachers FederationĬitations are automatically generated and may require some modification to conform to exact standards.Gr. | title= Education : journal of the N.S.W. | author2=New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. Public School Teachers Federation The Federation, Sydney viewed Wikipedia citation Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. Public School Teachers Federation Sydney: The Federation, 1919.

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Deliver Us from Evie by M.E. Kerr