A TROUBLED TEEN.
A SCHOOL WITH SECRETS.
A RISKY PLAN.
Author Interview Included
Description
Fourteen-year-old Sam Snyder thinks he is going on a short vacation to visit his godfather. Instead, his adoptive mother drops him off at a Baptist reform school in the backwoods of Missouri. Surrounded by razor-wire fences, violent at-risk youth, and oppressive staff, he quickly realizes that he’s not in California anymore.
Between fistfights, fire-and-brimstone sermons, and falling in love with a girl that he’s never even spoken to, Sam struggles to keep his unbridled tongue and teenage lust in check in hopes of an early release.
But when Will-the new kid-is brutally punished, rumors of an escape plan begin to circulate. Sam must decide if he’ll join the group of boys who want to take matters into their own hands.
How far will he go to find salvation?
Details
- Book Title: God*s Will by Matthew John Echan
- Pages: 305
- Genre: Coming of Age, Fiction Based on Truth
- Publisher: Quoir
- Release date: September 15, 2020
- Book Trailer:
- Content Rating: R. Contains explicit content. Religious Extremism. Abuse. Death. Minimal use of F-word and foul language, all in context.
My Thoughts
The topic is tough, and the story painful, so I’ve struggled and procrastinated with this review. I think I half convinced myself that given enough time I would come up with just the right way to convey my thoughts. Well, time has passed. And after some communication with the author, I’m going to do my best to post my thoughts. I hope I do this book justice and that you will consider reading it and sharing your thoughts as well.
A Touching Story
Echan’s debut novel is presented in a way that seems to encourage deeper thinking rather than merely relating the tale of a camp-gone-wrong. The writing is seamless. I almost instantly labeled Matthew as the character Sam in the book. Though in reality, the characters are a compilation of himself and other real people. “Sam is more of a hybrid character designed to explore the motivations that led to Will’s murder,” according to Echan.
In the book, when Sam realizes his adoptive mom is dropping him off at Mount Zion Baptist Boarding Academy in rural Missouri, for his own good, it’s too late to try to talk her out of it. This rural establishment is basically a reform school for troubled teens. And that’s exactly what Sam’s mom has labeled him. He’s a 14-year-old who is sneaking peeks at porn, cussing, occasionally stealing, preoccupied with basketball and girls, and even been asked to leave his private Christian school for lack of spiritual desire.
Sam is dropped off with a quick goodbye. And with that, he’s thrust into a new environment. He is strip-searched, hair unevenly whacked off, and told blue jeans and only certain shirts were to be worn. According to Charles Ward, the camp leader, it was far better for all involved if the boys had no communication from those at home for several months.
Alone
My heart ached as I imagined my own son living through what these boys experienced. Echan’s writing will pull you into Sam’s story. I had to wonder how many boys and girls made it through this experience without being affected negatively for the rest of their lives. Or worse yet, never survived the experience.
When one of Sam’s close friends at the school is murdered, life at the Mount Zion Baptist Boarding Academy takes on new meaning.
What Concerned Me
I was left with unanswered questions when I finished this book. Some felt very important, others more out of curiosity. (See What I Liked Best)
My Conclusion
First, the writing caught my attention quickly and drew me into the story.
Secondly, I felt honored to have been able to reach out to Matthew Echan for some answers to my questions. In our exchanged emails, I found him to be extremely open and honest. An inspiration, actually, since he’s survived some pretty challenging things. I hope he continues to write and share his experiences either fictional or as a memoir.
I received a copy of this novel from the author. This has not influenced the content of my review, which is my honest and unbiased opinion.
My Rating ☆☆☆☆/5
About the Author
Matthew John Echan is a board-certified behavior analyst and education consultant for emotionally disturbed children and individuals with developmental disabilities. He currently resides in Southern California with his wife, three children, and their small dog. Matthew considers himself a “method writer,” and says when he is not writing, he’s writing.
Author Interview
What is the significance of the title?
I’ve had several working titles over the years, but God’s Will as a title always interested me for the simple fact that it was impossible to ignore. In all versions of Christianity I was exposed to in my childhood, knowing God’s will for your life was an essential, daily pursuit. Hence, my mother’s repeated response that she believed she was doing the Lord’s will in sending me, and that being in the center of God’s will was the safest place you could be. A boy named Will being the one, of all the kids that had ever been sent there, to lose his life, seemed to me to have some larger-than-life significance – “They killed God’s Will” was a frequent frame of thought in the immediate aftermath. As is common in these circles, I worked to reconcile God’s will with such a tragedy, and early on I concluded it was God’s will that Will was murdered. My belief did begin to change over time (I’ll spare you the details), but needless to say, as it did, my interest in a difficult-to-market title, God’s Will, was also changing, and I began exploring other titles. My focus shifted to themes related to the methods used at the program, whether or not these kids were all bad seeds, and other important factors that should be considered when working with these kiddos (namely childhood trauma and absentee fathers). It wasn’t until I discovered how my spiritual journey and the meta-narrative coalesced with the theme that I came back around to the title. That is, in getting down to the heart of the methods used, I discovered, similar to my Christian high school back home (Calvary), or any other group, religious, political, ethnic or otherwise, the justification used to infringe the basic rights of others often has more to do with beliefs than it does intention or character. Well-intended people can easily be brought to a point where they mistreat others when they truly believe they are acting for their good. In this case, we see various breeds of Christians, including Sam, all justifying their decisions as falling under the Lord’s perfect will. The idea is to show how this self-appointed authority is dangerous and argue that the methods used were a direct result of this unchecked cultish mindset, and make the case that it contributed directly to behavior that is NOT God’s will. BUT, the humor of it all is this: It was while writing the end of the book when I realized I was guilty of the very same thing as those I was criticizing. I was also claiming to know God’s will, and using it to justify my decisions. That’s the moment I decided the title served Will, my spiritual journey, and the theme more appropriately than any other title could. This is a point I hope is driven home in the final conversation of the book when Sam faces the possibility that he has no idea what God’s will is.
Why did Sam call his mom moms?
The use of moms, as opposed to mom, is one part suggesting that having multiple families/moms in early childhood had an effect on Sam’s behavior (this ties into the question about whether these kids are all bad seeds), and another part emphasizing the absence of fathers in the book – something that carries statistical significance related to longitudinal outcomes, and that I feel strongly is a cultural cancer. A common denominator for so many of the boys and girls at the program was some trauma related to their father. Whether sexual abuse, physical abuse, absenteeism, many of these moms (like mine) were overwhelmed, doing their best to help their children while suffering themselves. It is my hope that by adding a word that reads uncomfortably at first glance will give a reason for pause by the conclusion. The funny backstory is, the idea solidified after asking Siri on one particular occasion to call my mom, and she responded with, “which one? you have 7.”
How long had you been living with Moms before she took you to Mount Zion?
I was permanently under her roof by 6, and sent away to Zion at 14.
I see you are a board-certified behavior analyst and education consultant for emotionally disturbed children and individuals with developmental disabilities. Do you feel your journey led you to this career?
I’m not too sure on this one. In college, I was studying Broadcast Communications/Film, and working on the screenplay with DreamWorks and CatchlightFilms. During this time, my firstborn son was diagnosed with autism, and we were desperate to help him speak and complete basic tasks. After things didn’t go as planned with the screenplay, my attention landed on my son, and I essentially begged an agency to hire and train me in ABA, which they did. I’ve likely been drawn to other domains, like ED kiddos, as a result of my journey, but I would almost say my work has helped give me the perspective to understand “why” the methods used at the program failed. In a way, studying laws of human behavior, reinforcement vs punishment, etc, gave me a cause-and-effect mechanism that helped me form an argument against the program without explicitly preaching as an all-knowing narrator. I’d have to say I don’t think I’d have made this career choice had I not had a son with severe limitations, but perhaps my history has kept me here this long. ??? Good question.
Religion and God have such positive or negative effects on people, depending on the presentation. How did this experience affect you?
There is no doubt the program left some irreversible marks, many of which I continue to recognize and work to mediate as they become apparent. This is true for so many of the survivors I’ve talked with over the years. The program certainly stunted our development, eroded our ability to think for ourselves, and severely damaged our understanding of the opposite sex, but perhaps the most obvious, immediate effect was self-destruction. For me personally, I couldn’t escape the idea that there was a God, and I saw myself as a worthless scourge. After Will died, I could hardly look people in the eye, and was convinced it had been better had I never been born.
Relating to my faith, I think the program led me to wrongly attribute the behavior of flawed human beings to God. In other words, the logic went: “If God’s followers were bad, God must be bad (willed it).” Following this logic, the net effect was that the program inspired a hatred toward the one Friend that might have helped me most. Although I spent years working to disprove God, I could never escape the idea of a First Causer. This then led to an awkward position where I believed in God but lived in open defiance to what I believed. I wanted to destroy my temple, if you will.
I’m considering writing a second book, a memoir, recounting this long, hard path to reconciliation with God and my mother. I’m also considering never writing anything again.
What would you like people to take away from this story?
I don’t worry too much about this, but a long-standing motivation behind writing it was to challenge the Christian community to take a hard look in the mirror – so quick to render judgment/punishment when others “sin,” while eager to justify their own filth. Aside from this, I would hope people would read this story and be more critical of these programs and punishment methods, in general, for behavior change. Unfortunately, there will always be a need for programs that help troubled kids, but there must be transparency and accountability. Student reports cannot always be dismissed as manipulative, especially when there is a trend over time. I hope the story inspires fathers to fight harder to be more involved in their kid’s life and gives parents even one good reason to find ways to keep their struggling kids home. For those who do decide to send their children to programs, I hope they find programs that use Brother Ray’s methods. Of course, I also hope the story challenges the lazy assumption that these residential kiddos are just bad seeds, and inspires more discussion on the role their home life and trauma might play in their development.
On a more broad scale, I would hope it inspires people everywhere to rise against any individual or organization attempting to censor speech, control the flow of information, and coerce belief based on some claim that they know what’s good for you. This is dangerous.
Let’s end on a happy note since the topic of your book is very serious. What’s one fun thing about yourself that most wouldn’t know?
I found the voice for this story while reading some of my son’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books.
Thanks so much Matt. I think we’re all looking forward to seeing what your next book will be about.
