Mini Book Review: Washed & Waiting by Wesley Hill

Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality by Wesley Hill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I bought this book at a bargain store randomly and had not heard anything of it previously. I didn't read it right away though. The book I got to first was similar in topic, Torn by Justin Lee. I read that and found the entire subject of gay marriage and the gay vs Christian debate to be utterly fascinating and misconceived in today's culture...well, it has been misconceived in practically every culture but today's culture especially has a sugar coated and ignorant view on the issue. Anyway, I finally came to this book a few months after reading Torn and I made a point to see how this book compared not in the ultimate message of what it means to be gay in the church or why this is an important issue or what the author's stance on the issue was but rather how it compared in writing style. I found Hill's writing style to be an utter drag. Please don't misinterpret what I am saying. His story was relatable and heart wrenching and blunt. But relatability and sympathy in a narrative don't make it good. What makes it good is how well written it is and this book was not particularly well written. I found it is be utterly dull and dragging. It took so much effort just to get through one chapter which was usually super long and just another turn off to the book. The middle of the book seemed to go uphill in quality but quickly went back down toward the end. I don't plan on keeping the book. Yes I feel it was an important read and I am really glad someone is adding to the conversation in a unique way but this book really didn't hook me or make me passionate about it's topic quite like Justin Lee did with Torn, which was written much better than this book but had a bit of a different angle and overall message. So I give this book 3 out of 5 stars because yes the topic is interesting and it is awesome to see some more literature on the issue but the writing was not nearly as good as I would have hoped. I should also add that there were some sections in the book that were well written but glimpses of good writing isn't enough to make a book written well overall.


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