The Almighty Accused by Steven Donahue
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Young Adult (14 – 18 y.o.), Contemporary
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by AstilbeGod is put on trial by a group of middle school students after a fatal shooting at their school.
Traumatized by the loss of his twin sister during the school shooting, 13-year-old student Nolan Mitchell convinces his history teacher to allow their class to reenact the fabled WWII trial of God by Jewish prisoners of war.
The mock trial explores the issues of God’s responsibility to Man, and Man’s responsibility regarding free will. The trial draws the ire of parents, students, residents, and school administrators, while also attracting the attention of news reporters from across the country.
What will the jury decide?
Will they find Him guilty?
Will their lives ever be the same again?
Grief is inescapable in life, but maybe it can teach a few lessons along the way.
Nolan was a heartbroken and angry teenager who had endured more suffering in his short life so far than some people decades older than him have known. I appreciated how much time was spent developing his backstory and personality, especially when it came to what he thought about topics such as bullying and what responsibilities bystanders have when they witness something like that occurring. The nuances that were added to my mental image of him as I read those scenes only made him feel more three-dimensional and lifelike to me.
This was also a good example of how to round out secondary characters and give them a chance to shine. While Nolan’s devastating loss was rightfully given most of the attention, other people in his life had suffered their own tragedies that helped to explain how they became the people they were and why they reacted in certain ways when the narrator dug a little deeper into their backstories. It honestly made me wish for a sequel written from one of those other perspectives as I took note of several characters who could have done well as a protagonist in the future given what the audience had already learned about them and what questions I still had about their lives.
Based on the title and blurb, I started reading the first chapter under the assumption that this was probably an inspirational title, but the approach the characters took to the question of whether or not God should be held responsible for the evil in the world ended up being much more philosophical in nature. I enjoyed the complexity of the arguments on both sides of the trial and thought Mr. Donahue did an excellent job of framing every claim and rebuttal. The existence of suffering is one of the most difficult topics to discuss, especially for teens who have less life experience to rely on than older generations do. While I can’t share much about the conclusion in my review without giving away major spoilers, I did find it satisfactory and thought provoking.
The Almighty Accused explored a sensitive subject with logic and empathy. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
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