THIS DARK WORLD: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost

Briggs's memoir is a riveting page-turner that rings emotionally true, as well as a brave contribution to a growing literature that tells the extraordinary stories of supposedly ordinary women. Its first third, however, has become all too familiar: A bookish, awkward girl from the wrong side of the tracks blossoms but is thwarted in her attempts to rise above her station. This motif has appeared in many a novel, memoir and film in the past few decades, and its charm and power have worn thin. The book breaks newer ground as it chronicles Briggs's adult life as a born-again Christian. Most fascinating is her account of her faith community in the 1970s; as self-identified "Jesus Freaks," she and her friends blended progressive/alternative practices such as eating health food and nursing each other's children with right-wing religious dogma. Too little has been written about American Christian fundamentalism among hippies in the pre–Moral Majority days, and, as such, Briggs's book shines light in a dim corner. Unfortunately, her exoticized depiction of born-again believers as well as her abrupt and superficial explanation of her loss of faith seem more self-serving and less honest than the rest of the book. One understands why she fled a stultifying marriage and a suffocating theology, but her newfound atheism is a mystery. Regardless, readers will find this book as addictive as a good novel, and it will leave them asking questions about their own lives and faith experiences. (Mar.)