The Secret Lives of Church Ladies

The story switches back and forth between the diary entries of Jael, a 14-year-old girl, and the commentary of her great-grandmother who found the diary and is appalled at what she finds inside it.

Jael and her friend Kachelle begin to hang around a 35-year-old man who has his own house and car. Jael isn’t amused by him, but Kachelle is head over heels. Jael is belligerent toward her great-grandmother, and so she prays for her, unsure of what else she can do to help her granddaughter. Jael is unremorseful when she misbehaves, she does not respond to discipline, and when she goes to church, she is unmoved by the word of God. Jael enjoys talking to Sweet Sadie, the pastor’s wife, who she’s sure used to be “a freak before she got into the church” (114). 

Jael doesn’t let men mess with her–she threatens them when they try to grope her or catcall her on the street. This leads some of the men to believe that she is attracted to girls, not men. They call her “crazy,” and they stay away from her. Jael’s grandmother was similar; she showed little emotion, even when her best friend died right in front of her.