In the book “Megan,” author Jack Weyland tackles the difficult subject of unwed pregnancy. Megan was raised in an active LDS home, with a Scoutmaster father, doting mother, and all the church meetings she could possibly want. But that was the trouble right there – she struggled to make the teachings of the gospel a part of herself, and felt that church was more of a duty than a privilege. She has been experimenting just a bit with drinking, and she’s started spending her paychecks on immodest clothing. Her best friend, Thomas, is worried about her, but she shrugs it off. He’s not LDS so how could he really understand the pressure to be good all the time?
When she meets Kurt, she’s ready for some adventure, and goes out with him on his boat. He convinces her to stay the night in the cabin downstairs, while he sleeps up on deck, and he was a perfect gentleman all night, so she feels safe with him. Little by little, as their relationship grows, she starts to wonder why chastity is so important. If he loves her, isn’t that all that counts?
When their physical relationship does take that turn, she’s startled at the change in him. Suddenly he’s taking her for granted, showing up whenever he feels like but not calling in the meantime, and the friendship they once shared fades into the background. She thought he loved her, but looking back, she can see that he never said it. He let her think whatever she wanted, and when she discovers that she’s pregnant, she finds out what he’s really made out of.
With the support of her family, Megan carries the child to term and delivers. She has spent nearly the entire pregnancy trying to decide whether to keep the baby or place him, and after delivery, as she holds him for the first time, she nearly decides to keep him, but she knows that she can’t give him the stable home life he deserves. Having chosen a family to adopt him, she puts him in the arms of his new mother, who promises to send pictures and write often.
I appreciated this book because it presents a reality – teenage pregnancy is a wide-spread problem. It doesn’t matter if you’re from a religious background or not; it can happen to you if you make that choice. The book shows some of the things Megan could have done differently to avoid taking the path she did, and it outlines the way for her to come back into full fellowship with the church and to find peace in her life again. I did find much of the book to be choppy and some of the situations were resolved too quickly and easily. At times, it was a little heavy-handed with the preaching of the gospel standards, but the overall impact of the book was clearly positive.
(This book was published in 2001 by Bookcraft.)
Related Blogs:
The Movie of Jack Weyland’s “Charly”
The Books of Jack Weyland, part two