Lisa De Pasquale’s first published book is Finding Mr. Righteous (Post Hill Press (2014), 241 pages) which chronicles her dozen years of dating in the DC area. De Pasquale worked in conservative circles, but the book mostly eschews politics. De Pasquale’s friend and mentor Ann Coulter blurbed about Finding Mr. Righteous as “A true Christian story, disguised as racy Chick Lit. Her prologue proclaims: “ This book is about the men I’ve met in a quest to know Him.” While Chick Lit is not in my usual reading wheelhouse, I was intrigued to learn of a faith quest which was augmented by being involved with: an atheist; a Catholic; an Evangelical;, a Quaker; a prominent Protestant preacher; a Jew; an Asiatic Indian; as well as a non-denominational Believer.
De Pasquale should be credited for her candor in writing about uncomfortable personal attributes. She makes no bones about being a self described chubby girl. She is upfront about eventually engaging in Lap-Band surgery, with the recognition the surgery is not an immediate panacea. De Paquale shared a painful memory about losing her man over facial hair. The author recognizes that she is not as outgoing as other political animals. She does not sugar coat when she was fired and scrambling to find work. De Pasquale also opens about about her insecurities about being able to attract and keep men in her life. The book has the quality of being like Bridget Jones Diary Does the District of Calamity, with the caveat that the author is decidedly based in Northern Virginia and not directly in DC.
For most of the book, De Pasquale’s writing style takes a breezy, conversational tone, including her recounted email epistolary exchanges. She had two wonderful bon mots which joyfully describe that drive to be a conservative in the belly of the beast between-the-beltways. Noting that networking is DC speak for drinking with people in the same career field as you rings quite true. And De Pasquale's funny introduction of Rush Limbaugh by noting: “I became a conservative in the backseat of a Camaro” had supreme comedic chops. The author is skilled at injecting a local flair into her prose, eidetically detailing conversations in local watering holes and renowned local churches. However, this street credibility becomes obscured by De Pasquale’s conscientious blurring of organizations where she worked. It may be wise to not state forthrightly within the text that she worked for CPAC et cetera, but the non-specific synonyms conflicted with otherwise realistic style of being a raconteur.
One of her professional challenges was politics due to association with GOProud, a group of conservative homosexuals, which had tarnished her rising star amongst movement Conservatives.. Later, De Pasquale actively associates with GOProud during the 2012 Tampa convention. The book does not grapple with how her ideals of equality in sexual identity conflict with religious conservative conventions or it deeply impacted her faith. Once again, it highlights a trait of including too many insignificant details without delving deeper, which blunts the story of her spiritual journey.
De Pascquale was baptizes as a Catholic but had never attended Mass until her Catholic boyfriend took her to one on the Catholic University campus. She was rebaptized at the age of ten at a Florida Southern Baptist church even though she did not feel the call. But De Pasquale thought of herself as a Christian-In-Name-Only (CINO). Thus she was not troubled to be being romantically involved with an atheist. The author opined that she did not feel like she was a member of the (Christian) club.It is a pity that for most of her ecumenical amorous encounters De Pasquale seems deeply superficial.
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The denouement of Finding Mr. Righteous, De Pasquale’s conscience was touched by the example of an upright Christian, and she realized that she her willing participation in affairs made her no better than the religious hypocrites with whom she was involved, yet she lets the divorced Preacher who used her for phone sex off pretty lightly.
The style of the book shifted at the end which ceded the focus to Mr. Righteous’ recounting of the story about Bathsheba, which was told in detailed prose, punctuated by a contemporary explicative. For the author, this non-pretentious, non-judgmental sharing was the sort of sharing which spoke to her soul.
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Read Finding Mr. Righteous if you want to enjoy a page turner piece of Chick Lit. Alas, the book is unlikely to satisfy an enthusiast of the New Evangelization, a conservative political junkie or someone seeking insight on deepening one’s Christian faith.
See the full review at: DCBarroco.com
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