Book Review: What Would Buffy Do?

Halloween's right around the corner and the decorations make me think about all things ghouly and fangy, dark and sinister.  And when I think of fangs, I can't help but think of Buffy.  My love affair with teen vampire dramas came as a surprise.  Admittedly, I'm fickle in my tastes.  I adore Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Twilight Saga, but can't get into Ann Rice or True Blood (I'm on the fence about the Vampire Diaries - will have to get back to you on that one).  It's not necessarily the vampire as a metaphor that interests me, but the intelligent heroine dealing with the vampire metaphor.

I found myself attracted to Buffy, for the character fighting the good fight in the face of complicated choices.  The fact that she show's well written, hysterically funny and a great escape doesn't hurt either.  With the Buffy character, there's something relate able.  She's a good person who is sometimes faced with difficult choices and at times makes bad decisions, because she is human. 

In her book, What Would Buffy Do: The Vampire Slayer as Spiritual Guide, Jana Reis takes a close look at faith as it applies to the Slayer.  Despite the forces of good and evil, there is almost no mention of religion in the show (which is one of the reasons I think it works), but a strong sense of faith.  Buffy is constantly forced t make sacrifices in order to save the world, for the greater good, because she knows what's right.  The trials and tribulations in the show mirror those experienced by the bodhisattvas, saints and other spiritual leaders. 

Like the show however, the book doesn't take itself too seriously (it is about a televison character, after all).  There are laughs to be had and lessons we can learn along the way.