Book 3: In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash
Book 3: In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash
Writer: Jean Shepherd
Genre: Humor
Number of pages: 272
Read This Year: 686
My rating of the book, F- [worst] to A [best]: A
Short description/summary of the book: from Amazon
Mr. Shepherd has the true satirist's grip on his pen: he is humorous, sympathetic, and ironic all at once, an enviable skill and one that makes reading In God We Trust an infinitely satisfying experience.
My Thoughts: New York-based writer Ralph Parker is sent back to his hometown of Hohman, Indiana, to write an article about small-town life. Instead, he winds up in a bar run by a childhood friend, trading stories and reminiscing about what it was like to grow up in Hohman during the Great Depression, warts and all. Most of you are probably already familiar with at least parts of this book, even if you don't realize it. Several of the stories in this book were pieced together to make the script for the classic movie A Christmas Story. Those stories are just as entertaining here in their original form.
But in addition to the stories of the Red Ryder BB Gun, Ralphie's battle with the school bully, and the tale of the Old Man's still legendary Major Award, Jean Shepherd provides us with over a dozen other stories of life in Hohman -- the trip to the top of Magic Mountain, Ralph's attempt to impress his teacher by writing a book report on the biggest book he can find and the climactic tale of a movie theater promotion gone wrong all come together to make this a truly wonderful book. It isn't quite a novel, but more a collection of short stories with a framing sequence. It's clearly autobiographical, wonderfully satirical and at turns even a little heartwarming. This is the sort of book that really makes a writer's reputation, and it certainly elevated Shepherd to the status of one of the greatest satirists in American literature.
In the Queue: In the Night Room by Peter Straub, About Time Vol. 1 by Tat Wood & Lawrence Miles