Jack Butler

Roger Wing, an adolescent martial arts expert, has pledged his talent to the service of Jesus Christ. Setting up shop in an abandoned laundromat on the "wrong" side of town, Roger speads the Word to a few select, enthusiastic pupils. At the same time, he develops a close relatinship with the black family living down the street. As bushiness dies down and the temperature-and tempers-soar during Mississippi's civil rights conflict, Roger finds a greater demand for his own brand of preaching. Fighting the temptations that threaten his faith-boredom, depression, and ever-present lust-and caught in the middle of an unholy racial war, Roger struggles to deliver his message and to be heard.

"This is a strong book, a compelling book...There is ugliness in this book and there is shimmering beauty...There are lies in this book and there are strong truths...In short, it is a protrayal of life as it really is. I loved it!"-Ferrol Sams

"What a wonderful music, what a genius underneath it all. Ranks among the best of all time."-Barry Hannah… (mehr)

This reads as a very deeply-felt, intensely personal memoir of a white boy, innocent of hatred, living in a black neighborhood in 1960s Jackson, MIssissippi. When I say innocent of hatred, I don't mean to say that anything is clear-cut. As the author describes, bad deeds draw everybody down and no one is innocent.

But its also a comic tale and the comedy dissociates and dispels the intensity. Everything in the book is all at once completely improbable and absolutely believable (well, almost everything). Its manner of describing the South and its people is almost uncannily true and wide-ranging.

I recommend it.… (mehr)