Have you ever wondered what the world looks like to someone whose mind does not connect with the world the way most of us do? "Danny Gospel" is told from the viewpoint of a young man who loves God and his neighbors, but who shows his love in ways that are almost incomprehensible to the people around him. He searches for someone to make him feel loved, yet can't accept love when it's offered.

David Athey's book is disturbing in the way it shows how very much like Danny Gospel we can all be. Read it once just to understand how mental illness affects the mind. ( )

I finished this title hours ago, and I can’t stop thinking about it – and not in a good way.

This puppy was simply odd. In hindsight, I have absolutely no hesitation in stating the reason I even kept reading it was that there were some powerful images and some extremely artistic writing ability on display in certain parts of this title. It was how those parts were strung together which caused the problem.

Danny Gospel is the middle child of a former Gospel singing group comprised of his family. After experiencing a debilitating series of horrific events, there are indications that Danny may not be with all of his faculties – of course, we also learn that people have been wondering that most of his life. The story line is a meandering narrative of his life experiences with significant events falling out in drips and drabs – with some of them mentioned so casually it forces a re-read to make sure you caught those words correctly (*wait, what just happened?* ). Most of the references are eventually tied together and/or resolved (I did say “most”) but there are just so many of them that it’s a bit trying. Here, off the top of my head, is a litany of what this book is “about”: 9/11, the anthrax mail scare, cancer, mental illness, drug abuse, self mutilation, Palm Beach, friendship, religion, communicating with insects, lust and more.

For me, here is one of the more thought provoking aspects of the book: It is marketed as “Christian Fiction”, and there is no question that religion, prayer, the voice of God, etc. is simply dripping from this book. No problem there. But is there an underlying reason why the character who is living his life making every effort to follow the voice and will of God is the one who everyone thinks is crazy? I will admit, if someone told me they received driving directions from a mosquito, I would think they were pretty whacked, so why is that in this book…twice?

In the end, I ranked it fairly low because en balance, I’m not convinced the literary moments which occurred in this writing (and there were many and some were very powerful) were sufficient to compensate for the time I invested in finishing it. ( )

Danny Gospel is heroic and foolish and struggling to do God's will while being normal and happy. The story he tells is full of all the elements that his grandmother calls up in her history of the Gospel family, especially in having their full share of suffering.

Athey has created a character, Danny Gospel, who lives in a world that most call dreamlike. In fact, some say that he is crazy. His life seems to be a patchwork of one parable after another as he seeks God despite many tragedies that have befallen his family and him personally. At times it can be somewhat difficult to discern when Danny has fallen into a daydream and when he is reporting reality, however, if the reader is prepared to drift along in Danny's world there is a great deal of insight to be found. For instance, one might begin by remembering that "Gospel" means "Good News." Or perhaps one would begin by remembering that Daniel was a prophet who spoke to angels and this character is named Danny. Even if one cares to look no further than the surface there is a great deal to be gleaned about seeking God in our lives from this novel.

One could also look at this as a cautionary tale of those who spend so much time looking for clues to God's plan that they forget the best way to do his will is by living in God's plan. In other words, life is what happens while we are living it ... and most of the time no amount of head scratching can see God's plan as clearly as Danny strives to. I am not criticizing the book or character here but that element spoke quite strongly to me as I have seen several friends put themselves through a considerable amount of mental anguish while trying to "discern." Most of the time it is in the little quirks of life and "happenstance" that God's will for us unfolds and this is something that we can also take from this book.

I must admit that I was so surprised by the ending that I read it three times to make sure I had all the details. I then pondered this book for several days. It is an unusual book that can make me do such a thing. What I concluded was that the author is conveying a story of salvation and redemption, of God's refusal to give up on us, and of the power of love.

I must also mention that in looking around the internet at other reviews I found a certain subset of readers who were baffled and dismayed by Athey's free-flowing style. Perhaps it is the great amount of science fiction that I have read, but being plunged into the midst of a story like this is a familiar experience. I am used to having to float and pick up contextual information while getting one's bearings. It is not that the author does not give us a framework, but that the protagonist is rather free-form in his own life and mind. In any event, if you give it some time then it becomes simple to adjust to it. ( )

Genre:
In terms of genre, Danny Gospel is not a novel, but a comic romance, a commedia. The romances that come to mind when I read this are Confederacy of Dunces (Toole), Wise Blood (O'Connor), The Last Gentleman (Percy), Invisible Man (Ellison), and Song of Solomon (Morrison). In fact, the story has a couple of hat tips in the direction of Wise Blood. I like romances, but my wife Karen doesn't, and she can smell them a good ways off. Romances are episodic and multi-climactic, and comic romances have a bit of coarseness: e.g. Dante's flatterers swimming in a river of shit. In general, romances end with marriages and reunions and reconciliations (think of Charles Dickens). Novels, on the other hand, mainly build toward a big climax at the end, even if they have a minor climax or two early on. Novels typically end with a dramatic resolution of the main conflict — for better or worse. I suspect the more negative reviews that this heartbreaking book have received are due in one way or another to the reader's unfamiliarity with commedia, or at least a preference for novels rather than commedias.

Synopsis:
Danny Gospel is one of the last survivors of the Gospel Family, a family musical group. He lives in Iowa in a trailer park, having lost everyone and everything except his brother. His ex-fiance left him to return to her birthplace in New York. She had called him every year, but didn't this year. One day, Danny receives a kiss from a woman in white who disappears, setting Danny on a quest to find her again. Along the way, Danny grapples with his past and with the beautiful, haunted world.

Response:
Although I was a bit skeptical, this book won me over quickly, causing me to care about Danny and the other characters and investing myself in their struggles. I read earnestly, finishing the book in three days on September 11th, and then reading it again right away. The story is well constructed with beautiful description, good pacing, and a coherent plot. For those who may be confused about the ending, I recommend reading Chapter One again. Everything should fall right into place.

I would also note: a novel about a "holy fool," a Dan Quixote, necessarily presents a problematic understanding of faith, which doesn't do justice to the "grandeur of reason." The task of a reviewer, however, is to evaluate how well a book accomplishes its aim, and not to argue that a different story should have been written. I'm saving the argument for another place and time.

* received as review copy ( )

When I first read Danny Gospel by David Athey, I jumped right in and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a ride of theme park proportions with something unexpected at every turn. Although I saw it as lighthearted and humorous, I knew there was something more to it.

On second reading I saw the dark side. The humor I saw on first reading was of the "if I don't laugh, I'll cry" variety. Danny is a lost individual. It's understandable. He lost most of his family and he lost his family farm. He even lost his real name in a sense, since he's still known as Danny Gospel because his family was a gospel singing group, although he no longer sings. There are other losses and the losses of 9/11, though not personal, are perhaps just too much for Danny.

Danny just wants a normal life and, probably without realizing it, he starts out on a journey to find it. He doesn't know where he is or where he's going and he didn't know what to do about it until, in October of 2001, an average, lovely woman appears in his bedroom and kisses him. He still doesn't really know what he should do, only that he has to do something.

Danny Gospel is written in first person, so we get Danny's slightly skewed view of things. There were points in this story when I wondered what was "real" and what was Danny's imagination. It's deftly written so that we are never quite sure. I found nothing in the book predictable, and yet it all makes sense and follows logically, taking into account Danny's state of mind. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book from beginning to end. ( )