Raised in the Primitive Baptist Church, Beulah Buchanan at age 16 marries the much older deacon Ralph Rainey to escape from her oppressive parents, thus jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Over the next six years, Beulah works in her domineering husband's cafe all day and cooks him dinner at home every night, dutifully attends church, and falls into an affair with the preacher. When she embarrasses her husband by not cooking enough food for the ravenous visiting revival preacher, Ralph "chastises" Beulah with his belt. When he tries to beat her again on another occasion, she fights back and locks him in the cooler at his cafe, where he freezes to death. This sounds like and is a Southern Gothic tragedy, but it is told in Beulah's voice, which is innocently hilarious. Beulah is an original, but readers who liked Clyde Edgerton's Raney and Mark Childress's Crazy in Alabama will hear familiar echoes of those Southern women protagonists.
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About the Author
Clayton Sullivan is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Comparative Religion at the University of Southern Mississippi. Now a full-time writer, he resides in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This is a first novel.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Living life in the Rural Rut,
By
This review is from: Why Beulah Shot Her Pistol Inside the Baptist Church (Hardcover)
Why Beulah Shot her Pistol in the Baptist Church is a smartly written tale of a young Mississippi girl, Beulah Buchanan, raised in the Primitive Baptist Church. When she was only sixteen, she marries Ralph Rainey, a much older man who is a deacon in the church. Beulah has no feelings for Rainey, she hardly even knows him, but he talks sweet to her and tells her she is pretty and so she imagines that life with him would be far better than the one she knew with her oppressive parents. Beulah was mistaken. Ralph Rainey's idea of a wife turns out to be nothing short of slavery and for the next six years, Beulah works in her domineering husband's cafe all day and cooks him dinner at home every night. He doesn't touch her lovingly, but climbs on top of her once in a while for sex. Beulah longs for a gentle touch, and her loneliness leads her to an affair with the preacher. With this affair, everything begins to unravel.
Sullivan writes this story through Beulah's voice and he does an excellent job of showing us Beulah's good heart and potential without compromising the story's integrity. This novel has humor, some dark, which makes Beulah's life with Ralph Rainey that much more convincing. A poignant moment for Beulah is when her husband sets his old tired working mule on fire. The scene is disturbing, terrifying and yet, humorous too. If you grew up in the rural south, you will appreciate the novel for its authenticity, sad as it may be. If you did not, it's as good as taking a trip into the life of a poor Mississippi girl. The last chapters are unpredictable. The decisions Beulah makes in the last chapters are a bit puzzling perhaps to ensure an unpredictable final chapter, but in no way to did her decisions lessen her authenticity as a rural Mississippi girl in, as the author says, "a rural rut."
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Book Has Been Optioned and It Will Make a Great Movie,
By Robert Coletti (San Franciso, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Why Beulah Shot Her Pistol Inside the Baptist Church (Hardcover)
In digging around (www.claytonsullivan.com) I discovered that this is not Sullivan's first foray into fiction - see the Doubleday published Sweet Pilgrim. I read the interview of him in Southern Literary Review and was curious so bought a copy of Beulah and enjoyed it immensely. Be warned however, this is not a morality tale like Sweet Pilgrim...its pretty gritty stuff yet funny and sad all rolled into one.
Sullivan has a unique gift for capturing the essence of southern life in all its irony and with a healthy dose of cultural self-deprication that is obvious and intended. This is not a "novelist novel"...its a story for folks who enjoy a good plain story without the complication or pretense of 'modernist fiction' and all its preconceived genre and construct...the best thing about this book is that it doesnt follow rules or a formula...it breaks them. Take a look at the Doubleday published Sweet Pilgrim to get a sense for the bright side to this author's work if you find this book a bit gritty for your taste - you wont be sorry. The film rights to Beulah have apparently been optioned by a Hollywood movie studio and its being adapted into a screenplay now. Should be a great movie! They should get Charlize Theron to play Beulah....
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beulah,
By southernwriter (st. petersburg, fl) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Why Beulah Shot Her Pistol Inside the Baptist Church (Hardcover)
Beulah was just 16 years old when a deacon in the Primitive Baptist Church stepped up behind her as she practiced Onward Christian Soldiers and whispered, "You sure can play the piano good." Too young to realize she was being conned, she up and married the old coot. But Beulah should have listened to her mother's advice. Her life with Ralph Rainey is nothing but misery and heartache. For six years Beulah suffers in silence, cooking perfect dinners, working without pay at Ralph's Place café, and never complaining. The story takes an unexpected turn when every morning after Ralph leaves, the preacher comes calling. As it turns out, Beulah knows a sinner when she sees one, even if she does enjoy the sinning. The gravy on the rice, so to speak, comes when Beulah cooks her heart out for the visiting revival preachers, only to be chastised by Ralph for running out of fried chicken. Beulah's had enough, and the rest is not hard to figure out. Read this first novel by retired University of Southern Mississippi philosophy and religion professor Clayton Sullivan for the southern Gothic humor and his depiction of the good folks of New Jerusalem, Mississippi. Just don't expect a surprise ending and watch out for Beulah's mouth. Although the voice of this young woman rings clear and occasionally very funny, you do wonder where a girl who's never been allowed to cut her hair, wear makeup, or even date learned to talk like a heathen. Beulah obviously wasn't listening in church.
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