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God Says No
 
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God Says No (Hardcover)

~ James Hannaham (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Gary Gray marries his first girlfriend, a fellow student from Central Florida Christian College who loves Disney World as much as he does. They are 19 years old, God-fearing, and eager to start a family, but a week before their wedding Gary goes into a rest-stop bathroom and lets something happen. God Says No is his testimony — the story of a young black Christian struggling with desire and belief, with his love for his wife and his appetite for other men, told in a singular, emotional voice. Driven by desperation and religious visions, the path that Gary Gray takes — from revival meetings to "out" life in Atlanta to a pray-away-the-gay ministry in Memphis, Tennessee — gives a riveting picture of how a life like his can be lived, and how it can't.


From the Inside Flap



“A tender, funny tour of a mind struggling to do the right thing. A
revelatory and sympathetic guide to a misunderstood world.”

--Steve Martin, author of "Shopgirl" and "Born Standing Up"

"James Hannaham's GOD SAYS NO introduces a groundbreaking new American
voice: a writer of spectacular sentences who has trained his sights on a
world that has hardly been touched by literary fiction. Topical and
ambitious, disturbing and hilarious, GOD SAYS NO is everything a person
could ask of a first novel — and twice that much. "

--Jennifer Egan, author of "Look at Me" and "The Keep"


"This novel is an absolute original. Gary Gray's search for wholeness and
acceptance is a heartfelt (and often very funny) plea for all men (and
women) to be embraced just as they are. A wonderful debut."

--Martha Southgate, author of "Third Girl From The Left"


“GOD SAYS NO is a book that was desperate to be written but well out of
reach. And then James Hannaham came along and wrote it, with the kind of
care, wit, sympathy and fury that the book deserved. Imagine Candide…—
okay, imagine Candide as a black man, a southerner, a Christian
fundamentalist, middle-class, obese, married, a father, and utterly, even
profoundly gay.
If a comedy, in the classical sense, is a story then ends in a
marriage, and a tragedy is a story that ends with a death, then what do you
call a book that ends with a split and a resurrection? A truly daring first
novel, and something to read.”

--Jim Lewis, author of "Why the Tree Loves the Ax"

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 300 pages
  • Publisher: McSweeney's (May 25, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1934781401
  • ISBN-13: 978-1934781401
  • Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #239,072 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

11 Reviews
5 star:
 (7)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars But I say Yes!, June 20, 2009
It is a rare thing indeed that I want to have a good experience reading a book and then do. God Says No began with a premise I wasn't sure about and a character whose credulity I wasn't certain I could relate to, and a tone I couldn't quite parse at first, but after a few chapters I was hooked. What Hannaham has done here is to turn his protagonist - a pitiable character not normally found in the protagonist role - and turn him into the Everyman. Though I am neither gay nor black nor Christian nor overweight nor from deepest Florida, I cannot help identifying with Gary Gray. He is a man fundamentally at odds with who he is and on a quest to make amends; who of us hasn't experienced that?

It is always interesting to find a protagonist who is clearly less intelligent or less in the know than the author. Gray is one of these, and his innocence makes him a foil for the endless string of absurdities that is American Sexuality. Nobody really gets off scott-free here, and nobody is fully skewered. The most potent part of the book is when Gray is at Restoration Ministries (where they turn homosexuals straight). The idea is hard to think of but with mockery, but this is where Gray has his first taste of introspection, of acceptance, and of cameraderie. As a reader you feel the painful irony of it; you are pulled in two directions: wishing for Gray to escape their clutches and hoping he'll stick around with them long enough to give himself an honest look.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Important-to-Have-Been-Written & Also Fun to Read, May 29, 2009
By amy bou (california) - See all my reviews
GOD SAYS NO is a novel that does what literature should do: make a completely unique and fully realized character seem utterly human and relate-able. I challenge any reader who skims the book jacket copy and pauses to wonder what they might have in common with the narrator, Gary Gray--a young Christian fundamentalist black man from the South who is gay--to walk away without feeling affected by this story and this character.

The writing is poetic, surprising, and extremely funny. James Hannaham has a truly original voice with an important (and entertaining) story to tell. A majorly good new novel by a major new American writer.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The South, God and Gays, August 14, 2009
By Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
Hannaham, James. "God Says No" McSweeney's. 2009.

The South, God and Gays

Amos Lassen


Gary Gray is naïve, fat and a sweet black man who lives in Orlando, Florida in the 1980's and he makes terrible mistakes and then struggles with what he has done. Jesus is always in his thoughts and the author takes a good look at religion, race, sexuality and the American South with lots of humor as well as seriousness. Gary lusts for men and forbidden pleasures. Gary is the voice of someone telling their own story and it is a clumsy voice. At times you wonder if all that is said is true but then you realize that it must be. Gary is on a quest for "normalcy" and has a great deal of trouble finding it.
Gary married his first girlfriend when they were both 19 but a week before the wedding he went to a bathroom in a rest area and allowed something to happen there and his story is one of a Christian struggling with desire and belief in God who loves both his wife and other men. The book is a comedy and it goes where few novels have gone before. Gary is a hero who is not very smart and it is his innocence that causes all of the events to occur. Gary goes to restoration ministries to try to become straight but instead he goes through introspection and then acceptance of who he is. You cannot help but feel his pain and the reader is pulled in different directions throughout the book. Gary is so completely human that he becomes an everyman kind of character,
Written poetically, the book holds surprises and is original and very funny. I could not stop reading because everything is so totally unpredictable. It is a great read for those who want to know about themselves or for those who just want a good read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars touching on taboo subjects from a new angle
I took my time reading this book because I didn't want to miss a word. Every chapter left me wanting more; I felt like I was on this journey with Gary. Read more
Published 23 days ago by dasha

3.0 out of 5 stars Book was okay
The writing was pretty good, however, the book wasn't too engaging. It's not a, 'can't put it down', type of book. However it's pretty thought provoking.
Published 1 month ago

4.0 out of 5 stars poking at memories
"God Says No" has taken me on a journey into my own past, poking at memories I would have otherwise rather forgotten; but the opportunity to relate has been both therapeutic and... Read more
Published 1 month ago by D. Nicol

5.0 out of 5 stars Genuine and Sincere
I am a member of the "McSweeney's Book Club" and am enjoying reading the books I receive (approximately) once a month. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Michael P Mccullough

4.0 out of 5 stars Profound New Novel - READ IT!
I stayed up very late last night to finish this novel I'd begun the day before. I can't remember the last time I read a "couldn't put it down" book. Read more
Published 3 months ago by P. Funkenbusch

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable
I finished GOD SAYS NO in just a couple of sittings, which I haven't done with a book in a while. It's funny, touching, and really kind, too. Read more
Published 4 months ago by D. Cashion

1.0 out of 5 stars Just say no.
My copy of this book must have been defective, because the book I read was not funny, illuminating or even well-written. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Charles K. Wentzel

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read
I simply couldn't put this book down. The story is interesting and compelling to read, yet not predictable (a good quality). Read more
Published 4 months ago by Robert G. Hanks

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