Customer Reviews

Jesus Boy

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Jesus Boy" is basically is a tragedy in the vein of Shakespearean form. It is about Elwyn and the loss of innocence and the attempt to apply biblical principles to circumstances without understanding of conviction or the fallacies of human nature. Immaturity, spirituality and biology clash resulting in increased disappointments for which Elwyn has to rationalize while being caught in the throes of lust and disenfranchisements of his church family. While his natural talent increases, he mistakes it for approval of God as his musical talent becomes leverage for spiritual acceptance and self defeat.

"Jesus Boy" is full of unexpected twists and twistedness. Preston Allen is successful in making Elwyn affable, but Elwyn's choices make his end destructive although the reader continues to hope for the best. The depth of depravity is tempered. The humor and originality of the voice of this author is unique and poignant. I would recommend this book as it is the seed for a harvest of discussions.

Reviewed by: Gail

Praise the Lord for this novel, and pass Preston L. Allen his richly deserved Pulitzer! Hallelujah! And a great Amen! I have been saved for the weariness of unfunniness in a novel! This has been a side-splitting experience thanks to the brilliance of young church pianist/organist Elwyn and the flock at the Church of Our Blessed Redeemer Who Walked Upon the Waters--and to think it is right over the causeway from me here in Miami Beach, for the novel is set in Miami.
Where to begin to tell potential readers just how wonderful this novel is. Let me start this way. I teach writing, part time, at a local college. And when I was telling one of my students about the novel--she works at a large book store--she said, "Oh, yes, I was trying to figure out where to put it in the religion section!" I responded, "Haven't you heard that you can't judge a book by its cover?" Yes, yes, the cover! It almost looks as though you'd find it in the drawer of the nightstand in whatever cheap motel you have chosen to stay in with Gideon imprinted upon. Perfect for this brilliant piece of satire.
Elwyn, who has taught himself to play the piano, is out to save everyone including classmates such as John Feinstein and a collection of others who quite clearly do not like him. And the best place to do it, of course, would be in trigonometry class. That is just one of a zillion fun pieces in this novel. Elwyn has his sights set on going to Bible College. But he has to deal with his own sets of lusts. Yes, for Peachie who... Well, I won't tell, but it seems Peachie has sinned a little and with Barry who is already in Bible College. And then there's the lust he feels for the new widow in church, Sister Morrisohn, the one who is a few times older than Elwyn. She, on the other hand, was forty years younger than Brother Morrisohn who supplied the money to build and sustain the church. His funeral is a hoot!
Preston L. Allen knows his Bible. And he knows how to toss quotations in, page after page of zingers. We live in a country filled with hypocritical evangelicals. And this is a novel that takes it just one more step over the edge. Be prepared to laugh aloud a lot, at least on average once for every page.

I just learned that Oprah's Magazine listed Preston Allen's book, "Jesus Boy" one of the ten books to read this year. So true! Reading Allen's story about the love of Elwyn, the serious young churchboy, for his piano student the widow Sister Morisohn, one thinks of the forbidden loves of Romeo and Juliet or Heloise and Abelard. From the first page, Allen pulls you into the social, cultural and often hilarious world of life in a small American church. The story rings so true and the telling is so crisp and funny that Evangelical America may never be the same.

In "Jesus Boy", author, Preston L. Allen, does an awesome job of describing the different types of drama, sin, Christians, and hypocrites all rolled into one. Elwyn Parker's constant struggle with Christianity and lust proves to be a dominant issue throughout the story. "It is a cross between an African American Romeo and Juliet. Elwyn Parker, a sixteen year old devout Christian and piano prodigy, who learns that the saintly girl that he has a crush on is pregnant and is to wed another. Juliet is the beautiful widow, Sister Morrisohn, age 42 who in the pain and confused emotions of her grieving, ends up in Elwyn's arms. Despite the age difference and strong religious beliefs, Elwyn and sister Morrisohn fall in love. Secrets began to emerge in this dark and twisted tale and as tragedy strikes Elwyn realizes that no one is different."

Preston L. Allen does a wonderful job of keeping the reader interested and wanting to turn the page faster but yet turn back to make sure nothing was missed. The story moves along at a wonderful pace to keep the reader interested and intrigued at the same time. It involves family secrets, friendship, and faith, betrayal by family, sin, love, abuse, human weakness. Even though the story goes where most "Christians" don't want to go... Preston takes us there and takes us for a great ride! Great read!

Review: 5 out of 5 Beignets
Reviewed by: Melanie
Books and Beignets (BAB) Book Club

A very wry novel about religion and sex and the temptation of both. It is well written with good humour through-out. It's also about secrets and revelations (not the religious kind).

The strength of this novel is that it is written from both the inside and outside perspective. The main characters are inside the church, but there outside it as well. This focus shift is intriguing.

I did find the relationship between Elwin and Elaine somewhat repetitive as the story progressed. One could say there is a lack of closure at the end; but Elwin as a used car salesman - that's the wry humour and the inside-outside coming into play. Definitely kept me reading and smiling.

Preston Allen's novel Jesus Boy seems like quite a departure from All or Nothing. One book is about a man's struggle with gambling, while the other is about a fundamentalist church in South Florida. What both share in common though is human weakness. One could say that Allen is a sociologist of human frailty. The common thread that ties much of his work together is how complicated our lives are, despite the obvious molds we fit into at a cursory glance.

In Jesus Boy, Elwyn is an ...morePreston Allen's novel Jesus Boy seems like quite a departure from All or Nothing. One book is about a man's struggle with gambling, while the other is about a fundamentalist church in South Florida. What both share in common though is human weakness. One could say that Allen is a sociologist of human frailty. The common thread that ties much of his work together is how complicated our lives are, despite the obvious molds we fit into at a cursory glance.

In Jesus Boy, Elwyn is an ignorant 16 year old whose ability as a pianist and gifted apologist differentiates him from other young people in his community. Meanwhile, his sexuality begins to unfold as the leader of his church community dies, and the grieving widow catches Elwyn's eye.

Sister Morrisohn (the grieving widow) comes across as the older (42 yr old) church nugget, whom the community either envies or despises, given her marriage to the leading elder of church the community, who also happens to be her recently departed husband. What we come to find in Mrs. Morrisohn is a past riddled with pain, abuse and a history of emotional content being funneled through sexual expression.
What the two find in each other is a shared brokenness. As each character tries not to yield to temptation, their giving in points to the bigger issues that plague their lives.

The author's ability to weave sexual discourse into the narrative of human need is reminiscent of Toni Morrison's early work. Additionally, the content of this book will also be alienating to some readers, as we also find in Morrison's work as well. Jesus Boy is very Christian...very fundamentalist Christian at that...and some portions of the book can be a challenge to those who have an aversion to this sort of religiosity. Simultaneously, the respect that Allen shows toward these traditions could be read as his satirical take on them. My gut is that Preston Allen's intent is not pure satire. He seeks to unpack the problems and complications we find in any community that works so hard for righteous living. We learn a lot in this process. People are not as they seem. Communities and their leaders are not as perfect as we believe them to be. In the end, our need to believe (something), points more to our needs, than it does to the reality of our beliefs.

Overall, Jesus Boy is not the page turner that Allen's prior book was, but it does have the common characteristic of being movie material. If you've liked his work before, this is well worth the read. Hats off to Preston Allen.

I really loved this book. Mr. Allen does a wonderful job developing his characters personalities so that you feel like you know them. I couldn't wait ti find out what happened next, so I stayed up into the wee hours reading. Get this book! You will be happy you did.

Bought the book because of the review in the NY Times book review.
Hardly a page turner. Characters seem overly simplified, defined more by their "sinfulness" than the real messiness of their relationships.Frankly, lost interest after a few chapters.