Customer Reviews

Jujitsu for Christ

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I've kept copies of this book around for years just to pass out to friends. I've even taught this book in an English class. This slim little book is laugh-out-loud funny in places, heartbreaking in others. A simple description of the plot would not do this book justice. "Jujitsu for Christ" is about race relations, martial arts, comic books, super heroes, human heroes, born-again baptists, left-out losers, and the need we all have to connect with others and be included. The language of the book is sheer Southern poetry, flowing like sweet cherry wine from one word to the next, without ever being over-wrought or artificial. Displaying his mastery of language and cadence, Butler commits to paper in two pages of rhythmic, run-on sentences the most spot-on accurate description of summer in the deep South that's ever been written and goes on to pull off an astonishing narrative "trick" halfway through the book that impacts the novel's entire point of view. This is a beautiful book worth reading again and again. That it's out of print is a sad commentary on the state of publishing in America. Find it. Read it. Treasure it.

This little book ranks with "To Kill A Mockingbird" or "In Cold Blood" as a truly American classic.

Told through a "secret" narrator (at least secret until the final pages of the book), "Jujitsu for Christ" takes place in early 60's Mississippi during the initial struggle of black men, women and children to be free of the legacy of slavery. Although the books feature character Roger Wing is a young white man living in a primarily black neighborhood in Mississippi; the real main character of the book is not a character at all. It is the weaving of all of the characters as author Jack Butler adroitly links the attitudes, mores, people and historical time into an entertaining and yet deeply truthful book.

"Jujitsu for Christ" is a wonderful piece of literature that leaves nothing to chance and is a clear demonstration of the laws of Karma.
If you have the chance to read this book you might find that it changes, however minutely, how you think about the world.

That's right. Now that Jack Butler has completed his fifth novel, THE ILLUMINATION OF ELIJAH LEE ROSWELL, his great and classic Southern novel JUJITSU FOR CHRIST is going to be reprinted! I don't know if it's going to be this year or next year but it will finally be available again, as it should always have been. We'll now have two reasons to celebrate.

I can't believe it's out of print, either. This novel is one of the finest examples of contemporary American fiction of the past 20 years.

Jack Butler, son of a preacher man, should be a national treasure. The man who brought us "Living in Little Rock With Miss Little Rock" and "Dreamer" first brought us this treasure of growing up in the south.

Complex race relations, uncertain zealotry, budding sexuality all mix well in this stew. Go to your local library (they probably have a copy) and give it a read. I finally found a good used copy and treasure it.

This is a great book. That it is out of print demonstrates two awful truths: 1)The American reading public doesn't know squat; and 2)Our great publishing houses are staffed with idiots.

Seriously, if you can get your hands on this book, do it. I'll bet your local public library has a copy! The story is textured, twisted, uplifting hillarious and horrifying all at once.

We got complex race relations, we got sexual tension and real sex and sorrow, we got bravery and cowardice and we got the goods right here, bro, I guarantee!!

Good grief, read this book!!!!

Well, shoot, I first read this novel 20 years ago and I fell for it as if I were a termite eaten trunk of any sort that stood in those piney woods. Finest kind, boy howdy. This novel is special, well, yes. It's special alright. But it's a whole lot more than that. This novel is not just a good read but uniquely so. So, get to it!