Suburban Gospel (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781938235191)

When the deacons at Mark Beaver's Bible Belt church cue up an evangelical horror flick aimed at dramatizing Hell, he figures he'd better get right with God, and soon. Convinced he could die at age seven and spend eternity roasting on a spit in the fiery furnace of Hades, he promptly gets Saved. But once adolescence hits, the Straight and Narrow becomes a tight squeeze. But Suburban Gospel offers more than a look inside Bible Belt suburbia, circa Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority--it's a tale of faith and flesh. Beaver invites us into a world filled with Daisy Duke fantasies and Prince posters, Nerf Hoops and Atari joysticks, raggedy Camaros and the neon light of strip malls. As much about the adolescent heart as the evangelical mind, the story explores similar emotional terrain as coming-of-age classics like Tobias Wolff's This Boy's Life and Mary Karr's Cherry. Suburban Gospel is a tale of growing up Baptist, all right--but also of just growing up.

Author: Mark Beaver
ISBN-10: 1938235193
ISBN-13: 9781938235191
Publisher: Hub City Press
Language: English
Published: 04/01/2016
Pages: 264
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.79lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.60w x 1.00d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2016
Publishers Weekly 02/22/2016
Booklist 03/01/2016 pg. 31