Well with My Soul

Well with My Soul

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4.46 of 5 stars 4.46  ·  rating details  ·  50 ratings  ·  27 reviews
Brothers Jacob and Noah harbor a lifelong resentment towards each other. One is a liberal gay man who forsakes his family and moves to New York City; the other is a southern conservative who is left at home holding the proverbial family bag. The story follows their loosely intertwined lives through the wild times of the late 1970s and the restraint of the Reagan years in w...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published September 16th 2011 by ASD Publishing

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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 148)
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deirdre
insanely powerful story
well written
i was pulled in immediately and could not stop reading


can you pray yourself straight? what a HORRID question!! i reject the premise . . . and pray for those who have and continue to do so . . . more later when i can stop the incessant sobbing

and now i need to go re-read 'and the band played on' . . . its been 20 years since i read that i think??

update 9/21 . . .
still crying and lost a night's sleep . . .


there is a quote in the book i need to find. one of the s...more
Carey Parrish
Every now and then, I read a book that resonates with me on more than one level. A book that stays with me after I've finished it and I keep replaying certain scenes again in my mind. Such is the case with "Well With My Soul." Novelist Gregory G. Allen has created a modern masterpiece with this tale of two brothers, one gay and the other straight, whose lives over a period of fifteen years are told through their own voices. How one entwines with the other while they live their respective realiti...more
Jeannie Walker
This is an absorbing read about two brothers who are as different as day and night. Jacob looks darn good and has managed to maintain a decent body as a model. There weren't too many men who didn't want to sleep with him. He is obsessed with all things entertainment: Movie stars, singers, TV personalities, you name it. Noah, on the other hand, is a straight guy. Jacob had been gay as long as Noah can remember. Noah loves remembering the good times of the past. However, he was forced to settle in...more
Angie Holtz
From Lilac Wolf and Stuff

I'm pretty sure the guy on the cover is Jacob Garrett. He's a good looking gay-man who believes he is destined for greatness. He talks his boyfriend into moving from Tennessee to New York so he can be famous. He is successful as a male model, but can't catch a break in acting. Actually if he'd bother to tone down his ego and lay off the booze and pills, he may have made it.

Noah, on the other hand is a good ol' boy who stays back in Tennessee with their mother, who dies o...more
Kitty Bullard
"WELL WITH MY SOUL" BY GREGORY G. ALLEN

This story is about two brothers raised by their widowed mother. Jacob and Noah couldn't be more different than if they'd been born to two different sets of parents, and though Jacob is openly homosexual while Noah is straight that's not the only differences between these two young men. Noah is a hard worker, dedicated to taking care of his family while Jacob is more laid back and just takes life as it comes. Still while he loves his brother and has no prob...more
Krystal
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
David Hallman
My stress level has been dangerously elevated for the past couple of days.

It’s finally starting to ease because I have now just finished reading "Well With My Soul" by Gregory G. Allen.

My blood pressure was in the near-stroke range because of one of the main characters. He got under my skin. I wanted to slap him across the face. Sometimes, even throttle him.

And that’s a sign of a good story. If one cares about the characters, either deeply sympathetic to them or mad as blazes at them, then the...more
Tracey Berthiaume
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
T.A. Webb
This is a very different review for me, if you have read mine before. Bear with me. I know I am usually a short and sweet kind of reviewer, but this deserves more.

So, I got home from work yesterday, fed the dogs, ate some dinner and settled in for the evening. Since it's a weekend, I like to read uninterrupted. And I am tired and it's raining, and do I want a comfort book, something light that won't make me engage much, or what.

Several days ago, I got an email out of the blue from an author, Gr...more
Jael
I have been out of the blogging loop for a few days. I’m currently out of town, but I did finish another book.

I always enjoy a good family drama. There are so many layers to stories like that. Layers that I don’t think you can find in a fantasy book. Well With My Soul by Gregory G. Allen tackles the deep bond between brothers.

Jacob and Noah Garrett have lived most of their lives in a small Tennessee town, raised by their religious mother. Jacob is the favorite son. He gets whatever he wants. He...more
Kergan Edwards-Stout
As the title indicates, the evocative "Well With My Soul" journeys into matters of the spirit, asking the central question, "Who are we, at our core--and is that a good place to be???" Following two starkly different brothers, the tale juxtaposes their home life in the rural South with New York and all of the temptations a dazzling city can bring. Author Gregory G. Allen paints a startling portrait of the dark side of that Studio 54 world, with the characters attempting to reconcile who they thi...more
Al
I have a belief that the best way of explaining almost anything is through contrast. "It’s like this, but not like that." This is why my reviews overuse words like but, yet, and however. "Well With My Soul" is a story of contrasts, which lead the reader to a better understanding of many facets of the human condition. Contrast figures into the time the book takes place, from the hedonistic late ‘70s into the conservative Reagan years, and the geography, from a small, backwoods southern town to Ne...more
Sheri


Powerful. Moving. Devastatingly addicting.
Not a light read by any means- the most emotional story I have been sucked into in a long time. Usually I steer clear of books that leave me a blubbering mess, but 'Well with my soul' was a gripping story I am glad I didn't miss.

If you cried you're way thru Brokeback Mountain like I did...but loved it from start to finish- grab some tissues and sit down with WWMS.
Jacobs story stirred everything from anger, frustration, shock and flat out mourning. He...more
Nancy Silk
This is a very powerfully written story which captivated me through to the end. It is the story of two brothers' life experiences that differ immensely. Jacob Garrett is the oldest son who leaves his small southern town seeking a vibrant career in New York City. His younger brother, Noah, has issues with his brother, especially being left behind to care for his mother who is succumbing to lung cancer. While Jacob finds some success in modeling, Noah feels like he has his feet buried in concrete,...more
Gsand1804
I have read "Well with My Soul" by this author and I am struck by how well Allen can create characters with such depth. Noah, Jacob, Mama, Gary, etc. are so well written that they could jump off the page and be actual flesh and blood people!

I had also read "Proud Pants" (also by Allen) and although it's a biography and, therefore, the people are/were real, they are still so well written that I felt that I had actually met them.

As a writer myself, I know how difficult it is to create such divers...more
Cristina
This is not a book for everyone - it contains alcohol use, drug abuse, sexual situations including those of same sex and HIV/AIDS in the early days of the disease. But for those who choose to read it, it is a powerful book. I was captivated by this book. The story is real and unflinching. It is a book that makes you search your beliefs and one you want someone else to read just so you can discuss it with them. *Full review available on my blog*

*I received this book from the author with a request...more
Karielle Stephanie
Well with My Soul by Gregory G. Allen
Release Date: October 11th, 2011
Publisher: ASD
Page Count: 327
Source: Directly from author for review

Brothers testing the bonds of blood...
Jacob and Noah Garrett are brothers harboring a lifelong resentment towards each other while dealing with their own compulsive obsessions. One is a liberal gay man who forsakes his family and moves to New York City from Tennessee to make his mark on the world. The other is a southern conservative who is left at home holding...more
J.v. Petretta
This was the first time I read a novel written in the first person, by two lead protagonists, yet written by one author. I found the entire concept fascinating, once I figured out what Gregory G. Allen was doing.

I am most drawn to writings that are highly emotional, those that draw real pathos from the reader. This is not one of them. There are a few funny lines. There are a handful of genuine heart-felt episodes; yet the story flowed flawlessly, never for a minute leaving me behind.

You will n...more
Alina
Well With My Soul
by Gregory G. Allen
Reviewed by Alina Oswald
Review originally published in A&U Magazine--America's AIDS Magazine


“Is it all well with my soul?” is the question that comes to mind upon finishing Gregory G. Allen’s latest novel, Well With My Soul. Inspired in part by Horatio Spafford’s hymn with a similar name, Well With My Soul intrigues and surprises not only by the questions it forces us to answer, but mostly by the answers we reach and the journeys of self-discovery we have...more
Jodi
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jeffrey Ballam
Well With My Soul by Gregory G. Allen tells the story of two brothers, Jacob and Noah Garrett. One is gay, the other straight. One is liberal, the other conservative. Both are on their respective paths in life and as is often with brothers, their life paths take them in different directions. As it true with siblings, they have their own interpretations of their life growing up together and how their parents treated the other brother, which in my family has been very revealing.

The story itself is...more
Literary
Mandy's Review:

Family often sucks. Single-parent families are one of the worst. I know, I've been there. What if your sibling is God's gift to creation and can do no wrong yet you are criticized and judged on everything you do? Do you know how that feels?

Welcome to the world of Jacob and Noah in Well With My Soul. Their father died a while ago and they've been living under their mother's care ever since. One son is mommy's little angel while the other lives in resentment and defeat. Things begin...more
Pamela
I look for stories that communicate depth and compassion, and this book does exactly that. A galley copy of Well With My Soul was provided to me by the publisher with no provision of a review, but I was compelled to write my impressions nonetheless. Well With My Soul chronicles the lives of two brothers who are separated by their strikingly different choices and personalities, and yet inextricably linked by blood, by love, and by loyalty. This engaging novel reminds us that our lives can take su...more
Lori Stephens
This novel about a homosexual man in the 70s, trying to carve his path in his world, and his heterosexual brother, trying to reconcile his own identity, provides a fascinating and engaging glimpse into family relationships, sexuality, and coming out in the 1970s and 80s.

One moment, I want to slap Jacob, and the next, I'm sympathetic to his demise, rooting for him to find his own route to happiness without damaging those who love him. I think the most striking thing about this book is the way it...more
Benjamin Wretlind
There's a certain reason books rise to the top of my to-be-read pile, and it usually involves that moment I sneak a peek and become engrossed. I was caught up in Well With My Soul by the first few pages and from then on, I had to finish.

What Gregory G. Allen weaves through the twenty or so years this book covers, is a unique memoir that's moving, funny, poignant and felt true. As an Arizona native who has spent a good majority of his life reading horror and fantasy, I didn't expect to be so ent...more
Brandon Shire
The family dynamic is powerful, poignant, and compelling. Read it in one sitting. Definitely recommended.
*Ja'Mecha* ~Dhevious~
Ok I wrote this long, thoughtful, hilarious review, and my comp just deleted it... so I will say this....


Worth the read... If you want your heart ripped from your chest and your soul stomped on then this is the book for you.
Keith
Just finished this book and I have a knot in my throat and holding back a tear or two. I really enjoyed reading this book.
Aimie
May 13, 2013 Aimie marked it as to-read
Rosalinda
May 13, 2013 Rosalinda marked it as to-read
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Well with My Soul (Kindle Edition)
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Gregory G. Allen was raised in Texas, but now calls New Jersey home. His mother (an avid reader) passed on the love of written words to Gregory. He is an award-winning author & composer, a playwright, and manages an arts center on a college campus. He has had several short stories published, a musical theater writer with over ten original musicals produced, and contributes articles and blogs t...more
More about Gregory G. Allen...
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