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2nd out of 77 books
—
172 voters
A Very Minor Prophet: A Novel
by
James Bernard Frost (Goodreads Author)
A Very Minor Prophet is the story of how Barth Flynn, a barista swimming upstream against purposelessness in Portland, Oregon, becomes the faithful scribe of Joseph Patrick Booker. Booker is a dwarf preacher who serves Voodoo donuts, Stumptown coffee, and, while his congregation throws PBR cans at him, rants about George W. Bush during the height of the 2004 presidential e...more
Paperback, 200 pages
Published
April 3rd 2012
by Hawthorne Books
(first published April 1st 2012)
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This book started out slow for me. Initially, I felt like it relied too much on the concept of "Yeah, we are going to make certain pages look like a zine. It will be really cool." Except it really wasn't. No more than most zines or hipsters are cool for trying so hard to be different than everyone else.
Ultimately, all books fall back on characters, setting, and plot. When the book got back to those basics, it got a lot better and the book was a lot easier to read. The zine idea works best withi...more
Ultimately, all books fall back on characters, setting, and plot. When the book got back to those basics, it got a lot better and the book was a lot easier to read. The zine idea works best withi...more
Man I wanted to like this book more than I did. I really enjoyed the essays about history and the evolution of the Bible and Christianity. I also got 'into' the message that cynicism and irony are easy rather than the natural disposition of the intelligent. Instead, the book challenges the reader (presumably a jaded Portlander) to consider that sincerity and optimism are states to aspire to rather than snicker at.
Also interesting was midget preacher Booker's _xplanation that early Christianity w...more
Also interesting was midget preacher Booker's _xplanation that early Christianity w...more
Ah heck, I'm just going to say it: is it possible for a half novel, half zine about the vagrants and vagiaries of Portland, OR to take a shot at literature? This is the first, and only, book of this nature (wild, zaney, hopped up on caffiene), I have ever read and liked.
I would place it with "A Confederacy of Dunces" and "Fierce Invalids from Hot Climates" neither of which I could finish. This book is worth the read.
Just a side note, it helps to be able to take every single character in "A Very...more
I would place it with "A Confederacy of Dunces" and "Fierce Invalids from Hot Climates" neither of which I could finish. This book is worth the read.
Just a side note, it helps to be able to take every single character in "A Very...more
Although I enjoyed AVMP immensely I couldn't bring myself to give it 4 stars... although it is closer to a 4 than it is to a 3.
The details of Portland life were wonderful and reminded me of A Confederacy of Dunces by Toole.
The angst of the twenty-somethings was believable and reminded me of Generation X by Coupland.
The idea of a prophet among us was well done and reminded me of Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meaney.
The comedic details, characters and plot twists were well handled and reminded me of...more
The details of Portland life were wonderful and reminded me of A Confederacy of Dunces by Toole.
The angst of the twenty-somethings was believable and reminded me of Generation X by Coupland.
The idea of a prophet among us was well done and reminded me of Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meaney.
The comedic details, characters and plot twists were well handled and reminded me of...more
I don't like that cover at all, and I don't think I know anything about Hawthorne books, and this sounds a bit like a hacky slacker melodrama (and not very dissimilar from The Gospel of Anarchy, with the minor swap of Portland for Florida)... but then there's this, from the "Hey Small Press" book list, which makes me sort of maybe reconsider all those other things: "James Bernard Frost’s marvelous book is somewhere between a zine, a novel, and a religious gospel. Set in Portland, Oregon in the m...more
I'm still wrestling with what to think of this book. I wouldn't call it a graphic novel, or an illustrated novel, or a novel with pictures...it's just something else entirely. In any event, it's good. Parts are presented as a traditional novel, part are illustrated sermons using cut-ups of Tattoo from "Fantasy Island," it presents a narrative in a unique way but still brings solid writing to the table. It hits hard emotionally at the same time that it dazzles. It deals with a message but doesn't...more
A dwarf preacher and 22-year-old barista hang out in Portland, drink coffee, try to get back to the roots of Christianity, eat voodoo doughnuts, go on bike rides, make zines, fail in love, succeed in love, and other stuff. I thought it was interesting in parts- the day to day life of someone with an art degree that doesn't get them far and the frustration that brings is familiar to me... but I wanted more from this book that it couldn't deliver. The criticisms of Christianity were nothing new an...more
This was an interesting book in content and format. It's worth checking out.
#gaveup
More, please, James Bernard Frost.
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| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irony | 1 | 9 | Mar 13, 2012 02:09pm |
James Bernard Frost is the author of the novels A Very Minor Prophet and World Leader Pretend, as well as the vegetarian guidebook, The Artichoke Trail, which won a Lowell Thomas Award for travel journalism. His articles, essays, and fiction have appeared in periodicals and journals as varied as Wired, the San Francisco Examiner, SF Weekly, the Official Magazine of World of Warcraft, The Nervous B...more
More about James Bernard Frost...
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“If ever you should have an epiphany – and I think you know what I’m talking about – latch onto it, no matter how small or large the epiphany, and try your best to make it happen. You might make a fool of yourself, but better to make a fool of yourself than to spend your life jealous of the fools.”
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Apr 25, 2012 08:09pm