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Suburban Gospel
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.
239 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2016
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382 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 6, 2016
A beautiful book; as a backsliding Southern Baptist boy could relate to many of the stories, but the are stories that all readers can relate to. The 'Benediction' was particularly moving. Thanks, Mark for sharing your stories.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 7, 2017
I feel like it says alot that I took to noticing how much the author likes to use colons.
March 25, 2016
I loved this book!
September 22, 2017
Mark, I hope you see this. Suburban Gospel was one of the most enjoyable books I've read in quite some time. I read the excerpt in the AJC and it grabbed my attention, so I decided to buy it. I'm so glad I did!
My favorite summer of youth was 1982. "Hurts So Good", "Jack and Diane", and "Abracadabra" were the hot songs. The skating rink was the place to hang out when you weren't getting muddy and feeling free in the red Georgia clay. I visited GA from my home in St. Petersburg, FL that summer of 1982, and I can still smell the fresh mountain air and the magnolia trees. I didn't want to go home. You really captured the "magic" of the adolescent life in GA. We certainly didn't think it was anything special at the time, but looking back it was a time filled with wonder, exuberance, and feeling alive.
I am facing the ill-health of my father, and your last chapter REALLY resonated with me. Thank you for your candidness, Mark. Thank you for a great read! Much love to you and your family.
My favorite summer of youth was 1982. "Hurts So Good", "Jack and Diane", and "Abracadabra" were the hot songs. The skating rink was the place to hang out when you weren't getting muddy and feeling free in the red Georgia clay. I visited GA from my home in St. Petersburg, FL that summer of 1982, and I can still smell the fresh mountain air and the magnolia trees. I didn't want to go home. You really captured the "magic" of the adolescent life in GA. We certainly didn't think it was anything special at the time, but looking back it was a time filled with wonder, exuberance, and feeling alive.
I am facing the ill-health of my father, and your last chapter REALLY resonated with me. Thank you for your candidness, Mark. Thank you for a great read! Much love to you and your family.
January 10, 2024
My husband loved this book (more than I did), because he grew up in a similar enough environment to where he could relate to Mark Beaver's tales of adolescence. He also loves southern gothic narratives, so this was right up his alley.
I enjoyed the book as well, even without being able to personally relate to it. It was a fun memoir, and a quick read. I think anyone who grew up in the south could find Mark Beaver's childhood stories worth a read.
I enjoyed the book as well, even without being able to personally relate to it. It was a fun memoir, and a quick read. I think anyone who grew up in the south could find Mark Beaver's childhood stories worth a read.
December 1, 2016
Open, honest account of a kind of Christianity many readers will understand: the full gospel, living Jesus, must-be-saved kind of faith, but the joy of the story is in seeing that kind of belief smash headlong into the everyday physiological and psychological realities of boyhood/manhood. Simultaneously profound and accessible.
September 14, 2024
Great memoir for anyone who grew up in the Bible Belt during the ’80s and ’90s.
March 12, 2023
As a southern girl, the chapter on youth retreats had me rolling. I might be a generation younger than the author, but some things never change.
June 30, 2017
A reverent gospel by an irreverent scribe:
Beaver's prose here is limpid in this engrossing, eminently accessible memoir. He captures and conveys compellingly his own autobiography, of course. But SG is also very much a creature of its time (centered on the 1980's) and place (suburban Atlanta).
Beaver's narrative touch is nuanced, delicately balanced and deft. By turns poignant, heart-wrenching, comical--even hilarious, SG provides an entertaining roller-coaster ride. Its twists and turns are often surprising. And Beaver's keen eye for observation and ear for pitch-perfect dialogue make reading his account a real pleasure.
This story is very much Beaver's own--and that of his family, neighbors and friends. But it also transcends those particulars with its archetypal resonance. Its pages turn easily. And its well-hewn chapters reward re-reading; even though the plot has grown familiar to me by now, I find revisiting these vivid characters to yield fresh delights and new insights every time.
Beaver's prose here is limpid in this engrossing, eminently accessible memoir. He captures and conveys compellingly his own autobiography, of course. But SG is also very much a creature of its time (centered on the 1980's) and place (suburban Atlanta).
Beaver's narrative touch is nuanced, delicately balanced and deft. By turns poignant, heart-wrenching, comical--even hilarious, SG provides an entertaining roller-coaster ride. Its twists and turns are often surprising. And Beaver's keen eye for observation and ear for pitch-perfect dialogue make reading his account a real pleasure.
This story is very much Beaver's own--and that of his family, neighbors and friends. But it also transcends those particulars with its archetypal resonance. Its pages turn easily. And its well-hewn chapters reward re-reading; even though the plot has grown familiar to me by now, I find revisiting these vivid characters to yield fresh delights and new insights every time.
April 18, 2016
All of us have stories from our past that make us who we are today. Beaver's work reminds us of those stories, as he shares the details of growing up in an evangelical family in the 1980s and how adolescence changes who he is. The final chapter tells a touching tale of a son who, no matter how far he may have "strayed" from the flock, is always his father's son.
The vivid details of the book make one easily see in their heads Beaver's life. Rev. Rick, Elvis' relative whose blond hair looked like wrestler Rick Flair. The tall skinny kid who was booed by his middle school during a pep rally for the boy's basketball team. And then of course there's the Soul Patrol.
This book has something for everyone. It's a fantastic read.
The vivid details of the book make one easily see in their heads Beaver's life. Rev. Rick, Elvis' relative whose blond hair looked like wrestler Rick Flair. The tall skinny kid who was booed by his middle school during a pep rally for the boy's basketball team. And then of course there's the Soul Patrol.
This book has something for everyone. It's a fantastic read.
September 15, 2016
4.5 for this excellent memoir. I'm biased for lots of reasons: Mark Beaver teaches English in a private school in Atlanta, just as I do, and I was a teenager in the '80s like him. I heard Mark read from this memoir--quite well, too--at the Decatur Book Festival. But what I loved about this memoir is how knowing it is about teenagers, about how vulnerable we are then, how afraid we are of appearing vulnerable, especially as boys. He finds irony and humor in just about everything without being cynical, and his self-deprecation is genuine rather than humble-bragging. Religion, angst, teenage lust, social awkwardness, Southern-ness, race, cars, and '80s music all come together through Mark Beaver's strong, straightforward writing. A great, compelling read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews