God Says No by James Hannaham.

God Says No by James Hannaham.
McSweeeney’s Publishing, 2009.

Review by Laura Parish.

Gary Grey and his girlfriend love Disney. They are fellow students at Central Florida Christian College. They are young, god fearing and are eager to start a family but a week before their wedding; Gary goes into a rest stop bathroom and lets something happen. God Says No is Gary’s testimony. It’s the story of a young, black Christian man struggling with desire and belief. It gives a picture of how a life like his can be lived and how it can’t.

I would never have independently picked up this book but this proves the cliché ‘never judge a book by its cover.’ Some of its themes would have been something that may have put me off if I had spotted it in a bookshop. I am glad that I gave this book a chance. Yes, this book has serious themes but it was still an enjoyable read.

I love it when you have a low expectation for a book when you begin and it then turns out to surprise you. Gary is a fascinating character who is trying to deal with being who the world expects him to be and who he wants to be (the struggle between responsibility and freedom to do what you want – who can’t relate to that in one way or another?) On the surface, his decisions may seem selfish and shallow but as I moved through the book and got to know Gary, his actions and motivations softened my judgement of him. The book is separated into three parts. Part one is where Gary is concealing who he is, part two is him discovering who he is with part three being the conclusion. I don’t want to say anymore about part three as I don’t want to give away the ending.

There were some sections that were a little slow but for the most part, the plot moved along nicely and once I got through the first couple of chapters, I read it in a couple of sessions.
The debates and themes raised in the book were ones I found interesting once I’d settled into the book and by the end, I cared for Gary and the other characters that surrounded him. I read this a while ago and I’m still thinking about it. That’s got to be a good sign.

Overall, I would recommend this book. I enjoyed it.

4/5 rating.

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.