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| Holy Roller: Growing Up in the Church of Knock Down, Drag Out; Or, How I Quit Loving a Blue-Eyed Jesus | 
 enlarge | Author: Diane Wilson
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.47
You Save: $12.48 (50%)
New (33) Used (12) Collectible (1) from $12.35
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 370783
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 210
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 1933392827
Dewey Decimal Number: 976.4121063092
EAN: 9781933392820
ASIN: 1933392827
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.
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Product Description
In this rollicking memoir, Diane Wilsona Texas Gulf Coast shrimper and the author of the highly acclaimed An Unreasonable Womantakes readers back to her childhood in rural Texas and into her family of Holy Rollers. By night at tent revivals, Wilson gets religion from Brother Dynamite, an ex-con who finds Jesus in a baloney sandwich and handles masses of squirming poisonous snakes under the protection of the Holy Ghost. By day, Wilson scratches secret messages to Jesus into the paint on her windowsill and lies down in the middle of the road to see how long she can sleep in between passing trucks.
Holy Roller is a fast-paced, hilarious, sometimes shocking experience readers wont soon forget. It is the prequel to Wilsons first book, telling the story of the Texas childhood of a fierce little girl who will grow up to become An Unreasonable Woman, take on Big Industry, and win. One of the best Southern writers of her generation, Wilsons voice twangs with a style and accent all its own, as true and individual as her boundless originality and wild youth.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Texas Trash, Snake Handling, and Murder November 30, 2008
There is a certain amount of pleasure to had in reading stories of people your mother told you not to associate with--and writer Diane Wilson serves it up in a heaping helping with her portrait of her hard-scrabble childhood, complete with itenerant preachers, junked cars, and irate grandmothers. But in truth the stories aren't the main attraction here: its the tone of voice, which is witty, idiomatic, and distinctly wry, tossing off memorable turns of phrase with tremendous authority and aplomb.
Drawn from memories of her childhood, the central stories concern revolve around a struggle in the family's church--a struggle that leaves an opening for the so-called Rev. Dynamite, who steps in with a call to repentence. Unfortunately, the Reverend's church is of the "Written In Heaven" variety, a phrase that usually denotes snake handling; when he is bounced out of one church, he sets up his own on the edge of a misquito-ridden swamp. At the same time, one shrimper has been killed and another has gone missing; not only does Diane become involved in the search for the killer, she also gets involved with the snake handlers too.
It may be difficult for mainstream Christians and Americans to believe that such sects exist, but they do indeed--and while Wilson doesn't attack them per se, neither does she make them seem less unsavory than they actually are, laying it on the line in no uncertain terms. As for the murder, it proves a largely unresolveable affair, but the pleasure is in the journey and the way Wilson writes it. Recommended.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
 Sweet charm November 19, 2008
Shake my family tree and numerous holy rollin' preachers, - and preachers' wives, missionaries, and plenty of acting out preachers' kids -a few snake handlers, and plenty of back sliders will fall out. That's one of the reasons why I recognized so much in Wilson's wacky, seemingly implausible (but, trust me, it isn't) memoir.
This is a book that requires you to sit back with a glass of tea, turn off your brain, and just enjoy. There aren't deep revelations here. Wilson's childhood can be described as chaotic, but filled with love. Her relationship with Chief, her paternal grandfather, is touching, and the family members, neighbors, visiting missionaries, and shrimpers that populate her memories are interesting and somewhat crazy and somehow believable.
Wilson introduces readers unfamiliar with the holy rollin' life to the wonders of speaking in tongues, rogue snake handlers, and people whose faith is unshakable even in the face of contrary "evidence." The sinners sin big and the believers look for miracles. This is a fun, touching little book, and although there are no deep secrets revealed, I enjoyed reading about Wilson's experiences in her church and community and especially within her unique family. I do have to say that I wish Anthony Perkins would pop up and let us know what he thinks of his place in this story. I think he'd be pleased.
The question of voice November 18, 2008
Diane Wilson's irreverent memoir takes off at breakneck pace from chapter one. The pace is, in fact, always breakneck and this works very well -- sometimes. When we are in the child Diane's head -- when it's her voice narrating -- the child is very vivid indeed. The problem for me was that Wilson dips into other character's heads -- including her own as an adult looking back ruefully, and the voice stays the same. This leads to a certain flatness: the lack of connection to the characters that other reviewers have noted.
There are plenty of people whose reading preferences do not include character-driven work and Wilson's humor, keenly critical eye, and voice will allow them to greatly enjoy this interesting book. For me, however, it's about characters and I had a very hard time finishing.
In the end, I was glad I took the time to read this -- there are some good insights to a life that is certainly unfamiliar to me. But I don't think I would recommend this one to readers like me -- who prefer varied pacing and richer characterizations.
 Roll On By This One November 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This memoir by Diane Wilson isn't exactly an experience I would choose to pass on to many people that I know. It isn't so much the writing or the subject matter, but rather the lack of relationship that a reader establishes with the memoirist.
Diane Wilson attempts to make her childhood in rural Texas, among true Holy Rollers, a relatable experience but it just isn't somehow. Told through the voice of a child it starts out well but I soon found myself lost out on a shrimp boat wondering what character I could ground myself with. I couldn't find one. In the myriad of unusual people Diane encounters I never felt intrigued enough to follow any of them past a superficial relationship. Yes, I laughed, at the sermons and the strange religious practices, the snakes, the shouting, and the corrupt context it all revolves in but I didn't care how it ended. Wilson tries to wrap her readers up in a town murder mystery involving shrimpers, preachers, Indians and a cowboy game warden but unless you can in any way relate to any of the above it simply isn't interesting enough to believe in. The only thing that drew me into this book was the fact that I grew up with Bible thumping' Grandparents and I found the Sunday sermons quite amusing as voiced by Wilson.
Like I said I wanted to believe but I just didn't. Had Wilson chosen to immerse her readers into the feelings of the characters rather than a net of events I might not have felt so trapped by the experience and would have been willing to dive into the muddy waters with her. Sadly it took a miracle for me to finish this book and/or to find any redeeming qualities.
My husband says it's for real. November 13, 2008
Coming from a suburban Southern upbringing, attending a straightlaced and stiff Church of Christ on Sundays, these tales seemed a bit outlandish to me. So I read a few to my husband, who was raised in little backwoods Pentecostal churches in Missouri and Arkansas.
Nope, he said. That's about right. (Wow.)
If you are from this background, as one reviewer was, this will be familiar, nostalgic territory for you. If not, your eyebrows will raise and you'll laugh out loud and marvel at the diversity of our nation.
Her style's not that easy to read, as others have noted; but the stories are worth the effort. Fun read.
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