The Bible Salesman

eh...it was just OK. I wish there was more of Henry's backstory because I didn't really enjoy any of the Henry/Clearwater story). ( )

[author: Clyde Edgerton]'s [book: Walking Across Egypt] is one of my favorites, and the first book of his that I read. Perhaps because I liked it so much, all the others of his I've read have been slightly disappointing. The Bible Salesman was also, and this may be unfair. Although I wouldn't call it laugh-out-loud funny, it did produce a chuckle or two and a lot of wry grins. Edgerton has a great ear for his native Southern dialect and I always appreciate that. It's difficult to read this book without comparing and contrasting to [author: Flannery O'Connor]'s [book: Wise Blood]; they'd make a good pair for a book discussion. I'd still recommend Walking Across Egypt first, but this book is certainly worth reading. ( )

Set in 1950 in the Southern U.S., The Bible Salesman tells the story of a few months in the life of Henry Dampier, 20-year-old door to door bible Salesman. Henry is a ‘good boy’, intelligent but oh-so-naïve. Preston Clearwater, a key figure in a large auto theft ring, hires Henry for a small job and manages to convince him that he is undercover FBI and Henry can be too.

Edgerton does a brilliant job of conveying Henry’s intelligence, even though his naïveté causes him to unquestioningly trust this stranger. Henry’s ponderings on his Bible readings are also interesting.
(T)hen it [the Bible] said that Adam would return to dust. Why wouldn’t he go to heaven or hell? That’s where everybody went, wasn’t it? Nobody just returned to dust, did they? Was there not a heaven when Adam was alive? Wait, in Genesis 1:1 God created heaven and earth; so there was a heaven when he told Adam he was going back to dust, but God didn’t create hell. Did he create hell? It didn’t say so.
Great questions, Henry.

This is a warm and amusing book with a preposterous scenario at its heart. But it works. Recommended. 4 stars

Read this if: you’re looking for a light read with a likeable every-day-type protagonist; or if you’d like to compare how modern communication (mainly the Internet) has informed and educated just about everybody. ( )

3

Henry Dampier is a young, naive - but not too naive - flawed, traveling bible salesman in the 1950s. He meets Preston Clearwater, a thief, and they travel the south stealing while Clearwater has Henry convinced they're working for the FBI. The story is enjoyable and humorous, while hinting at some deeper questions Henry has about his faith and life. ( )