In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd
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Book Reviews of In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash
Book Review: An early Keillor influence?
Summary: 5 Stars
After watching THE CHRISTMAS STORY for the umpteenth time, I searched my bookshelves for my copy of Jean Shepherd's IN GOD WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH. I had purchased it as a resource book for declamation, and I knew I'd never read all of it.
THE CHRISTMAS STORY itself is based on several humorous narratives in the book, namely "Duel in the Snow or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid," "My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award That Heralded the Birth of Pop Art," and "Flick Dredges Up a Notorious [...]," but for me the most interesting of the thirty-one essays were those that dealt satirically with Depression-era Hohman, Indiana. For instance, "Hairy Gertz and the Forty-seven Crappies" deals with a fishing trip Ralphie went on with the Old Man and his buddies from the office. The men are more interested in drinking than fishing, and the lake is a veritable cesspool that was later condemned.
A lot of the stories deal in Shepherd's own particular kind of pathos. "I Poke at an Old Wound" is about a blind date that Ralphie went on with his pal Schwartz. Ralphie can't believe how lucky he is when his "blind date" turns out to be a knockout. But he can't understand why she's so standoffish and quiet. In the end, he realizes that HE'S the blind date.
We also get to see the Depression come to life in "`Nevermore,' Quoth the Assessor, `Nevermore'." Ralphie and his friends Schwartz, Fleck and Kissel are coming home from school throwing rocks at everything that moves until they see a poster on a telephone poll announcing a tax auction. His friend Kissel's house is being sold at a sheriff's auction to pay for back taxes. He never sees Kissel again.
Of course, not all of the stories are downers. Others are more like the Christmas Story. In "Wilbur Duckworth and His Magic Baton" we meet a drum major genious. Ralphie played the sousaphone in a marching band and Duckworth was the show-off drum major. Like Garrison Keillor, part of Shepherd's appeal is the particular cadences he employs. I have an idea many of these essays were written to be read aloud, and Shepherd was in high form with the Duckworth essay.
Although I was familiar with a lot of the stories, this was a lot of fun to read. There are some changes, for instance. The nefarious Farcus was originally Grover Dill, although the bully always had yellow eyes.
Book Review: Jean Shephard - A true American satirist
Summary: 5 Stars
This copy of "In God we Trust, All Others Pay Cash" In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, is about the fouth or fifth copy of this book that I have purchased. I keep giving them as gifts. You may recall the movie, popular at Christmas time, entitled "A Christmas Story". The plot of this movie was essentially taken from this book. Shepherd writes about growing up as a child on Cleveland Street in Hammond Indianna during the depression, and the book, a compilation of some of his stories, include the famous one about the Red Rider BB gun, as well stories about his family and his buddies Flick, Schwartz and Brunner and all the trouble they got into. This books is a gem of priceless Americana. Shepherd has written other books focused on other parts of his life, including one baout living in New York city, reflecting back to his roots of course and "Wanda Hickey Night of Golden Memories" which focues on his teranage years. Shepherd, dead now, was a TV story teller on WOR in New York and a short story writer for Playboy Magazine for many years. He was a crazy radio guy that would start to spin a tale drift of into kazoo playing and other diversions, but by the end of the show he had every listener glued to the radio waiting for the story to resolve. If you were driving your car, you would just park in the driveway until the show eded. They always contained some truism about life. Some were like the BB gun story, about his youth and others were tales of life in Fort Dix in the Army. Some of these stories are available in recorded form now. Shepherd also was the first person to publish a book which compuled the short stories of Gerorge Ade. George Ade was an American story teller that was widely syndicated at the turn of the 20th century. When you read the book, "The America of George Ade", you can see where Shepherd gets a lot of his style. This book is out of print and difficult to find. I highly recomend all the Shepherd books. He was a unique individual and shared a lot of truth witn us and presented that in an enjoyable format.Book Review: Delicious satire covered in rich nostalgia.
Summary: 5 Stars
As I suspect has been the case with other younger adults of my generation, I first became familiar with the works of humorist Jean Shepherd after watching the delightful 1983 motion picture "A Christmas Story" (reviewed elsewhere in this catalog). It would take some time before I finally decided to read "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash", which the movie was partly based on. Those of us who enjoyed Shepherd's side-splitting narration in "A Christmas Story" will not be disappointed by the book, although the movie is more upbeat and lacking the book's satire. The premise of "In God We Trust" is simple: New York-based writer Ralph Parker is back in his mythical hometown of Hohman, Indiana to write an article on this blue-collar Midwestern town for a magazine. Between drinks at his old friend Flick's tavern, Ralph reminisces on his childhood experiences in Hohman during the Depression and the colorful characters who were so much a part of the town. Throughout the book, Shepherd uses masterful similes and metaphors in describing the most basic aspects of life during Ralph's younger years. The book is funny indeed, and there is enough satire in the nostalgic references to disqualify Hohman from becoming a Norman Rockwell painting. There is also a feeling of pathos in Shepherd's brand of satire, as Ralph describes the drab experience of living in a town surrounded by pollution-spewing steel mills and oil refineries, a town where there is not much of a future unless you own a bar or used-car lot or work in one of the nearby industries. The denizens of Hohman do find moments of respite from the drabness during Christmas, the Fourth of July, the Thanksgiving Day parade, or a trip to the movies, often with hilarious consequences. After reading the highly enjoyable "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash", I can understand how Jean Shepherd earned his reputation as a master satirist and raconteur.Book Review: A wonderful journey for the entire family.
Summary: 5 Stars
Brenda/Jasmine/Jarenda Foster September 27,1998 During the holiday season Turner Network did movie marathon on the movie A christmas Story,it was the first time we were introduced to the wonderful works of Jean Shepherd, watching the movie reminded me of my life as a child in a small town in Eckman West Vurginia, population less tha 300. What a treat for the spirit, Christmas glorious christmas, ahh what a wonderful time of the year. The anual trip to the company store to see the new display, to the conversations about what we were going to receive as well give for presents. Chirstmas time like in the movie was a delight for all, to enjoy. Having the opportunity to read the book and see the movies,it just a pleasure and a delight for my entire family. We have also read Wanda Hickeys Night Of Golden Dreams And other Disasters, and are in the process of buying A Ferrari In The Bedroom, with much delght we hope have the complete writings of Jean Shepherd, this man is a wonderful treasuse indeed. The most wonderful actor Darren McGavin who plays the father in the movie is truely a delight as well as Melinda Dillion and Peter Bellingsley all were just the best. My favorite actor is of course Darren McGavin and would love to know just where are both Mr.Shepherd and Mr.McGavin are and are there any new projects for the two of them together or seperately.Thank you from our family to both the writer and to my favorite actor.Book Review: A deserved classic
Summary: 5 Stars
New York-based writer Ralph Parker is sent back to his hometown of Hohman, Indiana, to write an article about small-town life. Instead, he winds up in a bar run by a childhood friend, trading stories and reminiscing about what it was like to grow up in Hohman during the Great Depression, warts and all. Most of you are probably already familiar with at least parts of this book, even if you don't realize it. Several of the stories in this book were pieced together to make the script for the classic movie A Christmas Story. Those stories are just as entertaining here in their original form.
But in addition to the stories of the Red Ryder BB Gun, Ralphie's battle with the school bully, and the tale of the Old Man's still legendary Major Award, Jean Shepherd provides us with over a dozen other stories of life in Hohman -- the trip to the top of Magic Mountain, Ralph's attempt to impress his teacher by writing a book report on the biggest book he can find and the climactic tale of a movie theater promotion gone wrong all come together to make this a truly wonderful book. It isn't quite a novel, but more a collection of short stories with a framing sequence. It's clearly autobiographical, wonderfully satirical and at turns even a little heartwarming. This is the sort of book that really makes a writer's reputation, and it certainly elevated Shepherd to the status of one of the greatest satirists in American literature.