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: This was funny Before_ it went Hollywood
Summary: 5 Stars
Jean Shepherd recorded the full text of this book in 1966, for the Library of Congress' Talking Book program for the Blind. That recording was a must-have after I heard a few of his radio shows in the mid-'70s. Even before the movie "A Christmas Story," came out, every story in this book was a classic to me, and to the "Night people," which Shepherd called his fanatics. The short film "Great American Fourth of July," dramatizes some of the stories in this book that weren't in "Christmas Story." With Shepherd 10 years dead, Dave Barry has replaced him as the funniest writer alive, but the intellectual gap between the two is wider than the Grand Canyon. These stories are full of unforgettable scenes, full of lines Shepherd fans repeat to one another with or without provocation. To name just one, when my wife won a shirt in a contest, from the day it arrived I said "It's a major award," as The Old Man said of his lady's leg lamp. Some won't see the humor there, but they are the unfortunate.Book Review: ..and well-worth the price
Summary: 5 Stars
One dreary winter day while holiday shopping, I casually picked up this book and began reading while munching a bagel. Hours later, I hadn't stirred other than to wipe the tears from my eyes. My sides ached from laughing, and I'm sure the people around me thought I was strange. Nonetheless, Jean Shepherd is halarious, especially if you've seen Christmas Story, and in your mind's eye, hear him relating the tales within. This book led me to purchasing his others and they simply lift my spirits whenever I open them. If you can relate in any way to Ralphie, his dad, the Bumpuses, classrooms with ink wells, playgrounds with metal fixtures, penny candy or hot summer days where you hunt for empty pop bottles that earn you a penny... then you can chuckle knowingly to the stories he spins. If you like Garrison Keillor, Jean Shepherd has to have been his mentor. I do so envy those who were able to hear him on radio during his heyday.Book Review: Another Shep fan from the early 60's
Summary: 5 Stars
I, too, was among the vast aray of folks listenting to their radios late into the evening while "Shep" spun his tales on WOR from 11:15 to Midnight. I actually own (and will not sell) an autographed first edition of this book. As another reviewer noted, a lot of this is about being male and growning up in America. "Shep" managed to distill the essence of what it was to be a "kid" in an American town. He set his tales in the mid-west but it could have been anywhere USA.
This man also got me to read. It started with the poetry of Robert Service (I can still remember the look on my English teachers face when I recited "The Cremation of Sam McGee" during a poetry class -- all the male kids woke up.) Thanks Shep!
Book Review: This book is a hug for the heart
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" when it was published in 1966 and I still have it today, 32 years later. Although Ralphie and his friends are beloved creations from the mind of Jean Shepherd, one of this Centuries funniest and most beloved Authors, their misadventures in mythical Homan Indiana have the bittersweet ring of truth for all of us who remember through laughter (and tears) what it meant to grow up back in an "age of innocence" which, sadly, today's children have been denied. Jean Shepherd knows the human heart intimately and his masterful writing makes us really care about these kids, who are to me as real as any I grew up with in the 1950's and who will always have a place in my heart, if I live to be 100!Book Review: I think this was a good book
Summary: 5 Stars
In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash
By Jean Shepherd
I think this was a very good book. There were lots of stories in it. They were all very funny. There were stories in it about Christmas time, Tasmanian Devils, jaw breakers, fairs, scratching cars, bad words, leg lamps, and Little Orphan Annie. I think it is very important to drink your Ovaltine. There's one story about Ralphie writing book reports and it was funny because they all kind of read like this review. He didn't like writing book reports much but it was a funny story. Jean Shepherd wrote really funny stuff. I think anyone who reads this book would like it. I think it deserves a Major Award.