God Clobbers Us All
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO BE CHARMED by the narrator of Poe Ballantine's comic and sparklingly intelligent God Clobbers Us All. — PUBLISHER'S WEEKLYBALLANTINE’S NOVEL IS an entertaining coming-of-age story.” — THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLEA SURFER DUDE TRANSFORMS into someone captivatingly fragile, and Ballantine's novel becomes something tender, vulnerable, even sweet without that ickly, cloying literary aftertaste. This vulnerability separates Ballantine's work from his chosen peers. Calmer than Bukowski, less portentous than Kerouac, more hopeful than West, Poe Ballantine may not be sitting at the table of his mentors, but perhaps he deserves his own after all. — THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNEIT'S A COMPELLING, quirky read. — THE OREGONIANPOE BALLANTINE HAS CREATED an extremely fast page-turner. Edgar, in first-person narrative, is instantly likeable, and his constant misadventures flow seamlessly. Partially analyzed daydreams hint at an intriguing adolescent intellect without rambling on into psychological overkill. Ballantine paints southern California with voluptuous detail. Green suns, kaleidoscopic blue eyes, yellow moons and other Lucky Charms marshmallows decorate Edgar's acid-tinged world with an effect more tangible than psychedelic. The blank gloom of the hospital and the florid '70s California coast serve as the arena for this initiation into adulthood. — WILLAMETTE WEEKGOD CLOBBERS US ALL SUCCEED[S] on the strength of its characterization and Ballantine's appreciation for the true-life denizens of the Lemon Acres rest home. The gritty daily details of occupants of a home for the dying have a stark vibrancy that cannot help but grab one's attention, and the off-hours drug, surf, and screw obsessions of its young narrator, Edgar Donahoe, and his coworkers have a genuine sheen that captivates almost as effectively. — THE ABSINTHE LITERARY REVIEWA WRY and ergoty experience. — GOBSHITE QUARTERLYTHAT THE RESULTING MELANGE of a plot draws the reader's attention from the first page and leaves one wanting more is a tribute to a storyteller with a keen sense of irony, a precise power of observation, a deep understanding of psychology, and a lyrical command of language... It's not just an eccentric plot that keeps God Clobbers Us All afloat though, Ballantine's prose carries metaphorical powers that make a day of mediocre surfing into a symphony, soften even the harsh indignity of an unintended nursing home death, and illuminate the distorted reality of psychedelic hallucination. — THE CHADRON RECORDBALLANTINE PULLS NO PUNCHES as he writes about Edgar's life in the 1970's. But even though his sexual and drug-related stories are graphic, they are not disturbing. He has a way with words, and this story takes on a life of its own. It's easy to get involved in the story after page three. After page three, you're hooked; it's that simple. — BOOK REVIEW CAFEacclaim from the beyond for poe ballantine’s GOD CLOBBE?S US ALLI despise Poe Ballantine. He’s obviously stolen his style from Carson McCullers.You know, I never forgave her for that nonsense at Yaddo. The “I HateTruman Club,” indeed. This boy who names himself after a cheap Scotchreminds me of her. And he thinks because he gives me short mentiontraipsing onto the set of the Tonight Show that I’m going to be easy on him?Squirmingly affected? I never squirmed a day in my life. God, he and Carson,two peas in a pod. — truman capoteI doubt if Truman ever read God Clobbers Us All. He was the same at Yaddo.A whirlwind of egoism and self-promotion. I loved this book. I’ve handedit down to Eudora, who will probably rate it a scandal. Truman was theone who stole from me, by the way. —carson mccullersNow if I could’ve written a book like this I might still be a famous Cubanmarlin fi sherman. For the record, it was boredom and the fi ction of successthat ended my days. The Life photo and the Nobel Prize were merelylaurels on a dead man’s chest. The writing lost its life before the writer everdid. Don’t ever let them buy your soul. — ernest hemingwaySurfi ng? lsd? From which European suburb does this man hail?— william shakespeareWallace Stegner handed me a copy of God Clobbers Us All the other day, andfor the fi rst time since 1963 I was glad that I was dead. I read this book inone sitting over at Jeffers’s place under a Monterrey pine. I don’t feel soalone anymore. I’m happy to see the tradition of great Western writerscontinue. — john steinbeck[sentence unintelligible] — william faulknerThe thing this novel is about is always there. It is like a church lit but withouta congregation to distract you, with every light and line focused on the highaltar. And on the altar, very reverently placed, intensely there, is a deaf cat,a powdered lemon cake, a letter to Deborah Kerr… — h. g. wellsI must agree with Eudora on this one, though it surpasses most of the“literary” novels I’ve suffered through during the last thirty years. Theatmosphere, however – I must give him credit – put me back in the sultry,summery mind of Andalusia, with the sun setting, the scent of mimosa,and the peahens dozing in the trees. — flannery o’connorPoe Ballantine, unlike the majority of his contemporaries, can write asentence. I’m a little lost on the radio reference, but fl attered nevertheless.“Write from mood,” I always said, and Mr. B. apparently agrees. Tell himto lay off the booze and stay away from that shitpot Hollywood if we areever to see him in such fi ne form again. — f. scott fitzgeraldThe only obligation to which in advance we may hold a novel, withoutincurring the accusation of being arbitrary, is that it be interesting. Mr.Ballantine’s Divine Punishment breaches no appointment in this regard.Print it as it stands—beautifully. — henry jamesFirst-rate instincts. Compelling voice. The door-slamming Pat Fillmorewill go down as one of the great characters of the twenty-fi rst century.— aldous huxleyI’d like to give Poe Ballantine some advice. The public is a dumb beast.Give it a pretty face or a literary movement and it will follow. I don’t seethe necessity of any more than one draft. — jack kerouacWe’d just love to have Mr. Poe at our table. I promise to keep Bob at bay.Oh, and tell him to bring some of those round pecan cookies dusted withconfectioner’s sugar, do you know the ones I’m talking about?— dorothy parker