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Title: Flabbergasted by Ray Blackston ISBN: 0-8007-1837-2 Publisher: Fleming H Revell Co Pub. Date: May, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $22.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.24 (25 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: So True!
Comment: Jay Jarvis has just moved from Texas to South Carolina. He's twenty-seven,
single, and a successful stockbroker. When he asks his real estate agent
where to meet women in town, she points him to the local churches. On his
first Sunday, he attends the singles Sunday School class and is knocked off
his feet by beautiful Allie, a missionary, home on furlough from Ecuador. Jay
decides to join the single's group on a weekend trip to the beach, and that
turns out to be much more than he bargained for.
Jay gets acquainted with a great group of guys, from married surfer Ransom,
to laid back Steve, to straight laced Stephen. Jay and Allie hang out and
get to know each other better, and she causes him to think a great deal
about his goals in life as well as his plans for the future. She challenges
his belief in God's hand in his life and his materialistic tendencies. As
Jay learns more about himself and God, he finds himself utterly
FLABBERGASTED with everything. His life will never be the same again.
FLABBERGASTED is a light, fun read with a lot of underlying "meat." The
faith message is strong but not overbearing. Jay is a down-to-earth
realistic character who endears himself to the reader from the first page.
His honest transparency makes him a person anyone can identify with and
would really want to get to know. Allie is a wonderful solid, strong
Christian with beliefs that are completely the opposite of where Jay begins
his journey. But she doesn't force anything on him, their friendship is
quite authentic.
I laughed out loud at many scenes in FLABBERGASTED. Ray Blackston is
obviously writing from a place of familiarity, because I recognized the
single's group I used to attend in his descriptions. I have nothing but good
things to say about this book, and highly recommend it. I certainly hope to
hear more from Mr. Blackston in the future.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Quirky Male's-Eye-View of the Christian Singles Scene
Comment: How do you get from a sun-soaked South Carolina beach weekend to a missionary outpost in the wilds of Ecuador? The answer surprises Jay Jarvis again and again in this quirky male's-eye-view of the Christian singles scene.
Once a male friend said to me "I didn't know what I was here for until I had a child." One might debate his statement, but it does illuminate part of the challenge of being a modern man. In an era and society in which the role of men has changed drastically, young men like my friend are searching for meaning. Ray Blackston's protagonist, Jay Jarvis, is also searching for meaning in his life --- or, at least, a girlfriend. But when a move from Dallas to Greenville, South Carolina finds him trolling the local churches for female companionship, Jay gets much, much more than he bargained for.
Jay, like his creator is a stockbroker, who has just been unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend, and on the advice of his realtor decides to try a church service instead of a dating service. Before he know what's hit him, Jay is meeting with the young men's group at the church and taking a Memorial Day beach trip with them (19 men, 34 women, a gross or two of Oreos). He's also met a churchmember named Ally who spends most of her time in the mission fields of Ecuador --- but enough time at home so that her verbal sparring and fast-food-throwing skills haven't been dulled. Before you can jump a pew, Jay is smitten. He and Ally become so engrossed in getting to know each other that they float off course in inner tubes and are forced to spend a night alone on a beach.
However, this is a Christian novel, and while that night on the beach causes some sheepish consternation for the pair, it doesn't involve anything else. What makes Flabbergasted so fresh and refreshing is Jay's unchurched perspective. When he arrives in Greenville, he has very little knowledge of what is means to be an adult Christian, and this causes him (and others) no end of confusion.
Blackston has not chosen to have his main character poke fun at others at their expense; it's all really at Jay's expense, since he's entered a world where church rules. That doesn't mean, as he soon discovers, that there isn't any fun to be had. Even when Ally returns to South America, Jay has dates to go on, meetings to attend, and all manner of funny, lively characters to meet. His new church-centered life is far from boring.
Yet his yearning for Ally remains strong despite the lure of other charming young woman at home, and soon Jay finds himself visiting Ecuador --- and discovering that Ally has reserves and qualities he never imagined. This is no boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-girl story --- but it has all of the spark of one. Blackston has a sequel in the works that will appear in May 2004 and will include many of the same characters (although in what proportions and contortions remains to be seen).
--- Reviewed by Bethanne Kelly Patrick
Rating: 4
Summary: cute
Comment: I liked the fresh angle of this book. Imagine this... a book from a man's perspective with almost no reference to sex or violence. (Unless you consider discussing impure thoughts or bloody head injuries, I suppose...)
I've never read a book like this. I really liked it and I walked away wanting to smack Allie upside the head for her self-righteousness disguised as good-doing. I just wanted Jay to get somewhere besides holding hands with Allie. And I can't even believe I'm saying that about a Christian-themed story, but there you go.
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Title: Sisterchicks on the Loose by Robin Jones Gunn ISBN: 1590521986 Publisher: Multnomah Publishers Inc. Pub. Date: 01 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: Mercy Me: A Novel by Margaret A. Graham ISBN: 0800758730 Publisher: Fleming H Revell Co Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: Welcome to Fred: A Novel by Brad Whittington ISBN: 0805425551 Publisher: Broadman & Holman Publishers Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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Title: Corina's Way: A Novel by Rod Davis ISBN: 1588381293 Publisher: NewSouth, Inc. Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: A Case of Bad Taste (Morning Shade Mystery) by Lori Copeland ISBN: 084237115X Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $12.99 |
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