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Big, Gay and Christian
Courtesy McSweeney’s
by Walter Biggins
July 15, 2009
James Hannaham's novel "God Says No" (McSweeney's, 2009, $22) chronicles the coming-of-age of Gary Gray, a man who loves Jesus and Disney World in almost equal measures. But he loves his college roommate, Russ, almost as much as he loves Christ, and not at all in the same way. For an overweight black man dreaming of the Christian life in Orlando, that dormant homosexuality is a lit firecracker ready to go off in his hands.
As he moves from college to marriage to fatherhood, Gray seesaws between his Christianity and his homosexuality. He loves his wife but isn't attracted to her. He loves his daughter but spends more and more non-working hours away from her, getting laid by men in public restrooms and pit stops. He loves Christ but can't walk away from what he thinks Christ condemns.
Gray thinks, wrongly, of his sexual orientation as a costume that he can learn to take off at will. So, when he survives a train wreck in rural Georgia, he sees it as divine intervention. Gray convinces himself that God's given him a chance to go to Atlanta and "grow" out of his homosexuality without his family watching over him. At the end of a year's time, he'll come back home ready for "normal" life.
Hannaham tells the story through Gray's voice, showing how a man can get to the point where he wants to flee his own life. This troubled but tenderhearted protagonist speaks in a plainspoken, gentle way. Hannaham describes Gray's inner turmoil in frank and direct detail, but lets us know how good Gary is as well.
That goodness—or, at least, complexity—comes through in Hannaham's other characters, too. Although Gray spends the novel's last third in a gay reform camp outside Memphis, and even though it's clear that Hannaham views such efforts as fruitless and damaging, he doesn't take cheap shots. Instead of mocking southerners, Bible-thumpers and gay reformers, Hannaham humanizes them. We see their flaws writ large, sure, but "God Says No" loves all of its characters, not just Gary Gray.
The novel works both as a wicked satire of conservative Christianity and as a sensitive portrait of a struggling Christian. Hannaham's contemporary South is a complicated place, where lust makes people strange, and love comes in more varieties than man-woman couplings. Through Gray's example, Hannaham shows how God might say "no" to Christians' rejection of homosexuality. The novel's so good, though, that God might just say "yes" to it.
posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 07/15/09 at 01:28 PM. [printer version] Share |
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Feb 08, 2012 | 01:26 PMWant Medicaid? Ditch the Vanity Plate
Brian C Johnson: The courts will not allow the state to drug test Medicaid recipients, so why waste money and effort on it? How exactly are single mothers--who make up the majority ...
Feb 08, 2012 | 01:19 PM
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Duan C.: Since you guys have turned the thread into a discussion of politics. A while back during one of our meetings we discussed a coming up with a grading system for our elected officials ...
Feb 08, 2012 | 01:06 PM
Want Medicaid? Ditch the Vanity Plate
Ronni_Mott: Republican conservatives are truly confusing. Aren't they the ones who want less government regulation? I suppose that only counts if its regulating things on their ...
Feb 08, 2012 | 12:35 PM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
Walt: Renaldo/Blackwatch you have been simply marvelous in your insight and truth telling on this piece. So glad you're back. I thought we had lost you since I didn't see your posts for so ...
Feb 08, 2012 | 12:22 PM
[Editor's Note] Aloha, Jackson
DonnaLadd: Whoops. On second reference in the above column, I said "Air Force caption" instead of Army captain. I've corrected it above.
Feb 08, 2012 | 12:12 PM
Want Medicaid? Ditch the Vanity Plate
Laurie Bertram Roberts: I will say what I said before how does he even know how someone paid for that $30 tag. It could've been a gift they may have used their tax check because ...
Feb 08, 2012 | 11:43 AM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
DonnaLadd: Of course, people learn at different speeds; I certainly didn't learn what I know now about writing and journalism craft until I was nearly 40 (of course, that had to do as much as ...
Feb 08, 2012 | 09:56 AM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
Kamikaze: Kudos to you and to your Prof. Cant take anything from ya. But the "problem" with the craft around here (and a LOT of things) is that eveyone considers themselves an authority. I ...
Feb 08, 2012 | 09:19 AM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
DonnaLadd: I don't want to derail this great thread with journalism lessons, but I'll answer Brad quickly about the problems with yes-or-no questions: Sometimes you can get lucky and get a ...
Feb 08, 2012 | 05:33 AM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
Renaldo Bryant: @Duan In my post about corporate America, I noted that social justice and equity must be the only context under which interactions and contestations must take place. Simply ...
Feb 07, 2012 | 04:41 PM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
Kamikaze: Well, Donna, as a "good" journalist. In my day..a DAMN good one. Ive gotten plenty of broader answers by follwing up with a "why" or "why not". and honestly the WHY of Kenny Stokes ...
Feb 07, 2012 | 04:14 PM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
Duan C.: "Also, transforming Jxn has to be a metro concern, not just a Jxn proper concern. White Flight and residential segregation must be addressed......In the Jxn metro area, they don’t ...
Feb 07, 2012 | 03:31 PM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
DonnaLadd: No, yes-or-no questions draw completely different kinds of answers, and usually empty sound bites, thus derailing the possibility of getting an intelligent answer. Good journalists ...
Feb 07, 2012 | 03:18 PM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
Kamikaze: Well, a why or why not follow up would take it out of the "yes or no" I think. I dont think Ward 3 needs another councilperson with a "career politician" mentality. The spectre of ...
Feb 07, 2012 | 03:01 PM
[Kamikaze] 'I'm No Token'
DonnaLadd: I'm not interested in term-limit questions, or getting anyone to pledge to them), and I try to never ask a yes-or-no question, but the other ones look good. Thanks to both of you. ...
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