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God's Other Son
by Don Imus
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (1994-11-23)
ISBN: 0684801663
EAN: 9780684801667
Dewy Decimal #: 813.54
Hardcover: 320 pages
SKU: 05173
Condition: Collectible: Very Go
Comments: First edition book, in very good condition
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Imus is back -- by popular demand -- with the Second Greatest Story Ever Told, the hilarious novel about the most outrageous TV evangelist of them all -- Billy Sol Hargus. "God had two sons. Jesus was His first, and I, Billy Sol Hargus, am His second." Thus begins Don Imus's riotously funny story about the life and times of the lecherous, corrupt, hustling, huckstering television evangelist who claims to have a 2,000 year old brother named Jesus. From his backwoods Texas country-preacher roots, Billy Sol rose to dazzle the nation as a Superstar Minister -- preaching at sold-out stadiums and traveling across the country. Reverend Billy raked in the dough, the fame, and the women. And then it happened -- just like Amelia Earhart and Jimmy Hoffa, Billy Sol vanished one day into legend, disappearing from the face of the earth. But unlike anyone else in the Family, Billy kept a diary -- and now his tapes, believed lost, can finally be heard. Praise the Lord!
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Customer Reviews
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He nailed it... So to speak.
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-04-13
2 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
I grew up in the part of the world where this book is set, and Mr. Imus nailed it. People who compare it to "Elmer Gantry" need to quit showing off their Liberal Arts degrees and bring me another beer chop-chop if they want a full 15% gratuity.
Its best parts happen inside Billy Sol's head as he steers his life based on the twisted morality he learned out in a part of the world where people believe in God because the land is too godforsaken to have happened by chance. He got the voice and the tone down really well. And any straight man who doesn't wish for his own Step-Edna has no soul.
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Typical
Rating  (1)
Date: 2005-12-30
4 out of 12 customers found this reveiw helpful
By "typical" I'm referring to the quality of vanity pieces written by celebrities for the purpose of enriching bank accounts rather than the body of literature. A friend and I were discussing the reasons why I haven't listened to Imus in the Morning for several years. He offered the book as an example of Mr. Imus' true genius. I couldn't finish the thing. The narrative reads like snippets of alcohol-induced smarminess concatenated from scribblings on cocktail napkins. The editing is appalling. No one bothered (dared?) to tell Imus that the craft is intended to create something to amuse the reader, not the writer. This muck goes beyond insulting. Through "Son" we get an unhealthful glimpse of Mr. Imus' hatreds and prejudices. This book will tell you far more about the author than the subject. More than you ever wanted to know. Spare yourself the experience. I presume the people who actually liked "Son" are sympathetic to Mr. Imus' point of view and share his profound ignorance of and contempt for people of faith.
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hysterical!
Rating  (5)
Date: 2005-03-19
3 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
this book captured my attention the whole way through. read it non-stop from cover to cover. now THATS a good book. and it definitely IS laugh out loud funny.
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No surprises.
Rating (1)
Date: 2004-05-07
6 out of 12 customers found this reveiw helpful
I've actually watched the Imus show at various times for the same reason I can get hypnotized by TV preachers -- they're so unbelievably bad that I can't believe anyone buys it. I have never heard "the I-man" say anything that was remotely witty, insightful or urbane. I may have missed it amidst the mumbles and gum snapping but I doubt it. So I certainly picked up this book with some prejudice, wondering if I might find myself surprised by a talent on the page not in evidence in his other venues. Nope. Clumsy phrasing, telegraphed gags and heavy-handed critiques. As another reviewer remarked this ain't Elmer Gantry. But then Elmer Gantry was written by a writer.
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Skip the imitator and try the real thing
Rating  (2)
Date: 2004-03-16
4 out of 8 customers found this reveiw helpful
I loved this book the first time it was published--under the title "Elmer Gantry" (by Sinclair Lewis). Imus' book, while mildly amusing, is dwarfed by the masterpiece that he is obviously cribbing from.
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